Rob Muthiah talks about the history of icons: images intended to draw those who dwell upon them into deeper meanings, windows to the divine. They’re intended to disorient us — to invite us to encounter the reality of God differently, to reveal to us something about God, who is not made in our image. And the greek word for image is ikon. And in Jesus, we have the full image of God — the icon of God. Christ is our perfect image of God. And images matter. They alter and shape us. The images of what we hold sacred shape our social order, our society.

That is why, given the racist realities of our culture, we have to reckon with a different image: the image of whiteness. This is not whiteness as a low melanin count, but whiteness as a way of seeing the world, and assigning value to people in relation to a color spectrum. It’s a window through which to view the world in a certain way. Just as the icons of the church help to direct devotion toward God, the image of whiteness directs us toward an alternate understanding of what is good, noble, enlightened, holy. How might this impact our images of Jesus?

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