Jesus was not beautiful
29 Nov 2007 21 Comments
in church, life Tags: Christianity, image, Jesus, picture
How do you see Jesus? Do you see him as white eyed, brown curly hair, lamb over his shoulder like in this picture?
Do you see him brown eyed? Clear complexion? Perfect face? Beautiful?
I was listening to the radio today, and I heard a sonwg I’ve heard a lot, but I have not heard the full version. Well, at the end of the song they quote Isaiah. I remember hearing this verse, a WHOLE LOT, but it never struck me. I looked it up, and as I read, I was shocked.
Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He (Jesus) 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.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
As I read verse 2b-3 something clicked:
“He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
Jesus was not beautiful physically. Just saying it sounds wrong, and I almost feel like I should say that I’m sorry for saying it. Unless the Bible is wrong, which I believe it isn’t…it clearly says that Jesus was not beautiful. “Like one from whom men hide their faces.” Wow. That’s REPULSION. That’s ugly. That’s not the picture of Jesus I see in story books. My picture of Jesus is wrong, and it’s okay that it is. I don’t typically try and picture Jesus, but I admit, when I do, he’s normally white haired and brown eyed with a white robe. Reality check-he was probably Middle Eastern, and his robe was probably not white (or if it once was, it is now brown).
The quote from Todd Agnew’s song My Jesus keeps playing through my head. “Who is this that you follow? This picture of the American Dream? If Jesus would you walk right by on the other side or fall down and worship at his Holy feet?” I don’t think I’d recognise Jesus, and I think I miss him a lot of times as I journey in life. I think I saw him today though. He was in a little old lady at the dollar tree who staired at me, I think he was in the seriously handicapped kid on campus, I think he is all around me, and I pass him by every day.
What’s your picture of Jesus?
Nov 29, 2007 @ 07:50:14
Thanks for making me think today. Like your blog.
Gina
Nov 29, 2007 @ 09:22:37
Thanks for reading my blog. It’s nice to meet you, Gina. Cute dog by the way!
Nov 29, 2007 @ 22:56:26
Never really read it that way before. You’re right though…it seems “wrong” to think of Jesus as not being beautiful. It makes perfect sense though. God wants our hearts; our inner beauty. We are all created in His image, so there He is in everyone we meet. We are commanded to love our neighbors and our enemies.
Good post.
Nov 30, 2007 @ 08:27:20
God created us in his image….wow. Thanks for making me think, David.
Mar 27, 2008 @ 22:41:18
I resisted the urge to read Isaiah 53 in its entirety on Easter morning as the call to worship. I was interested in “by his stripes we are healed” and “he was wounded for our transgressions.” You’re right of course. Jesus, as a human being in the flesh, was average at best, perhaps less than average. He would have been short, dark complected, black hair (or very dark brown), brown eyes. He was a Jew in the first century. Our images of Jesus are still based on Renaissance portraits of Jesus, when Europeans made him look they themselves. He wasn’t beautiful. Satan, however, often illustrated as scary and ugly, is described in the Bible as very beautiful. Sin looks beautiful to us at the time we are tempted: I guess looks aren’t everything.
Mar 27, 2008 @ 22:44:39
Clark, that’s a good point about Saten looking beautiful. I’ve never thought about that. Thanks for the comment, and for making me think. Stop by anytime.
Apr 20, 2008 @ 20:42:09
Well What is your measure of beauty? He was sinless and loved like nobody else and that’s pretty darn beautiful to me ya know? LIke beauty isn’t just on the outside. People were repulsed by him because they rejected his words i think not so much cuz of what he looked like! SOmething to ponder be pensive about actually to ponder pensively!
i love you!
Apr 25, 2008 @ 02:00:14
At a camp i went to here in Tasmania, Australia (i don’t know where u guys are from).. I made the decision to become Christian. Now, i have only been a Christian for 45 days now, yet this really disappoints me that you could really say that Jesus is not beautiful. Without Jesus, you would not be beautiful at all. Jesus was the most precious soul to EVER walk this earth & will always be so. Jesus died for YOU, whats not beautiful about that? You dont need brown eyes & georgous flowing hair to be beautiful.
*JESUS IS BEATUTIFUL!*
Remember that, no matter what anyone else says.
Apr 25, 2008 @ 18:25:15
Jackie.
Yes, Jesus is beautiful spiritually. He was not beautiful in a physical sense. I think you said it right when you said “You don’t need brown eyes and georgous flowing hair to be beautiful” What I was saying is that Jesus was not physically attractive.
Thank you for your comment.
Keep chasing hard after Him.
Joy
May 13, 2008 @ 19:13:24
Indeed, inner beauty is all there really is. And Truth is very beautiful!
