The Indigenous Christ: Returning to the Way Before Empire

Opening Thought:

Before Jesus walked the earth, Christ walked with creation.

Long before Roman coins bore the face of Caesar and long before European churches adorned their walls with pale-skinned messiahs, the essence of Christ already existed—not as a crown-wearing conqueror, but as the sacred rhythm between Creator and creation. What Jesus revealed was not new—it was a return.

Christ is not a European.

Christ is not a political mascot.

Christ is not a king enthroned by conquest.

Christ is a way of being, and that way is indigenous to the earth itself.

Christ Was Before Jesus

“In the beginning was the Word… and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

—John 1:1

This “Word”—the Logos—isn’t just information or doctrine. It is divine pattern. A life aligned with justice, humility, harmony, and truth.

Indigenous cultures understood this long before the arrival of missionaries. The Christ pattern was known:

• In the reciprocity with the land
• In the respect for the ancestors
• In the balance between giving and receiving
• In the sacredness of every creature’s place

Jesus came not to start Christ, but to embody it—to live out, in human flesh, what creation had been whispering all along.

The Western Jesus vs. the Indigenous Christ

The colonized image of Jesus—white, powerful, politically weaponized—is the opposite of the Christ who walked barefoot, slept outside, turned down a crown, and rode a donkey into his final days.

The Western Jesus became a tool of colonization. Used to justify the theft of land, the breaking of treaties, the forced conversions, the suppression of languages, and the removal of children from their families.

The Indigenous Christ was present in the songs of the wind, the prayers of the elders, the smoke rising to the sky, long before the cross was a symbol of anything but execution.

Jesus Rejected the Warrior King

“My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight.” -John 18:36

The people wanted a warrior. A king. A political savior.

Jesus gave them a servant.

He rejected the sword, embraced poverty, and chose death over domination.

In this, Jesus aligned with the Indigenous way—a path where power is rooted in right relationship, not military strength.

He showed that to be fully human is to live in communion with God, one another, and the land.

Why This Matters Now

In a world hurtling toward ecological collapse, political unrest, and spiritual disillusionment, we don’t need another empire-backed Jesus. We need to return to Christ as a way of being—indigenous to the soul, rooted in the land, free from conquest.

The Indigenous Christ:

• Heals the land, rather than exploits it.
• Walks with the marginalized, not over them.
• Sees Creator in the river, the sky, the soil.
• Invites us not to dominate the world, but to love it well.

A Final Reflection

Christ did not come from Rome.

Christ did not begin in Bethlehem.

Christ has always been—

In the stars. In the stories. In the soil.

Jesus simply showed us what Christ looks like with skin on.

And maybe now, as we stare down the unraveling of the empire we’ve built, it’s time to return—not to the church of colonizers, but to the Way that walked with us long before.