A lot of people don't really know who Jesus was or is. They think they do, and even have the audacity, gall, and intestinal fortitude to depict Him as a Caucasian, blonde-haired, and blue-eyed who identifies with the white power structure of Euro-America. Where that notion comes from is beyond me, considering the biblical accounts of where He was born, lived, and ministered. That picture of Jesus is not only distorted and convoluted, but also an outright falsification of history.
Please read and evaluate for yourself a contemporary and contextualized version of the Gospel according to Luke 2: 1-7:
In those days a decree went out from President Donald Trump that there should be a nation-wide census. This was the first census to take place while Vladimir Putin was President of Russia. All went to their cities and towns to be registered. Joseph, who was a black man of African descent, went to San Juan to be registered. He went to be registered with Mary, and indigenous Puerto Rican, who was living in San Juan, and pregnant. While they were living there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in any hospital or hotel. This is the Word of the Lord, thanks be to God!
Upon reading this you will probably ask "Say what? That's not how the text reads!" Again, this was a contemporary and contextualized reading of the text.
But you might ask, " Why does the contemporary version read that Jesus was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico?" Well, the biblical Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea, a city in Israel, which at the time was a colony of Rome. The contemporary Jesus was born in Puerto Rico, a colony of Spain in the past, and now a colony of the United States. And Joseph, His stepfather, was of African origins, whose ancestors were brought to Puerto Rico as slaves during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. His ancestors had survived the Middle Passage.
You say "This is too much for me to handle. I can't fathom an Afro-Puerto Rican." Well, maybe we need to reread and recontextualize history, especially biblical history. If Jesus had been born in the 21st century, I doubt very much that He would have been born in any of the European countries. An account of Him being born of an indigenous Puerto Rican, married to an individual of African background, fits in more with the Gospel accounts.
Jesus was the child of oppressed parents. Mary's people, the indigenous people of Puerto Rico, and the rest of the Americas, had their land taken away from them by Europe and the United States. Then they were annihilated by contrived illness and overwork. Joseph's people had been brought here in chains, to labor for the Europeans. The length of their servitude was almost parallel to that of the Hebrew slaves, i.e. 400 years.
Yes my friend, Jesus is Afro-Caribbean, take it or leave it. Can you deal with that? Can you still take this descendant of oppressed peoples as Lord and Savior of your life? I hope you can.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!
Rev. Dr. Juan A.Carmona
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