May 22, 2008 @ 00:11:24
Friday March 21st was Good Friday, I gave a ride to a person who appeared to be homeless, or in need of a ride. He was walking along the road in the snow wearing a thin jacket, jeans and sneakers. He held a plastic bag with some of his belongings, he carried a blanket, and on his back was a rolled up sleeping bag. I had just left a church service and was thinking of Jesus. No sooner was he in the car, he brought up the name of Jesus. I said “I love Jesus too!” And tried to give him a fist tap like the pro athletes do, he only held up his hand as if he never saw that before. He immediately stated that he was a preacher and had many churches and wanted more churches. He said he wanted more churches but not store front churches. We drove along and I was babbling about soulwinning and steetpreaching. I brought up a famous preacher from the early 1900′s named Billy Sunday. He said “I know Billy Sunday.” Many more words were spoken, and he mentioned some things that had happened in my life. I kept babbling on about this or that, when we came to red light I looked over at him and he just gave me a look like he not only heard everything I had said before, but he knew my entire story inside out. He stated that he believed that Jesus was with him. And I said “You gotta believe.” He said “No, you don’t gotta believe, it is good to believe.” When I finally dropped him off, I was only able to realize who this man was deep down on the inside. I felt it in my soul but not on the outside. I thought about saying something, but I didn’t and I don’t know why. But I am sure that he knew I was finally figuring it all out. All I can say is that i love him, he is wonderful and I thank him for caring about me. He looked like the Jewish man that the BBC showed on an old documentary. His hair was not wooly, it was straight and parted in the middle. He was a tall gangly man, he took up the whole seat in the front of my car. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I would not use that word for a description, I like to use the word WONDERFUL!!!
Aug 31, 2008 @ 16:34:20
Jesus is the most carring being the ever was, present and is to come… i saw his face in the clouds as if the clouds was dripping painting in the night sky and i can remember seeing his beautiful eyes with love and compassion for me. He holds me through the darkness and keeps me safe when evil is all around me… the idea i have in my minds eye when i think about him is him carring the cross on his back, feeling intense pain, thinking of you and I, knowing he couldn’t stop there because he loved us way to much, he just kept going with the heavy cross on his back with determed eyes know that we are worth it. He makes all things new and that is Jesus the beautiful rose to me.
Sep 18, 2008 @ 21:08:42
2For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
Use the KING JAMES 1611, not the new international PERversion! or the HIV, it is much better than calling it the NIV.
The NIV removes “begotten” from john 3:16 (places it in a foot note that no one reads) it removes over 60 THOUSAND words; and the king james is a word-to-word direct translation (any added words are italicized).
What are you using? a plastic butter knife or God’s TRUE Word?
Jan 16, 2009 @ 19:39:07
i m sorry i know historicaly it might be true if uwe seperate him from mythical Jesus. But it hurts. i cant accept it. or my mind wants to see him the way he is denying and rejecting facts.
May 01, 2010 @ 04:01:06
JESUS IS BEAUTIFUL. AND HE WAS BEAUTIFUL WHEN HE CAME INTO THIS WORLD AS A SAVIOR.
ISAIAH 53 REFERS TO THE TIME OF CRUCIFICATION OF CHRIST WHERE HE WAS PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY ABUSED AND TORMENTED AND THIS IS THE TIME HE LOST HIS CHARM AND LOOKED AS LIKE THE WAY HE WAS DESCRIBED IN ISAIAH 53. THAT WAS THE MOMENT HE CARRIED ALL SINS OF MANKIND AND BORE IT IN HIS SINLESS BODY. IF U READ CAREFULLY EACH PASSAGE U WILL DEFINITELY REALISE EACH LINE IS WRITTEN OF HIS CRUCIFICATION…LIKE NOT OPENING HIS MOUTH LIKE A SHEEP……. ETC. ETC.
JESUS IS REFERRED AS THE FAIREST OF THOUSANDS…HE IS NOT UGLY AS DESCRIBED BY YOU.
Sep 27, 2010 @ 19:23:54
Amen and furthermore Ive thought many a lass than average man by standards of beauty were hot as all hell because of their personality and intelligence. FURTHER he was physically fit, not bald and in Good health, these days thats FAR above average.
Jul 17, 2010 @ 23:00:48
“He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.”
That scripture does not mean Jesus was ugly, it just means that He was like an ordinary man in appearance. They didn’t know who He really was. I know when I see Him one day, I will fall on my knees at His feet, and I know He is beautiful. Maybe not like European depictions, but beautiful nonetheless.
“He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
This scripture is just saying how much He was hated, not that He was ugly.
Oct 14, 2010 @ 12:59:24
YES JESUS WAS NOT AN ATTRACTIVE PERSON
Mar 18, 2011 @ 21:43:43
One must read Isaiah 52 before going to 53. “his visage was marred more than any other man and his form more than the sons of men.” (Is. 52:14) And then you read in the Gospels of His beating before being crucified, of course He wouldn’t look good after that, unrecognizeable! But He was, “beautiful,” as it tells us in the Psalms. He had to be. He was the, “perfect lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” He had to be spotless and perfect every way to be an acceptable sacrifice. If the first Adam, being made in the image of God was perfect, how can, “God in the flesh,” not be? It is impossible! When people say he was just an ordinary Joe or Jesus, they are just plain wrong. Children loved him, mainly because they were attracted by His beauty, his friendly and kind appearance. Children don’t tend to go to people who look hedious or ugly, they get scared. He is the rose of Sharon. . . He’s the altogether lovely and His banner over us is love. “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.” Ps. 50:1 Take heart, there is and never was one more beautiful than our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jan 12, 2012 @ 21:27:28
I’m a little late to the party – 2012 reply and all. But you must think about what you say. That last verse, ‘Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty’ is talking about Zion not the earth where Jesus came as a baby. If Jesus was ‘perfect in beauty’ what person would not be attracted to him? Imagine a gorgeous model doing the things that Jesus did – hanging out with fisherman, poor people, lepers. It would be silly. Jesus did not come into this world as a model.. He came as an average/ordinary looking person. Perfect Beauty would have distracted from the Gospel. His beauty came from within, and that is what attracted the Lost to Him and His message.