In his book, The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey poses an interesting question.  If you had been alive and walking the dusty roads of Palestine in the days of Jesus, what would you have noticed about him when you encountered him? Yancey goes on to discuss the phenomenon of having no physical description of Jesus in the New Testament.  The closest the Bible comes to a description is found in Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy, “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (Isa.53:2).

Yancey goes on to document that no paintings of Jesus appeared until six hundred years after his ascension and those paintings were only imaginative speculations.  Even then, artists painted Jesus to look like the idealized man of their culture.  The Greeks first painted him as a young, beardless man who looked much like their versions of the pagan god Apollo. Yancey documents other views when he says, “One tradition dating back to the second century suggested Jesus was a hunchback.  In the Middle Ages, Christians widely believed that Jesus had suffered from leprosy.  Most Christians today would find such notions repulsive and perhaps heretical” (Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, p. 87).

It’s easy to find those views of Jesus weird and laughable but Hollywood has presented Jesus as tall, blond, and blue-eyed with a British accent on more than one occasion. I just saw a nativity scene with a blond baby Jesus. That is as unlikely as being a hunchback since Jesus was very Jewish and much more likely to have been short with dark hair and a Middle Eastern complexion.  But we simply don’t know.

I continue to think it is remarkable and, therefore, intentional that the gospel writers never gave a physical description of Jesus. In fact, it is rare for the writers to give a physical description of anyone – even the most well known New Testament characters – the woman at the well, Nicodemus, the Roman Centurion, the prodigal son, the woman caught in adultery, etc. The Romans focused on appearance produced hundreds if not thousands of idealized sculptures of all their famous and powerful leaders. But the New Testament writers are silent.

I can think of two reasons that the Holy Spirit may have chosen to omit such a description.  The omission may allow each of us to personalize Jesus in our own imaginations. Maybe each of us needs Jesus to look a little like us so that we can identify with him more easily.  Jesus has been painted as being black, Latino, European, and probably somewhere as Asian.  I don’t think Jesus minds.  After all, after his resurrection he took on many forms that often did not look like the Jesus the apostles walked with for three years.  Jesus wants connection and if we imagine him in a way that facilitates that personal connection then he is probably good with that.

Perhaps, there are few physical descriptions because physical appearance is deceptive. Remember when Samuel went to Jesse’s house to anoint the second king of Israel who would take Saul’s place?  Saul was tall and looked kingly but his heart was not the heart of a king.  He failed miserably.  But as the prophet was scanning Jesse’s sons to sense who would be the next king, he kept making the same mistake. He would judge the young man standing before him by his appearance thinking that the one who “looked like a king” should be king.  In one of those moments, God reminded him that the one who sits on the throne in heaven does not look at the appearance of a man but at the heart. In the kingdom of God, the heart qualifies a person rather than good looks. Perhaps, the Father did not give us a description of his son because we would have spent our time trying to duplicate his looks in our lives rather than his heart.

Isaiah’s prophecy doesn’t suggest to me that Jesus was ugly or deformed.  It just suggests that on the outside he looked like an ordinary man.  He didn’t look presidential and in our media saturated world of image, he would have never gotten the nomination for president because he didn’t look the part – tall, slender, handsome, polished, athletic, thick haired, etc.  By the way, our best presidents have not fit that image. Lincoln was tall but not handsome or polished.  Franklin Roosevelt was tied to a wheelchair, which he kept from the public.  Theodore Roosevelt wore glasses, was stocky, somewhat short and brash.  From all accounts, George Washington would not have struck you as a general or president if you had simply met him on the street.

I think God left us to look at the heart of Jesus rather than his outward appearance. If Jesus had ordinary or even less than ordinary looks, he had something on the inside that transcended his looks.  How many teachers today could hold the attention of crowds for three days while they sat in open fields and went without food just to hear him?  Who among us today could have temple police sent to arrest him but would return empty handed saying. “No man ever spoke like this man!” How many preachers among us today would have sinners flock to him without a world-class praise band and light show and give their lives to the kingdom of God?  Something within Jesus was transformative.  I believe it was the love of God and the hope of eternal life that flowed out of his heart giving life to those who were dying to be loved.

Jesus challenges us. Do we spend more time each day thinking about our appearance and the outward trappings of life or do we spend more time developing the heart of Christ within us?  I’m not saying that Christians should take on an ascetic lifestyle giving no thought to the physical.  Please shower, shave, comb your hair and … ladies put on your makeup.  But at the end of the day, do we think more about the externals of our lives or whether our hearts were directed by the presence of Jesus that day?

Imagine a world where late night television was no longer filled with adds about loosing weight so you could slip on your new bikini or about hair transplants, facelifts or the newest wrinkle creams.  What if there were no infomercials about getting rich quick and grabbing the big house with the luxury status cars?  Instead, what if late night television had infomercials about forgiving those who have wounded you, learning to love the poor, doubling your prayer life rather than your income or loosing excessive anger?

Okay, I know those things can’t be purchased in a box or sold like a product. But my point is that we should hunger after those things more than all the products offered to enhance our appearance and perception by others. If God doesn’t look at the appearance of a man but at the heart, we should have the same priorities. We don’t remember Jesus for his looks but for his life, his words and his heart. The same will be true about us.  Lord, give us the heart of Jesus today in every circumstance and for every person. Be blessed.