Jesus: What Did He Look Like?

Nov 26, 2015 1525

We learn very little about what Jesus looked like from the Bible. The prophet Isaiah tells us that there was nothing especially attractive about what Jesus looked like (Isaiah 53:2). When Judas led the mob into the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest Jesus, obviously Jesus had no special physical features to set him apart from his disciples, because Judas had to point Jesus out to the mob with a kiss (Matthew 26:47–50.) It seems reasonable to have expected that the gospel writers would have highlighted any special physical feature that Jesus may have had – but apparently there was nothing worth mentioning. He looked just like his disciples.

Perhaps the reason for that is because Jesus never wanted us to actually focus on his physical appearance. He wanted us to focus on more important things.

This is in line with the whole message of Scripture that while people look at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). God values the heart most of all. He loves you from the inside out. What you look like has nothing to do with it – not your race, not your wardrobe, not your physical features, and not even your piercings or tattoos. I’m glad that God loves me for who I am, and not for whomever society thinks I should be.

The bottom line is that it’s not what Jesus looked like, but what he did that’s most important. That’s probably why the early Christians didn’t spend any time at all trying to record Jesus’ physical appearance in art, or by describing it in words. But they sure had a lot to say about his life and message, and especially about his death and resurrection!

If selfies had been around in Jesus’ day, it might have been a picture taken with some completely unacceptable people in a very non-desirable location.

But Jesus probably wouldn’t have bothered with selfies at all. He was selfless. He was more interested in you than in himself.

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