I have to ask, reverently, “would Jesus fail a lookalike competition?” I
do so in response to my son having seen the quintessence of the western
stereotype of Jesus – you know, long dark hair, blue eyes, gentle face, tall, pale
skin … whatever.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but He was more likely dark skinned, with
brown eyes. He may have had reddish hair, as David did. Less than tall. With
the strong, stocky frame of an artisan. After all, He was Aramaic and from a
blue-collar town with a bad reputation.
He could well have been said to be from the other side of the tracks,
because Nazareth was even despised by the Galileans who were generally
disdained by the rest of Israel. It was like those in the Bronx regarding the
West Bronx as a lesser slum.
As such, Jesus would have had an artisan look about Him. Indeed, He was recognized
as coming from that tough neighborhood, but whether that was just because He
was known or because He had a ‘Nazarene’ look about Him, I am not sure.
Jesus was also an Essene, a sect apart from either the Pharisees or the Sadducees,
known for its oaths of poverty and piety. They were strictly communal and
refused to hire slaves, choosing to do their own manual labor. So Jesus was a
poor, working class man.
Wow, I bet I have debunked most of your images of the Savior. It was
such a harsh community that half of them were happy to tip Jesus down the
hillside. Yet, the religious community had strict rabbinical traditions that
required Jesus to train and qualify as a priest.
All said and done, it is in the abstract context that we find the
greatest differences. Our human ideals offer mixed takes, ranging from
sentimental to realistic. Many have idolized Him and expect Him to be a knight
in shining armor, a mighty deliverer, and so on.
Don’t feel alone in all of this. Biblical opinions ranged from “just a
carpenter’s son” to Elijah or some other prophet. Many thought He was just
another self-appointed prophet – Israel battled with such souls as much as we
do today.
As such, Jesus asked Peter what the general view was, before asking the
big fisherman for his own thoughts. The famed, “You are the Christ”, was Peter’s
reply. It hit him so hard that his life was never normal again, which accounted
for his violent death.
The woman at the well also battled to contextualize Him. They were
expecting the Messiah and caught between their view that Samaria was the center
of Judaism, and the traditionalist view that Jerusalem was it. Jesus accepted
neither.
He also saw right through her to the essence of her personal crisis,
causing her to proclaim, “surely you are a prophet”. When she added, “Messiah is
coming and He will show us all things”, He replied, “He that speaks to you is
He”. She got it as did the rest of her community.
The irony of that was that the Samaritans, another outcast, marginalized
community, got the truth before the rest of Jewry did. They embraced the third
way, of worshiping in spirit, not in a place or a particular time, and
worshiping the reality of God, rather than a symbolic façade.
John the Baptist had his own internal conflict, asking from jail whether
they should expect someone else. Jesus referred his cousin to the evidence
surrounding his life and left it there, but when John arrived in paradise, with
head in hand, he finally got it.
Had John asked the other disciples, they would have said, "what manner of man is this that even the winds and waves obey Him", but it was a Roman soldier who fitting had the last word with, "Surely this man was the Son of God".
Why? He saw it in the eyes and heard it in the excited voices of the souls
who had waited so long for his arrival. It was the greatest witness of all. How
can I say that? Because the rich man in purple, who suddenly had every reason
to repent and cry out in fear, was King Herod.
The greatest reason why Jesus had to go to heaven was to avoid being idolized
as a man. They would have turned Him into a cult hero and missed the entire
objective of His ministry, which actually was never about Him at all. He came
to reconcile us to His father.
That thought is echoed in Ephesians 4, which speaks of the ministries
given to the church. Paul says, “These must continue until we all ….” They were
never meant to be an end unto themselves, but the means to a greater end: that
we become like Christ.
Now that brings the subject to a noble climax. What does Jesus look
like? Well ultimately He will be revealed through His church and as Ephesians 3
says, “we will, with all saints, comprehend the length, breadth and depth, and
know the love of Christ”.
Had Jesus stayed among us, He would have been limited to His own body,
but we would have turned Him into a Golden Calf. Instead He left us bodily, so
that His spirit could indwell and transform us into the living evidence of
Christ on earth.
Those who get that, will yet meet Him face to face. Now they see through
a veil, a glass darkly, but then face to face. Yet when they do, I suspect that
many will not know it. Yet those who have walked the long miles in His company,
will single Him out.
His sheep know His voice. I saw some blindfolded children feel a group
of women and select their moms based on smells, touch, and so on. I can’t tell
exactly what made them so sure, but every child found the right mom.
In the same way, every child of God who has walked with Jesus, will find
Him in the throngs above and they will unerringly fall before Him to say, “My
Lord”. They will know Him, by His voice, His presence, His wounds, His
heartbeat. And they will be right.
However, many others will either cower from Him or feign familiarity and He will then say, "Actually I don't know you, never have".
(c) Peter Missing: bethelstone@gmail.com
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