Was Jesus an Immigrant?

Over the centuries, we’ve become very familiar with a particular version of Jesus. It’s the almost blonde, blue-eyed Jesus that could be found in a Scandinavian country, among the fjords. Yet, when we consider the facts of the age and his lineage- a few things become starkly true.

Jesus was probably not very tall. The average height of a man at his time was around five and a half feet. Secondly, he was Jewish. Our current vision of Jewishness is largely shaped by a specific Jewish ethnicity, those of Ashkenazi stock, but we must consider that Jesus isn’t Azhkenazi, nor Sephardic nor Mizrahi. He was simply ‘Jewish’, before admixture became common! He probably had a darker complexion, dressed simply and didn’t bathe daily. This can be a shock to our modern sensibilities.

Furthermore, Jesus wore a bunch of labels that are frequently used today. Colonised. Immigrants. Refugee. Working-class. These are buzz words that are all too often, carelessly thrown around. We forget that there are people behind these political issues, lives- made up of bone and sinew.

Let’s consider the tale of Jesus. He’s born in Bethlehem, as dictated by a Roman decree for families to return to their ‘ancestral homes’. This is not the world we left behind in Malachi. It is a world full of religious sects and political strongholds. Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes colour the fractured religious landscape. Meanwhile, men who were known as ‘zealots’ were armed in the shadows in hopes of overthrowing their colonial master. Jesus and his countrymen ( a loose term for those under Roman rule) were second class citizens. An uncompromising military presence, heavy taxation, law being divided between secular (Roman) and religious (Sanhedrin), we see a society that is almost ‘modern’ in its intersectionality! There are lots of layers, lots of identities at play. We can conclude that tensions were high, seeing that a revolt breaks out thirty years or so after the death of Jesus.

It is obvious that Jesus identified as Jewish. His genealogy is made clear in Matthew and Luke, whatever the line, obviously a descendant of David. He celebrates Jewish festivals, eats kosher food, he was circumcised and dedicated at the temple, in accordance with the law. Yet, one part of the story remains shrouded in mystery.

After Herod proclaims that male babies must be murdered to protect his crown, Jesus’ family fled West- to Egypt. Not much is recorded about his time away. The scriptural record is scarce, but it is clear that the prophecy is fulfilled. At the age of two-three years old, Jesus was called out of Egypt, when Herod died. We see here that his family bears the plight of immigrants, but moreso, refugees. They are fleeing persecution. This isn’t an economic opportunity, but a necessity.

I wonder what they felt when they returned. Not to Bethlehem but Nazareth. According to archeological and historical records can provide us with a glimpse. It would have been rural, small and holding a population of a few hundred people. A radical shift from the centre of culture that was Egypt. The region of Galilee, from a macro view, was an unsettled region that served as a base for a number of zealots. Jewish pride would have run deep, as well as speech off throwing off the Roman yoke. In our day of ‘decolonising’, it’s interesting to note that Jewish wouldn’t have been a stranger to the clash of cultures, the looming threat of European lordship being enforced, the battle to preserve local culture.

Despite this preserving instinct, Galilee was seen as an arguably ‘impure’ region with a fair amount of Gentile influence- a borderland, disdained by Jerusalem elites. We see Nathaniel attest to his opinion of Nazareth (Galilee, more generally), as he says, ‘can anything good come from Nazareth?’. This is not an up and coming area. This is a rural, ‘backwater’ town. Jesus might have even had a regional accent. An interesting picture is forming. A colonised man, a refugee and immigrant at a young age, under colonial rule. Moreso, his town is of ill-repute. The records of Joseph become sparse, the older Jesus gets, and we can imagine that Jesus was the man of a single-mother, widowed household, as he entered his adolescence. This is not a picture of privilege. In fact, people might have even questioned his true parentage, owing to the circumstances of his birth. Illegitimate could have been another possible label. A heavy one.

As he works as a demiourgos (craftsman or builder), we see the makings of a working class man who is about to change the world.

Yet, Jesus’ mind was off another kingdom. We can be obsessed with what’s going on earth, instead of having a kingdom minded focus. The thing that defined Jesus most was his relationship with the Father. Everything fell to the side. He didn’t cast it off, he didn’t say he wasn’t Jewish or deny the circumstances of his upbringing.

They weren’t barriers for him.

At his birth, there were the poor and the rich.

At his death, it is a similar situation. Jesus unites.

Today, our labels can feel heavy. We can feel a sense of shame as an immigrant, maybe we’re carrying trauma from our childhoods. Racist words might have sunken below the skin. Maybe, it feels like you’ll never move past your ‘labels’.