But Jesus spoke to them at once. “It’s all right,” he said. “I am here!” Matthew 14: 27
A beautiful glass window in the Faith Anglican Church in Rotorua, New Zealand shows Jesus dressed as a Maori warrior. The way the artist has placed Jesus in the window it looks like he is walking off Lake Rotorua and right into the church. He might be saying, “ I am here” to the people of Rotorua just as he did in Matthew 14: 27 when he walked across the water to his disciples on the Sea of Galilee
Ronnie Harrison, a South African artist was arrested in 1962 for painting a black Jesus. His picture was smuggled to London by anti-apartheid activists. After the democratic elections of 1994 the painting was returned to its rightful home and now hangs in St. Luke’s Church near Cape Town. Harrison’s black Jesus brought hope to people fighting for freedom and healing as they tried to begin new lives after generations of oppression.
I taught grade one on the Hopi Indian reservation in Arizona. After I told my students the Christmas nativity story, they drew pictures of a baby Jesus whose hair, skin and eyes were every bit as dark as their own. I realized how appropriate it was for the children to have depicted Jesus with a face that looked familiar to them and allowed the infant Christ to fit right in with their people.
The Maori of New Zealand have done the same thing in their church in Rotorua. They have created a Jesus who fits in with their people, a Jesus who can confidently cross the water, walk right into their lives and say, “I am here.”
Jesus I want your presence to be part of my everyday routine. Help me to respond when you say ” I am here”. May I welcome you into my life.
