I don’t like to talk about religion with my friends. It always leads to problems and you are guaranteed to offend someone. This dislike comes from going to a Christian college where everyone had an opinion (and thought everyone else wanted to hear it) on whether or not we should drink, dance or chew or go with girls that do. I especially do not believe in trying to convert someone who has a different faith than mine. I do believe in witnessing! But I also believe that witnessing and trying to convert someone are two different things. I can say what is right for me and tell someone what I have seen and felt and experienced and think. But I cannot change anyone, only they and the Holy Spirit can do that.

Having had a mentor who is Jewish for 20 years, the subject of religion has come up regardless of how I have tried to avoid it. Whenever I would say anything about Jesus, he would say, “REMEMBER! JESUS WAS A JEW!” At some point it got me thinking that I should investigate what that really means. It was fascinating to discover how much I see Jesus through the eyes of my American and European perspective. This is especially true when I discover how much of what Jesus said and did was Jewish and the (sometimes revolutionary) impact of what He said on the time and place in which He was.

I started investigating how people from several different cultures see Jesus. I read about how cultures all across the world and how they place Him in their cultural milieu. I have investigated the Japanese, the Chinese, and others. One that I particularly found interesting was the culture of various Native Americans. Now, I realize that there is not one view on Jesus for the entire group of Native Americans as there is not one view of Jesus for European / Caucasian people. However, one book that I have found that summarizes a lot of the views has been, Kent Nerburn’s (Ed.) The Soul of an Indian (1993).

This book says some significant things about how many Native Americans saw (or see) the same Jesus and the Judeo-Christian God differently than most Americans. I would like to mention three that we can learn from.

Firstly, they emphasize that Jesus was not running after material things.

“….Lust for money, power, and conquest did not escape moral condemnation at our hands, nor did we fail to contrast this…trait of the dominant [white] race with the spirit of the meek and lowly Jesus” (p.55).

Our Lord talks about this many, many times in the Gospels. He tells us many times that our lives do not consist in the things we have or have accomplished. The editor goes on to write, “He [Jesus] was opposed to material acquisition and to great possessions…He was as impractical as any Indian and set no price on His labor of love” (p.56). That is definitely something we can hope to follow closer.

Secondly, according to the book, they see Jesus as living a life where religion and the Divine were not separate things that only happen on Sundays. According to Neburn:

“Our faith cannot be formulated in creeds, nor forced upon any who are unwilling to receive it….neither are there any scoffers…” (p.2).

Neither are there any temples or churches or priests. Everywhere is a temple for them and they see the miracles in everyday life. Similarly, Jesus wanted us to approach God directly and He did not want to do miracles for show. He would not let most people He healed to even talk about them! He rallied against the religious establishment whose hearts were far from the One Above All  and wanted to codify faith and create rules and regulations around it. I know that sometimes I find myself forgetting that Jesus came that I might have LIFE abundantly, not church (though church has its place).

Suresh Gundappa (2009): when you don’t have a temple in your heart, how can you find your heart in the temple?

Thirdly, the book makes the point that Native Americans can see that Jesus was not an American. Thank God for this. I am thankful that some can separate Jesus from the people who murdered them and took their land and caused all kinds of heartaches to them.

“I confess I have wondered much that Christianity is not practiced by the very people who vouch for that wonderful conception of exemplary living. It appears that they are anxious to pass on their religion to all other races but keep very little of it for themselves” (p.57).

I find that last point sentence very poignant to me. The fruits of the spirit should be our first witness.

1 Corinthins 13:12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

————————————————–W.