These
are images I've photographed or scanned from book and DVD covers, from museums or galleries, from right off the TV screen, but mostly from the public domain. These are but a tiny fraction of what's out there. You know who this is.
Or, is it?...
Before we consider that, let's take a look at human nature for a moment. We humans will often consider the looks or appearance of people and make a judgement
about the person based on that. If the person looks good to us, we'll often think that the person himself or herself is "good", or qualified. There are several examples of this in the Old Testament. Saul and Absolom are two of them. Samuel made that mistake when God sent him to Jesse's family (Samuel 16). God Himself said that man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. People are often
voted into office based on looks, or image, rather than character or ability. Often, if a person is "ugly" in appearance, they don't stand a chance of winning an election or being popular.
Which brings me to a thought. Why was Jesus rejected, not only by the leaders, but by virtually all the
common folk -- especially when the leaders could clearly see that He fulfilled ALL of the prophesies about the Messiah? There are several obvious reasons. First, he was challenging them to give up the sin in their lives. Second, everyone had been taught that the Messiah would be a great military and political leader, and kick the Romans out!
There are probably other reasons, too, but one more that is overlooked is that Jesus wasn't a good-looking man. Isaiah said of Jesus as He appeared on the scene,
before the awful day in which He was crucified, —"...he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him." Jesus' looks didn't cater to the weakness of man, who "looks on the outside". So, while they willingly accepted His healing and free food, they ultimately rejected Him, and perhaps one reason was that He didn't "look" the part of the great Messiah that had been built up in their minds.
Look at the pictures above. While we like to picture Jesus in those ways, He didn't look like that. Those pictures depict a handsome Jesus, one that would appeal
to the masses, one that would win an election, or popularity contest. He did none of those.
But, that probably holds true for today, too. How is Jesus presented to the masses of today? How would we make Him more appealing?…. (continued next week)
