Tuesday, 06 January 2009
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My Ugly Savior?
Guest post submitted by crevis05
So, throughout my life, I've heard things about Jesus like, "He is beautiful, and He would have the most amazing eyes ever." Anytime Jesus' looks were talked about, the general consession was that He was a good-looking man, like Brad Pitt, or Jared Leto.
That is totally false. Jesus probably wasn't a very good looking person. Isaiah 53:2 says He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
Do you think Jesus was this total hunk? What are your thoughts on an ugly Messiah?
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About the Author
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- From: crevis05@xanga
- Name: Travis
- Location: Lima, Ohio, United States
- About Me: I have this deep desire of late to help people. Mostly the poor, decrepit, hurt people. Which is just about everyone. So, I'm trying to figure out what God wants me to do about it.
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Comments (72)
I think it comforts people to think that the person they're trying to be like aligns with some of the characteristics we value as a society; hence people would like to think they're following someone who not only has the great personality but the great looks as well.
Many depictions of Jesus are false.
I don't think anyone cares to correct them though.
i guess i've always thought of Jesus as an "every-man"... more of an average joe....and as you look around, that's what most of us are. he was probably handsome to some, just like all of us have different things that we value in other's appearance. likewise, vice versa.
I'm guessing he was pretty average.
A lot of girls seem to get caught up into this "I'm dating Jesus" mentality and start thinking of him that way...it's a little creepy if you think about it. Being sexually attracted to Jesus (even if you pretend that somehow romance is not sexual) is really missing the point.
I think He is beautiful because of who He is, not what He looks like.
Scripture states that Jesus looked like every other Jewish guy out there... nothing that'll have Him stick out that attracts anyone...
But one does have to consider the notion that Jesus wasn't some namby pamby guy... He was a carpenter by trade... which means He probably had guns and was built... but so were fishermen...
so yea...
His beauty is not what is considered beautiful by today's standerds. It is who Jesus is that makes him beautiful. Jesus couldn't have been a hunk, think of this in practical terms. Most people would probably be to intimated to go talk to a hunky Jesus.
For some it probably brings comfort to thinkk of Jesus as beautiful or hunky but I take comfort in knowing he was normal looking and that he didn't try marketing himself as someone extra special
must it all come back to looks?
you know.. it really makes me sad that that our society today is so based on what someone looks like.. not who they are.
if anything could have made him "ugly" it was all of our sins that hung with Him on the cross.
I'm still trying to figure out why we have the image of him wearing a white shirt* with a red jacket* and long dark blond hair.
(or the equivalent 2000 years ago)
@Blue_Dragon_Designs@xanga - agreed!
I think Jesus's beauty has nothing to do with looks or outward appearance (which should be meaningless to all of us, but isn't, unfortunately). He's beautiful because of Who He IS.
Oops, just saw Blue_Dragon_Designs' reply. Obviously, I agree.
I'm not sure this necessarily means that Jesus was necessarily ugly; it's unclear to me how literally we can take this description as it pertains to Christ Himself. In the hindsight of the Revelation of Jesus as the Christ, the God-man, we can read Isaiah's words here as something of a prophecy toward Jesus. Yet we also must be careful not to fall back on incorrect notions of 'prophecy' as prophets gazing into a Judeo-Christian crystal ball looking toward Jesus' day or our own. These particular words may find their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus, but Isaiah is writing in his own context. It is unclear whether the unattractive one here, the 'suffering servant', is Israel or the prophet himself or whoever else, but the text operates on at least two different levels and literally toward the immediate context.
An example of what I'm trying to say, and why I'm trying to say it: When Isaiah comforts Hezekiah with the Immanuel prophecy - 'God with us' - he himself is speaking to the immediate situation. In the midst of the imminent siege and destruction that the kingdom is facing - when it appears that everyone will be exterminated - it is a joyful word to hear from the LORD that a woman in the kingdom will be alive long enough to have a child and raise him; and the name embodies the nature of the joyful word: God is indeed with the children of Israel. Now, in hindsight, with the Revelation of the Christ, we can see how St. Mary and Jesus Christ our Lord actually and completely fulfill this prophecy. But we must allow Holy Scripture to speak on both levels - or, so to speak, allow Isaiah to speak to his immediate situation and not steamrolling that with the eschatological fulfillment. God has always been with His people; God has always been saving His people. We see this in the siege of Isaiah's day; we see this most fully in Jesus Christ our Lord. But Isaiah is speaking to a specific situation; as to whether Isaiah is looking into a crystal ball and seeing that Jesus Christ our Lord is going to be ugly, I would say that's doubtful.
Please let me be clear. I'm not saying Jesus wasn't ugly or that this verse is wrong in reference to His appearance; I just think it's unqualified to jump to that conclusion.
However, on the other side of things, I think it is good for Christians to accept the reality of Jesus' potential ugliness. It's interesting to me what the vested interests are when we *MUST* have a physically beautiful Saviour; it betrays something of our priorities. Personally, I have never had a problem imagining Jesus as an ugly man or an average-looking man or a handsome man or whatever; but this has more to do with the fact that (1) I'm a man and don't need an 'attractive' Saviour to be attracted to Him, and (2) I didn't think about it much growing up. So I don't fault people who have an 'awakening' about Jesus being
i don't think Jesus was physically attractive. He was probably an average guy - just like the verse in this blog stated. What drew people to him was not his looks but his words ...
