Advent 6/25

 DAY SIX (week one; prophecies)

   What did Jesus look like? That is a question often asked, as because He is so important, there are many portraits and images of Him. In depictions I’ve seen in churches, He has light skin, light eyes, and reddish hair. Yet, He has also been drawn with dark skin and very curly hair. These images of Jesus tend to lean towards whatever culture the artist came from. It has been brought to my attention multiple times in various social medias that He was rather average, and looked, well, Jewish. I’m sure many people know this, but why? Do any of the Gospels describe Him? Let’s look at an Old Testament prophecy in Isaiah 53:2;

   “For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground; He has no stately form or majesty that would look at Him, nor an appearance that we would take pleasure in Him.” (NASB)

   This is the only earthly (Rev 1:14-15 describes a glorified state of Jesus, check it out!) description we have of Jesus, and it is a prophecy! We don’t know how tall He was, what facial features He had, how big His muscles were, nor any other specific description. We only know that He had nothing particularly special that would make Him stand out. I don’t think this is saying Jesus was ugly, but it’s clear He wasn’t very attractive either. 

   Why do you think that is important? What would change about His followers if He was particularly handsome?

   Humans have always focused on appearances. Especially in modern times with millions of 'perfect’ faces on social media, we have a beauty standard that is almost impossible to fit into. It changes every year! 

   It’s clear that God looks at our character and actions over appearance. Chasing after the perfect looks for yourself, or wanting to be close to someone just because they appear very beautiful/handsome, is a shallow mindset that falls apart awfully quick. Today, I encourage you to pray with me for confidence in the Holy Spirit to guide our character, and for comfort knowing that the most perfect man there will ever be wasn’t a supermodel: He was human.