Yancey, Jesus, Chapter 3

Did you know that Jesus was Jewish?
Recently I read in the Lutheran that there was a huge controversy in a hospital in Wisconsin. Someone had donated some art by a local painter. Several pictures were involved, which depicted Jesus in his historical setting, as a first century Jew would have looked. People actually complained that the artist made him look too Jewish! What else would he be?
Yancey points out what an aware Bible reader would notice, that Jesus carefully observed the Jewish law. The only time he got in trouble (in terms of Jewish law) is when he had to remind the hyper-legalists that the law was made for the sake of people, not the other way around.
The followers of Jesus have been fond of re-casting their Savior in their own image.
How do you imagine Jesus?
To a certain extent, it is a good thing to imagine him being like us. He did live and die for us, and had to be human like us to save us. If imagining Jesus as a modern American helps you to connect with him, by all means do so.
Nevertheless, do not forget that all people in every time and place have the same savior.
What would you think of an artist who painted Jesus to look European? African? Asian? What do you think of the carving of a crucifix done several years ago that depicted Jesus as a woman?
Absolute realism is not possible, since we don't know what Jesus looked like. But maybe that's a good thing . . .
How much realism do you think is necessary?

What does it mean that Jesus was Jewish? What implications does that have for the way we treat Jews today?
What do you think of what Yancey says about that?

It is true that many (but not all) Jews do not recognize Jesus as their Messiah. But then many (but not all) (Germans, Poles, Koreans, fill in the blank) have done the same.

Much of Yancey's third chapter is devoted to a description of the historical circumstances in which Jesus appeared. He describes four political/social groups that were active at the time: Pharisees, Saducees, Essenes and Zealots.
Do you see similar groups today? With which of the four groups do you find yourself most in sympathy?