You can say the same about David, he wasn't a "looker" just a regular guy, but something about his heart was better "looking" than his brothers.
I don't think his outer beauty should make a difference. He's freakin' Jesus Christ. He's a savior! It shouldn't make a difference what he looked like.
I think Jesus was average-looking, but that two things are true.
He is beautiful, and I do believe He had amazing eyes.
I believe He is and was beautiful because He has the most beautiful heart and personality of anyone who has ever lived. That would come out on the outside. I don't think He was physically beautiful in the Brad Pitt sense (as Isaiah said), but I also don't think the pure love coming from Him could help but be attractive to people.
I also believe He had amazing eyes, not in the sense, again, like a Brad Pitt, but because of the divine love shining out from them. Have you ever been looked at by someone with a look of absolute love? Imperfect humans can melt our hearts with a look like that. Think about the power of God's love shining out of a man's eyes, looking at you with His full attention. It's no wonder people followed Yeshua.
I believe Jesus was average on purpose, so that no one could ever claim that His physical appearance or attributes were the reasons people followed Him, and also so that average people could identify with Him.
I now want to take a slight Devil's Advocate position and remember that Isaiah 53 is a prophecy that is mostly in the context of Jesus' suffering and passion. As I said above, I believe Jesus was average-looking, but I believe it may be possible (maybe not?) to interpret that verse as a comment on Jesus' appearance during his passion, during the time that He was beaten and crucified. I'm not 100% sure it's commenting on Him in general, though I know it may be.
http://www.shroud.com/
The shroud is contriversial because all the scientific humanists out there have lined up to say that it is a hoax. I say, just look at the evidence and decide for your self whether you want to believe that the shoud was part of his burial clothes or not.
It is thought that this shroud was over his dead body in the tomb for the 3 days after the crucifixion and that while being resurected his image was passed onto the cloth by the power emanating from him - much like a full sized sheet of film.
Just like with film, the image is negative. Look at the image both ways (they have both on the website). Science has no other plausible or reasonable explanation of how this image could have been burnt into this cloth. Personally I believe that this is His image, for a couple reasons. 1) That much power flowing into a humanoid body would have caused SOMETHING to happen to the cloth that was covering it. I am more amazed that these grave clothes did not just burst into flames all together. 2) Knowing human nature as it exists the grave clothes of Jesus would have been kept and preserved at the risk of lives, down through the ages, whether they had an image on them or whether they were just a pile of ashes. They would have been preserved just like the bones of the martyrs have been.
If this truely is an image of our Lord in his eartly body then we can learn several things. First we have never seen a painting or an actor that looks like this man.
Jesus was a big man. Was he "good looking"? Well, as a guy, myself, I am no judge of that. Guys I think are "good looking" my wife says are "baby faced" or something. I'll leave it to you girls to figure that one out. Anyway, this is an image of a big man, well over 6 feet, much taller that the average guy out there. If you look at the images he sort of reminds me of "Hulk Hogan". He was big and tall. He was not fat. He had the look of a man that men would follow into a battle had he chosen to do such a thing. He was a real "Man's Man". No soft little meek and mild wimp, here.
i think people forget that humanity's concept of beauty changes with time. the most obvious difference would have been with body type... Jesus was probably some scrawny little thing, which was totally unattractive to any woman who would have wanted to know that her man is wealthy enough to eat a whole lot. on the other hand, uber skinny guys are exactly my type, so i may have found it very hot.
Who cares what he looked like?
Jesus is God.
C. S. Lewis once made an interesting observation: Whatever your mental picture is of Jesus, I bet you've never pictured Him as shorter than you.
I never thought about what Jesus looked like in appearance. Beauty is also defined differently by everyone. I agreed that Jesus is beautiful because of WHO HE IS. Beauty comes from the inside is more important than the outside.
I've read several opinions, some from Christian books and surprisingly also from a secular book. I remember reading 'Searching for God Knows What' by Donald Miller, and he graces the subject in an interesting way. Would society be offended by an ugly Jesus? Our society is so focused on physical appearance that it would be horrendous to see perhaps a fat Jesus, or a weak, scrawny Jesus. Like John's disciples, people would ask, "Are you really the Messiah or should be expect someone else?" Someone more pretty, more handsome, more leading, with a more powerful stature and eyes full of thunder?
@Romans_837@xanga - Yeah, I also wonder the history of how we arrived to that kind of Jesus. It's funny yet saddening how over time humans try to align their God in their image, in the way they want him to look like. Eventually over time, God isn't God anymore.
I never thought of this. Cool.
Is it supposed to matter what he looked like?
I think to the world he would be 'ugly' because that's what God wanted; but to me, he will always be the most beautiful Person EVER
@leadworshipper82 - don't you think the 40 days of fasting probably took care of the "guns"?