“Look beyond mere appearances before making judgements." ~ John 7:24
Bree had been listening to Gramma’s stories long before she
could read them. Quiet and secure, she followed pictures on the colorful pages
of the Children’s Bible Story. Nanna’s animated brow creased as she
commented on each character in a different voice. Today’s treat was about Jesus
healing a paralytic man.
Nanna paused. The
question showed a level of curiosity that thrilled the platinum-haired woman. “That’s
a very good question,” she began. “Because the Bible says very little
about Jesus’ physical traits, we have to guess what He looked like.”
Because Jesus was Jewish, He inherited the Middle Eastern traits of his mother, Mary. Like others from the region, He was a man of color, with dark hair and brown eyes.
Men
tended to keep their hair and beards fairly short and well-combed, to lower the
risk of getting lice.
He probably looked extremely
poor, wearing but a simple tunic (like a robe). We know too, that Jesus was a
strong, healthy man from His work as a stone mason and the many miles he walked
during His ministry. His body was also pretty dirty.
Standing about five
feet tall, some experts say that Jesus was not remarkably handsome. But His
appearance commanded attention and revealed warmth and kindness. You’d have
felt comfortable in His presence, Bree.
“But Nanna,” Bree
politely interrupted. “Who is the Jesus in this book? His skin is white. He
looks like a movie star.”
“Ahhh,” Nanna replied,
again thrilled by the child’s level of understanding. “The white-skinned,
blue-eyed, tall, and white-robed Jesuses from TV and movies have little in
common with the real Jesus. While we have no solid evidence of what Jesus
looked like, he didn’t look like the picture in your book.
Over many years, we’ve
created Jesus in our own likenesses. The fact that the Bible has so little to
say about the Jesus’ physical form tells us that such things weren’t as
valuable back then.
We tend to depict
Jesus in a way we see themselves or in the culture we best understand. That
way, we can better imagine Jesus as one of us, as ALL of us.
It’s hard to
understand, but according to our faith, Jesus is Love; love doesn’t have a
face, but a heart. It’s the expressions of our hearts, through helping, caring,
healing and living that we witness God. That’s what Jesus looks like.”
Nanna looked down and
noticed the child sleeping in her arms, not sure when she’d actually dozed off.
Enough for one day, she reasoned. Fully satisfied.
Jesus, You get us! You were one of us. You
looked, lived and suffered pain like us. Yet You were so much more. Help me to
see the Your image of others much more clearly than I notice their brokenness
and inconsistencies. Amen
