The face of Christ

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him (Isaiah 53:2).

What does Jesus look like?

There are many paintings of Jesus, but none of those artists ever saw the Lord face to face. Typically, they show Jesus with shoulder length brown hair, a beard and a mustache. Most paintings depict Him with fair skin and blue eyes. But it’s all guesswork; the Bible never describes the man who died on the cross and rose from the dead.

All we know about Jesus’ looks is that He was average in appearance. Isaiah said, He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. In other words, Jesus looked like a typical Jew of His day. He would have had long brown hair, a beard and a mustache, just like the paintings show. But His skin was darker than most of us picture it to be. He probably had brown eyes, and was not a tall man. To the casual observer, Jesus was nothing special.

Yet that ordinary-looking man was actually the holy Son of God. One day He went to a solitary place with the three men He was closest to—Peter, James, and John. While they were there, Jesus showed them a glimpse of what was hidden beneath tanned skin and sun-bleached hair: His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Then a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!" (Luke chapter 9) This experience frightened Jesus’ friends out of their wits; thankfully, the Lord soon resumed His ordinary appearance.

We don’t know what Jesus looked like, but we do know this—His ordinary human features concealed the holiness of God, a glory too frightening to look at. Jesus appeared like a regular guy for our benefit—He made it possible for us to see love on the face of God, and to approach Him with confidence instead of fear. And Jesus did not set out to wow us with His handsome looks or fashionable clothes; what He said was far more important. His words are words of forgiveness, hope, and eternal life. His words were carefully recorded so we can still hear them today. His words are God’s words, and we would do well to listen carefully.