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Jesus, where are you from?

When Jesus and his family lived in Egypt, I wonder if anyone asked them where they were from?

It would be a mistake to assume that ancient Egyptians and Israelites would have looked the same. The way they dressed, spoke, their customs and the God they worshipped would have set Mary, Joseph and Jesus apart. They must have felt ‘othered’ on many occasions as they were reminded that they didn’t really belong or fit in the country that they had entered as refugees.

Upon their return to Israel, Jesus grew up in Nazareth in rural Galilee. I wonder if one of the reasons that the Pharisees found him so difficult to relate to, was that they perceived him to be a simple country bumpkin? On one occasion people said ‘How can the Messiah come from Galilee’ (John 7.41), on another Nathanael said  “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” (John 1.46). Peter was accused of being one of Jesus’ followers becasue he was a Galilean and his accent gave him away (Matthew 26.69-75). This all took place in the courtyard of the high priest, a place only frequented by the religious elite and where ‘Peter’s sort’ was not usually found. No one said to Peter ‘where are you from’ but the unspoken thought would have been ‘what is your sort doing here?’

Last week, Ngozi Fulani was invited to Buckingham palace. She was there representing the London-based charity Sistah Space which supports women of African and Caribbean heritage affected by domestic and sexual abuse. Ngozi Fulani’s invitation said she was welcome, but tragically, one of the people who were helping at the event acted in a way that achieved the opposite. The conversation that was widely reported in the news is cringeworthy with the repeated question of ‘where are you from’ being fired at Ms Fulani

Given that the event was being run to increase awareness of violence against women and girls, it’s astonishing that the question wasn’t ‘tell me about your work’ or better still, ‘how can I become more like you?’

Ngozi Fulani and those at Sistah Space are trying to help those whose lives have been left devastated. They are caring for victims, who are often made to feel like they are to blame. They are also supporting those who are feeling like they no longer belong in the communities that they once considered safe havens. Those at Sistah Space and other similar charities are trying to connect with those who feel ‘othered’ and to offer them a welcome, support, comfort and hope. It is sad, embarrassing and just plain wrong that Ngozi Fulani was ‘othered’ herself in a place where she had been told she would be welcomed, and even honoured along with the others engaged in this amazing work.

As I mentioned earlier, Jesus spent much of his life being ‘othered’. He was judged unfairly because of his ethnicity as well as his cultural and geographic background. Thankfully, Jesus is the opposite to those who would ‘other’ people. As God, Jesus could have looked down onus but instead he chose to become like us as “the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us’ (John 1.14).

Jesus came into a hurting world and instead of rolling his eyes and looking down on humanity, he chose to act compassionately and to demonstrate what true humanity should look like. I thank God that instead of othering us that Jesus chose to embrace us!

Something to ponder:

• How will we treat those who are different to us?
• How can we demonstrate to people that they are valuable by the way we treat them?
• When we see people ‘othering’ and dehumanising people, what could we do to intervene?