What If?

He had no form or comeliness

that we should look at him,

and no beauty that we should desire him.

                                                 — Isaiah 53:2b

In every Hollywood portrayal of Jesus I have ever seen and every painting or drawing depicting Him, he is always represented as ruggedly handsome.

Almost every aspect of creation has two extremes so that each can be understood by what it is not. Without rainy days, unending beautiful weather would not be considered glorious. Cold and heat, dark and light, Tall and short, beautiful and ugly — each has its opposite.

In the former post, "More Handsome than He," we noted how humans tend to hold beautiful people in higher regard. That despite the fact that most of us are of average looks — or worse. How would you like to be on the short end of the stick, the one who was created homely so the rest of us could know what real beauty is?

I suspect the Jewish people of Jesus day were also expecting their Messiah to be a handsome personage. The passage cited at the top of the page, however, seems to indicate that Jesus' outward appearance was not particularly attractive.

What if the baby laying in the manger, born humbly in a stable, and wrapped in swaddling clothes was actually hard to look upon? Don't you tend to picture in your mind's eye a beautiful, wide-eyed baby in this setting? But what if the humiliation was complete and, not only did Christ leave the glory of heaven to experience the human condition, not only did He enter into our world by being born in a cow barn, but his outward features were less than perfect? What if He were, say, extremely short?

The first part of the passage cited above indicates that the reference is to Jesus' early life. "He grew up before him (the Father) like a young plant."I once thought verse 3 was describing His visage after he was beaten on the day of His crucifixion. Now, however, I wonder if it doesn't describe His entire life before that day. What if the Pharisees despised him, in part, because he didn't meet their expectations for what the Messiah should look like? What if it were even more than that? What if He were "as one from whom men hide their faces (verse 3)?

"That it should be so should probably not surprise us at all. The Father tends to do what we least expect. In regard to us who live on this side of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, Peter said, "Without having seen him you love him; though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy (I Peter 1:8)."

Appearance is ephemeral. Even the most beautiful buildings eventually fall into ruin. "All flesh is grass" as it were. May we learn to esteem what is truly valuable.