Kevin Costner Presents The First Christmas Challenges Tradition With History

As I watched Kevin Costner Presents the First Christmas, I noticed that throughout most of the presentation there were scenes that contradict what many people hold near and dear about the December 25 holiday.

Costner's film aired December 9, on ABC, where there were many commercials. It can now be viewed on Hulu and Disney+ Streaming services, commercial-free, and is so revealing.

The traditional image of Christ that the world has come to know depicts Him as a White male, but he was a Middle Eastern Jewish man. His family blending in in Egypt has some African Americans saying Jesus was Black, but this is not true either.

Costner used actors who looked to be Middle Eastern, although not all of them were. Gia Patel, who portrayed Mary, is of Indian/Asian ethnicity. Ethan Thorne, who played Joseph, is from England but has a Middle Eastern look about him.

Ancient Egyptians did not have the same complexion as, say, Ethiopian Africans, whose skin was Black. Historians indicate that they looked like the images in the photos and the actors in Costner's film. On the cross, Jesus was called King of the Jews. This would not have been the case if He looked African.

I don't know what motivated anyone to draw an image of a Jewish man as Caucasian, but I understand why some African Americans want to believe Jesus was Black. 

In the season 1 episode of Good Times titled The Family Tree Michael Evans ( Ralph Carter) interpreted several scriptures to indicate Jesus was a Black man.

 Like James Evans (John Amos), there are African American preachers who say Jesus was Black because they desire people of color to believe they have value and were included in biblical narratives.

I once had someone trying to sell me a Bible that highlighted the influence Africans had. A friend who was with me told the salesman that the Bible is not about any race, it's about Christ, and I agree.

In Kevin Coster Presents The First Christmas, Jesus was shown being born not in a stable but in a cave or the bottom dwelling of a home. There were also more than three Wise Men and they found a young child in a house (possibly in Egypt) about two years later. (Matthew chapter 2)

This disrupts the images most of us grew up with that show three Magi herds in Bethlehem. The film did not address that Christ was probably born in the Spring or that December 25 was chosen to celebrate His birth to keep focus away from the winter solstice celebrations.

Artists and AI have an image of what Jesus possibly looked like although no one living today knows for certain. They portray him as darker than the White Jesus image but lighter than the Bloack one.

Costner's film also portrayed Mary and Joseph as teenagers. I grew up being told that Joseph was probably a lot older than Mary, but historians say this would have gone against society's norms of the day.

Some people only believe what is written in scripture, but history gives details that the Bible does not. Jewish Historians gave us Salome as the name of the daughter of Herodius.

History says the prophet Jeremiah was stoned to death in Egypt and that Prophet Isaiah was sewn in half. We can dispute the particulars and agree to disagree, but it's important to know history so we do not pass along faulty information.

Jesus was born, and His crucifixion split time into BC (Before Christ) and Ana Domini), In the Year of Our Lord. Any day is a good day to celebrate His birth and anticipate His Second Coming.