Christianity and Culture- Part 2

Who would you say this is a picture of? Most of us would not identify this as Jesus of the Bible. The picture that most of us are used to is the one of a tall, lean, light skin, curly light brown hair. Several years ago, Popular Mechanics did a story on what was then the emerging field of forensic anthropology, and how they reconstructed what could have been the face of Jesus. The picture they believe is what Jesus could have looked like. If you want to read the article for yourself, click here.

I have obviously been thinking about culture a lot, and recently turned my sights to Jesus and what it meant for him to be part of Jewish culture. He was born to poor parents who were not supposed to be parents because they weren't culturally married yet. He came to a people who rejected him because he wasn't the Messiah they were expecting, and he constantly crossed social boundaries in terms of the people he interacted with. He spoke to a Samaritan woman which was a definite social taboo. Samaritan people were the descendants of  Jews intermarrying with non-Jews. The Jews saw themselves as better than the Samaritans, so that interaction would not have been a social norm. Jesus hung out with tax collectors who were basically dirty businessmen and not to be trusted. He helped those who were considered unclean, cared for the Roman soldiers who persecuted the Jews, and challenged the religious people to make sure they were actually loving God and not just following a set of rules. He didn't let little children be brushed aside, but made them feel important by welcoming them to him. He stood up for women when they were considered little more than property. The point is that Jesus was not afraid to reach out to people no matter what society said of them.

Jesus is the example for who Christians are to be and for how people are to be treated.Christianity itself has continued to spread across cultural lines. My next post will talk about the beginnings of the church and the cross-cultural impact. Stay tuned.