What color was Jesus?

[Lik3]

I know it does not matter but I created this video because I was curious about his race. I am not sure if he was blonde and blue eyed with long hair. Was it about white supremacy and that is why Jesus is often depicted as a European? What did Jesus look like or what do you believe Jesus looked like? I need your advice on this one. This video is an answer I believe to the racial and ethnic issue concerning how Jesus looked. How do I witness to someone who has a wrong belief, in my opinion, about Jesus and race? Why is it that some people react so strongly about seeing a black Jesus? Why couldn't he have been black as there are many blacks in the middle East?

Color of Jesus - YouTube

 

[Aibrean]

Look at the Jewish race in the Middle East. That's a good starting point.

 

[Lik3]

That is the thing. There are Jews that are white, black, and mixed. I guess Jesus was a mix and was an average looking man I presume.

 

[Matariki]

Why does it matter what he looked like?

The fact that Christ is depicted to look ethnically different throughout each culture shows that Christ is multicultural. The gospel applies to all.

 

[Ronald]

He was a decendant of Abraham and David in that blood line - from the Tribe of Judah. Look at Jews today, not converts from other countries, but Jews that have a historical bloodline that goes way back.
Here's what he might look like according to someone who's been to heaven and seen Him.
http://www.christianforums.com/t7710654-2/#post62029575

 

[jehoiakim]

If you want to know what middle eastern jews look like it is different from European jews, they have similar facial features but have darker skin dark eyes dark hair. Google Mizrahi jews(not to be confused with Isaac mizrahi) or Yemenite Jews. The Sephardi and Ashkenazi jews seem to have some mixed European blood

As for why people depicted him as having blue eyes and sandy blond hair it is most likely because they didn't know any better. People paint what they know and are accustomed to and they were trying to make Jesus attractive to their standards. As to why people raect to a black Jesus, well if it was made among black peoples who didn't know any better I don't think there would be as much objection. I think it a modern artist painted Jesus as anything other then middle eastern looking man their would be a little protest. Most Christians think jews looked European because they are used to Ashkenazi jewish peoples, but I think that is just their own misunderstanding.

 

[Marahuta]

He was dark-skinned. However What colour he was is not of our interest...

 

[Rhamiel]

have you seen people from Turkey or Israel or Lebanon or Greece?
I would imagine he looked really close to those people

 

[Lazydaisy67]

Dark skin, dark eyes, dark brown/black hair. Whether or not his hair and beard was long is doubtful. I think his hair was kept short and beard would have been kept short.

Here's a cool thing to think about: No matter what He looked/looks like, all believers will instantly recognize Him when they see Him in heaven regardless of their ethnic origins.

 

[FuegoPentecostes]

there is really no "question" as to what Jesus' color/race was because he was a middle-eastern Jew for a fact. He was dark-haired, dark skinned (I would say probably not BLACK, but more TAN), dark eyes, all of that. When it comes to hair length, I personally believe Jesus had short hair, as the Bible says if a man has long hair it is a shame unto him, and Jesus was sinless.
So yeah ^.^

 

[Izdaari Eristikon]

I know of no good reason to believe he was anything other than a typical Jew of his time and place. Which is to say, short and olive-skinned, with dark, curly hair and beard of whatever length. And indeed, if he had been anything else, it would have noteworthy enough that surely at least one of the Gospel writers would have mentioned it.

 

[HalupkiMonster]

Jesus' color doesn't matter to me in the least. He was a Palestinian Jew. He did not have fair skin, blond hair and blue eyes. He wasn't black, either.

I modern day Israel, there are many Ashkenazi Jews, or Jews who descended from Europeans. Jesus might not have resembled them as much as he does the people in places like Gaza or Lebanon. His people were the original people of that part of the world. Darker skin, black eyes, black hair.

I've heard it said that if modern western Christians were to see what Jesus actually looked like, some of us would be afraid because he would look like some sort of terrorist (or what some Americans have in their minds as terrorists from the middle east.) Racial profiling is funny that way.

