Uncomfortable S2 - Day 17

While many ethnic groups appear in scripture, one distinct group repeatedly appears. The Cushites occur in the Hebrew Bible more than 50 different times. In English translations, it is often translated as “Cush,” but sometimes as “Nubia” or “Ethiopia.” Cush was a powerful Black African kingdom located along the Nile River, just south of Egypt.

Cushites were active players in the geopolitics and economics of the ancient Near East throughout most of the Old Testament period. At one point, they even briefly controlled Egypt during the time of Isaiah and allied themselves with Jerusalem against the Assyrians. Later, Ebedmelech played a crucial role in Judah’s theological history, saving the prophet Jeremiah and symbolizing the inclusion of future Gentiles who would come to God by faith.

We usually see this area in the New Testament as “Ethiopia,” even though it differs from modern Ethiopia. The “Ethiopian Eunuch” in Acts 8 was a Black African from this region along the Nile River, south of Egypt. He is recorded as the first non-Jewish believer in the New Testament, and, like Ebedmelech in the book of Jeremiah, he seems to symbolize or foreshadow the approaching Gentile inclusion in the rest of the book of Acts.

So what does this mean? It means that perhaps the narrative Western Christians have been given about the church looking like they do is incorrect and historically inaccurate. Not to mention the thousand-year history of the ancient church moving to the East and not simply the West. For more information, please read “The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia—and How it Died.” By Philip Jenkins. (See link below)

It should start becoming clear that the history of the church is diverse, inter-cultural, and incredibly interesting. Unfortunately, we in the West have been given a history of the church that was only in one direction. This undermines the worldwide effect that the gospel had on the first thousand years of Christian History.

As well, if we only look at scripture through the eyes of our own culture, we need to include more of the context of Scripture and its rich and dynamic interaction with Jesus. Without doing this, we may see Jesus in our own image rather than vice versa. With a clear understanding of the ethnic and cultural makeup of Scripture, we see how God created every person in his image, and we can also respect the incredible diversity we see within the church. But this also reminds us that we need to be listening to the needs and experiences of those around us who have had a different experience of life than we have had.

1. When you picture Jesus, what does he look like to you? 
2. How can we be more inclusive of other ethnicities as scripture shows us we should? 
3. Are there any intrinsic biases that you need to deal with when it comes to other ethnicities?