Who is this Colourful Jesus?

Balpolam Idi
5 min readDec 27, 2024

What to do with sadness at Christmas — Christ the child and comforter

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

One of my favourite things about Christmas is the many colours, shiny ornaments and decorations. But I love how they do not exist in isolation, rather, are added to dark, solid colours like forest & pine green for instance. It’s the golden sparkles and the deep crimson, the blue hues and the green tones, the whites and the glittery specks, the deep shades of brown and a billion multicoloured lights. All combined in an art work of a perfect display of diversity.

Recently, I was doing bible study with a loved one and as you know, this year has been an interesting year of grief for me and something stood out. I had never seen the messianic prophecies in this way until they brought it up.

Isaiah 53:3-4 NIVUK

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.

This was what I read and I quote “I don’t know if I can call this a name, but this part of the prophecy about Jesus, it is something that we don’t really talk about. But I see how God is intentional and how he has provided for all that we can ever feel in Jesus.”

Jesus is for all seasons. Like the different colours of ornaments and ribbons on a Christmas tree, his coming caters to all mental, emotional and physical colours. He’s sufficient for grief as much as he is for joy and new birth. He’s not only about the prophecy in Isaiah 9, a child, a son and one in government. He’s also a man who has felt rejected (heartbroken and betrayed), a man of suffering. I know I’ve been on the theology of suffering for almost five years now, but genuinely, scripture never promised us anything else. I love how it says he’s familiar with pain. It’s not news to him. He doesn’t know it from a distance. He’s not alien to it, neither is he afraid of it or to be identified as one who knows sorrow. He probably lived with it (a form of this) all his life. And this is not just the bodily pain he suffered on the cross, the emotional turmoil and psychological distress of being an out-of-wedlock child in that era, being a foreigner/immigrant in Egypt, being the son of a poor carpenter, among many things. Jesus was a human being and he knows it all. He knows about when people you love hurt you. Check out Judas and Peter doing him strong thing in less than 24 hours. He knows about when people you love die. Many historical commentary lean towards his earthly father, Joseph, dying before his emergence into public ministry. Not to mention the agonising death of his cousin, John the Baptist. He wept when Lazarus died even though he was still going to raise him to life. He was constantly surrounded by sick people. Sick bodies, sick souls, sick spirits all in need of mending. He knows. He truly does.

Photo by Wout Vanacker on Unsplash

Jesus won’t tell you that orange is not a Christmas colour, neither would he force you into the mould of the common because he’s a God of seasons. And if you’re in harmattan, everything is brown and dusty. That’s your colour and his coming has provision for that. If you’re in the rainy season, it’s wet and lush and green, his coming has room for that too.

So yes, I’m excited about this colourful Jesus who is everything to everyone in every season. All you must do is bring your ache to the healer. Sit at his feet and don’t be in a hurry to leave.

I find that as a generation, we’re very afraid to feel deep things. We love the highlights and dopamine rush but the depth required to truly fully be, we avoid. I love the Psalms because out of all the books of the Torah, I think it’s one that helps us humanise men. Without the Psalms, it’d have been easy to idolise David, Asaph and say they never felt discouraged and they pressed on in faith perpetually. As we’ve even now come to do with Abraham (who the bible says in Gen 15 literally told God, ‘how can you give me this thing’), Moses and the other patriarchs. We forget that the biblical account is a snippet of their lives. Not a full picture. If we were to go cover to cover, lord knows how many times they cried themselves to sleep waiting for the promise.

I don’t know why that diversion came about but if it’s for you, be still and tarry. Camp at His feet until you find rest for your soul.

I pray you find a colour of Jesus for every season of your life. I pray you put him up where all can see, as we do with the Christmas decor. I pray you truly find that Immanuel means God with us here and now.

Love, Ballie 💖

Thank you for reading. I hope you’re having a better holiday than I am. Here’s a song for you. It’s not entirely Christmasy but it fits the theme of this letter, enjoy Emmanuel by Oba Reengy.

Here’s another that has kept me going this year: Only Jesus for my Pain by Cory Asbury. May God keep you in his love. May you not fall for the urge to fill up the void with lesser things and with activities that are fleeting. May it all lead you to communion with the Eternal One. May you find rest in your heart and company for your weary and lonely soul.

Please don’t forget to clap, share and comment if it resonates with you ✨🎄

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Balpolam Idi
Balpolam Idi

Written by Balpolam Idi

Live, Love, Give. But most importantly, Dream. Learner. Teacher. Wanderer.

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