 

[Hentenza]

I know it does not matter but I created this video because I was curious about his race. I am not sure if he was blonde and blue eyed with long hair. Was it about white supremacy and that is why Jesus is often depicted as a European? What did Jesus look like or what do you believe Jesus looked like? I need your advice on this one. This video is an answer I believe to the racial and ethnic issue concerning how Jesus looked. How do I witness to someone who has a wrong belief, in my opinion, about Jesus and race? Why is it that some people react so strongly about seeing a black Jesus? Why couldn't he have been black as there are many blacks in the middle East?

Color of Jesus - YouTube

Jesus was definitely not a descendant of the Native Americans as the screen shot of the youtube you posted seem to suggest.

Jesus was a Jew from the land bridge so He would have been dark skinned (of course skin color is quite relative).

 

[Aibrean]

BTW there is an olive gene which will make people olive-skinned. It's scientific fact (genetics). My husband has it.

 

[busdriver72]

Years ago a comedian commented "Jesus wasn't white. You can't live in Israel for 30 something years and stay white...it's hot in Israel!"

 

[Lik3]

Jesus was definitely not a descendant of the Native Americans as the screen shot of the youtube you posted seem to suggest.

Jesus was a Jew from the land bridge so He would have been dark skinned (of course skin color is quite relative).

True, but it makes me wonder why some people would rather identify Jesus to fit their own persona or beliefs. Also, I do believe we should not get so caught up in his race or color, but I created this video to show that. The video explains my views on Jesus' race and color. I have a warning for you: there are people on Youtube who have all kinds of beliefs even about Jesus that may involve curse words. I wonder if people, especially in anti-Semitic, non-white Europeans of hundreds of years ago would believe that people would not identify with a non-white looking Jesus. After all, white supremacy is more recent considering the history of the world. A dark skinned Jesus would contradict those beliefs especially if he was too dark (black). He may be Semitic, Middle Eastern looking with darker skin, eyes, and hair, but could it be possible that Jesus may have some African (North and Subsaharan) blood?

 

[Creech]

I believe he was white but I guess it doesn't really matter.

 

[Hentenza]

True, but it makes me wonder why some people would rather identify Jesus to fit their own persona or beliefs. Also, I do believe we should not get so caught up in his race or color, but I created this video to show that. The video explains my views on Jesus' race and color. I have a warning for you: there are people on Youtube who have all kinds of beliefs even about Jesus that may involve curse words. I wonder if people, especially in anti-Semitic, non-white Europeans of hundreds of years ago would believe that people would not identify with a non-white looking Jesus. After all, white supremacy is more recent considering the history of the world. A dark skinned Jesus would contradict those beliefs especially if he was too dark (black). He may be Semitic, Middle Eastern looking with darker skin, eyes, and hair, but could it be possible that Jesus may have some African (North and Subsaharan) blood?

The issue with skin color was rampant during the middle ages forward. As European countries such as Spain, Portugal, Britain, and France conquered lands in Africa, Asia, South America, Central America, and what is now the US, color of skin was used to refer to other peoples. It was problematic for those proposing the white burden (evangelization) to portray Jesus as anything but white. Native Americans were referred to as red people while just about all from Africa were black. Those from South America and Central America were called meztisos by the Spaniards and brown by the white Europeans.

Jesus was born of Jewish parents (although only Mary's DNA would have been present) who had lived all of their lives in the land bridge area. While it is possible that somewhere down the line there could have been some subsaharan or African blood, the chances are quite small given the Jew's penchant for marrying within their tribes and people. It sounds reasonable that Jesus would have looked like a typical Jew of the time with olive color skin, dark hair, and dark color eyes.

 

[MWood]

You can't assume that Jesus was olive, dark, black, or a mix of any color. You have to remember that when Esau was born he came out red as a hairy garment. I take it he was covered with red hair. King David was spoken of as red and ruddy. Now Jesus was a son of David, born in his linage. Jesus could have also been red and ruddy. God did love David and proclaimed that David was a man after his own heart. So Jesus may have been just as red and just as ruddy as King David.

 

[Creech]

You can't assume that Jesus was olive, dark, black, or a mix of any color. You have to remember that when Esau was born he came out red as a hairy garment. I take it he was covered with red hair. King David was spoken of as red and ruddy. Now Jesus was a son of David, born in his linage. Jesus could have also been red and ruddy. God did love David and proclaimed that David was a man after his own heart. So Jesus may have been just as red and just as ruddy as King David.

Yes, it is this that leads me to believe that he was white and had many European-like features.