Happy Twelfth Day of Christmas! While I initially targeted this reflection for Christmas Day – or the First Day of Christmas – I ran a few
days late and then realized that the tie-in to the end of the Christmas season was a bit more powerful. So here are some brief and selected thoughts around an issue that has gotten a lot of press and verbiage this past month.

It has been an interesting time in the American popular media this year leading up to Christmas. Certain widely-publicized comments have opened up a wide-ranging discussion of race and popular perception.

Concerning one of those points I will only touch on the cultural discussion around Saint Nicholas far enough to comment that our modern perspective is built upon several layers of tradition so that it has grown in proportion by the compounding of multiple cultural influences. Far from the third century monk in Asia Minor upon whom the legend is based, our American concept of Santa Claus today is probably shaped most by Clement Moore instead of the historical person in much the same way as our concept of the Afterlife has been shaped not by Scripture but by Dante Alighieri.

So that brings me to the second historical character up for discussion: Jesus of Nazareth. In reflecting on this and reading some of the discussion what struck me is that we have no substantial physical description of Jesus as an historical figure. We have descriptions of his cousin John the Baptist (e.g. Matthew 3:4), although that is admittedly his dress and not physical appearance. We have messianic descriptions (e.g. Isaiah 52:13-53:12) and apocalyptic visions (e.g. Revelation 19:11-16 ). But when it comes to the basic aspects of Jesus’ appearance we have almost nothing to go on.

From the biblical account and genealogy we know that he was of the Tribe of Judah that his family seemed comfortably situated in Nazareth. We have no reason to think that he was not a typical first century Jew of Middle-Eastern or Mediterranean appearance. Exactly what he looked like I don’t know but I am pretty sure that in skin color and facial features he did not look like me.

The temptation we have is to see Jesus like ourselves and in one sense he is like each of us. Despite the Fall we each still carry something of the Image of God and we share that with Jesus. Taking that a step further, Jesus also suffered some of the same trials we do. In these commonalities there is a basis for our spiritual relationship as we pray and reflect upon his life and example. But there is a tension here as well — while we can see Jesus as like us as far as his being fully human, we need to avoid the trap of making Jesus in our own image. Jesus of Nazareth, as a historical figure, was a distinct individual with particular characteristics even if we don’t really know what they are.

So in this respect it is equally important to see Jesus as not like us. Just as we carry the Image of God the other members of our diverse human family do as well. If we are not careful when we make Jesus in our image we could implicitly say that he becomes exclusive and he is our own personal Jesus, not the savior of the whole world.

Which brings me to the 12th Day of Christmas…

Tomorrow is Epiphany when we remember the visit by the magi. In their visit the magi symbolically remind us of two important aspects of Jesus. The first is the role of Jesus as prophet, priest and king. The second is that in this visit he was worshiped by those who were not of his own people. The magi were gentiles from afar and in their visit two worlds collided in a variety of interesting ways. Epiphany is a celebration of Jesus as a savior of many nations and not just one people.

And so I encourage you to also let your world collide with others for the sake of the Gospel.

Merry Christmas. Happy Epiphany and best wishes for the coming year.