What does Jesus look like?
Is he the blond-hair, blue-eyed,
fair-skinned image we often see hanging on the walls of churches? In the sanctuary and foyer of the St. Charles
Catholic Church in Pryor (Montana) the image of Jesus is Native American—dark
hair, brown eyes, and dark complexion.
There are as many images of Jesus as there are cultures in the world . .
. African, Japanese, Russian, and Aboriginal from Australia. There is the very Arabic Jesus image derived
from the Shroud of Turin. All of these
are images of what people think Jesus looks like . . . hundreds, thousands of
images. And, yet, no one knows what
Jesus really looks like.
That is the problem . . . no one knows. There are no pictures of him as there were no
cameras when he was alive. There were no
paintings of him while he was alive, after all, he was no one famous at the
time—just a trouble-maker. All the
pictures of Jesus we have are what artists imagine he looked like . . . often
tainted by their own cultures.
We have no written description of Jesus
in the New Testament . . . there is
nothing that gives us a verbal picture of what Jesus looked like. We do have over in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 53, a description of the coming Messiah
known as the “suffering servant”. Isaiah
writes in verses two and three: “He has no stately form or majesty that we
should look upon him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hid their
face. He was despised, and we did not
esteem him.” (Isaiah
53:2-3, NIV)
The bottom line is that no one knows
what Jesus looks like . . . we just don’t know.
But, inquiring minds want to know . . . it is our human nature to want
to know. Plus, if we can picture
Jesus—know what Jesus looks like, our reading this morning tells us we will
know what God looks like. How cool is
that! The writer of the letter to the
congregation in Colossae says it as plain as day: “The Son is the image of the
invisible God . . .”
Thus, it only makes sense that to know
the Son is to know God. Yet, we are
stuck with that quandary . . . what does Jesus look like? Do you know?
If I asked everyone here this morning to draw a picture of Jesus, we
would have as many different images as we have people in the pews.
Yet, at the same time I think that we
can try to come up with an image of Jesus that we can all agree on. To do this we need to take a different
approach. I want you to think of Jesus
and what he represents . . . think of his attributes . . . think of the things
that he was passionate about. For
example: Jesus was compassionate . . . he showed compassion to others. Here are some more words we could use to
describe Jesus: merciful, forgiving, love, peace, patient, companion,
passionate, justice, joyful, caring, and faithful. I imagine that there are even more words that
we could add to the list of how we see Jesus . . . of who he is.
Are you getting a mental image of
Jesus? Are you beginning to see
him? As we consider the attributes and
what he represents, we begin to get a picture of who Jesus is—the essence of
who he is. This is not a physical
picture that we are seeing . . . it is a spiritual picture. And, as we begin to see Jesus, we begin to
see God. Jesus is the reflection of
God. If we can see Jesus, we can see
God.
Our reading this morning is a response
to the congregation in Colossae and the seemingly innocent mingling of pagan
practices into their worship and faith.
They were kind of mucking up the water.
The first part of the letter is a “teaching moment”, while the second
part is “practical moment”. The writer
wants the congregation to know that when it comes to faith and living one’s
faith that there is only one way . . . God’s way. God’s way as demonstrated by Jesus. Jesus comes to reveal God and God’s
ways. Focus upon that and things will be
fine. As the early church was fond of
saying, “Jesus is the way.” Jesus is the
revelation of God and God’s will for all of creation. Thus, the writer implores the congregation to
get back to the foundation . . . back to the basics . . . as demonstrated
through the words and life of Jesus. In
other words, the congregation—the gathering of the faithful . . . the
“church”—should be like Jesus.
Another way of seeing what Jesus looks
like is to look at the “church”. How
many times have you heard it said that the “church” is the presence of Christ
in the world? The writer in the letter
alludes to this when the writer says: “And he is the head of the body, the church
. . .” The problem with the
congregation or “church” in Colossae is that what they were presenting to the
world was not Jesus; thus, the admonishment of the writer to the congregation
to put Jesus central in all that they did . . . to do what Jesus would do. This was important because this would be the
image of Jesus that the world sees.
Seeing it this way, it probably makes us
step back and wonder about our present time as a congregation . . . as a
“church”. As you look around you at
the “church”—not this one in particular, but at the “church” in general, would
you say that the image people have of it is one that shows them Jesus? From looking at the “church” are people
seeing that image of Jesus and, ultimately God?
Are they discovering all of those attributes that we used to describe
what Jesus looked like . . . or have they come to see something else?
One argument is that what the world is
seeing today as “church” is a far cry from the description of who Jesus and God
are. It has been said that is one of the
reasons why denominations and churches have seen a staggering decline in
membership and participation. Many see
“church” today as removed from Jesus squabbling over dogma and politics . . .
see the “church” as a hypocrite . . . that it does not represent Jesus. Such was the situation in the Colossian
church. The writer’s purpose and goal
was to bring them back . . . to bring them back to God.
This then becomes something we must
consider in our time and place as we search to see Jesus . . . to see the
“holy”. As individuals we see Jesus in
others when they display and live those attributes and virtues that make Jesus
who he is . . . when they are living all those descriptive words we mentioned
earlier. When people live as Jesus
lived, we see Jesus. In many
congregations one of the greetings between the faithful was “the Jesus in me
greets the Jesus in you.” In others, we
see Jesus . . . we see the “holy”.
We also see Jesus through the
congregation . . . through the “church”.
If the congregation is striving to live as Jesus lived, we see the
“holy”. When the “church” works towards
those attributes and virtues of who Jesus is, it becomes the image of Jesus in
the world.
And, Jesus “. . . is the image of the
invisible God . . .”
The call of the writer is for those who
read the letter to be a conduit to the world around them of what Jesus looks
like and is . . . to become that image of Christ. Thus, it is that those of us who are the
followers of Jesus could be the only glimpse of Jesus that others see and
experience. Because of that it is
important that we give a clear picture of Jesus who is the image of God. That image will be shared through how we live
up to those descriptors we used to describe Jesus . . . how we embrace
compassion, love, grace, peace, and justice . . . how we are willing to welcome
and embrace others who are different from us . . . how we set the table so that
all may participate . . . how we work together for the common good of all . . .
how we be like Jesus.
We do it as individuals . . . we do it
as a congregation—the body of Christ.
What does Jesus look like? Look around and tell me. Amen.
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