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What did Jesus Look Like?
What did Jesus look like? That's a natural question for us to think about as we think about Jesus.
Isaiah 53:2b, Psalm 17:15
What did Jesus look like? That’s a natural question for us to think about as we think about Jesus. What did he look like? If I met him, would I recognize him? Oh, that’s my Savior. It’s a good question to think about. What did Jesus look like? After all, he is the most important person in our lives, and we know that it’s only through him that we have forgiveness of sin and life and salvation.
Down through the centuries, artists and theologians have sometimes portrayed Jesus as being stunningly handsome. And that makes sense to us. We sing in the familiar hymn Beautiful Savior. Others emphasizing the suffering that Jesus did for us, present him as someone who is grotesque and pitiful as he bears the sin of the world, tortured and dying for our sins on the cross. We assume, I suppose, that Jesus of Nazareth didn’t look so different from other people of his time and place and culture.
Isaiah chapter 53 gives us a hint about his physical appearance. There the prophet says of Jesus,
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. (Isaiah 53:2b)
Perhaps if we had seen our Lord Jesus standing among a group of other men of his time, there wouldn’t have been anything that would have led us to say, I believe that gentleman at the end of the line is the Son of God.
So we see him in the Scripture according to his passion. And there we see his willingness to suffer for us. And so we would say that he’s not so beautiful always. And when we think about it, when we estimate his beauty, remembering that one day we, after closing our eyes in death, will immediately open them to the glorious sight of heaven. And be face to face with the one who loves us more than any other, the one who was willing to be bodily tortured and to suffer for our sins. And he will welcome us home to be with him in the eternal glory of heaven. And then with the Psalm writer, we will say these words
In righteousness I will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness. (Psalm 17:15)
Amen.
