WHO IS THAT MAN?
“Come sit down and let’s have breakfast together.”
They sat on the beach and Jesus
served everyone some of the bread and fish
He had prepared.
(Paraphrase John 21:12-13)
I guess the best way to describe her might be to say she was forthright. Outspoken. Uninhibited. Very intelligent. A devout Believer. We had been visiting for some time and at one point in the conversation she said, “I saw Jesus during that confrontation!” Bill very quietly asked, “What did He look like?” Her answer was without a moment’s hesitation: “Like the picture hanging on the wall in my bedroom. How would I have known it was Jesus otherwise?”
And you may form your own opinion about that dogmatic statement. But let me ask you, what does Jesus look like? Have you spent enough time with Him that you would recognize Him should He walk around your block?
We aren’t given physical characteristics are we, but there are scriptures that give us some clues. For instance, He was a Jew. What is the general physical appearance of a Jew? Isaiah helps when he says, But in our eyes there was no attractiveness at all, nothing to make us want Him (53:2 TLB). It never mentions his height or weight or the length of his hair. We do have research that gives us insight on hairstyle and clothing during the period He was on earth, don’t we? You can be sure that the producers of the Jesus films, especially the film that has covered a huge percentage of the world, “The Jesus Film” through Campus Crusade for Christ, must have carefully researched every available source before “putting a face on Jesus”.
But what would His face look like? I doubt that there were any “worry” lines or “frown” creases on His forehead or that His mouth turned down at the corners. So let’s make His face smooth, that part that was not covered by His beard — if He had one. He seemed to have a sense of humor judging from some of His “tongue-in-cheek” parables, and He had great rapport with little children so you know that He smiled a lot. Let’s give Him some “smile wrinkles” around His eyes. The men and women I know who have incredible trust and live with the peace and joy given to them as Believers are very pleasant looking people, so let’s make Him pleasant looking
Jesus once said to His disciples, “If you have seen Me, you have seen My Father.” That still doesn’t give us unique facial features, but He has drawn a picture of Himself for us in His love letter to us, our Bible. He is compassionate, kind, gentle, understanding, never condemning, and always forgiving. wise, patient — too many wonderful things to enumerate! Those things will be evident on His face and in His eyes — in His eyes especially. A person’s eyes tell you so much about him or her.
That’s about as far as we can go, isn’t it? So, with those few things put a face on
Jesus. Choose some man without character blemishes and let YOUR Jesus resemble him.
Maybe an image from some book? Or some person that you admire greatly?
Now that we have our own picture of Jesus, put an empty chair somewhere in your house where it is private, invite Jesus to sit there, and talk to Him. I will say again, as I have said many times, “He will be as real to you as you allow Him to be.” Does He want to be real to you? Oh, definitely! He wants us to be so very comfortable in His presence that we address Him as “Poppa” or “Daddy”. Of course this very intimate approach will be a learning process, but don’t give up. Think! He is your best friend! He is in your presence constantly! He loves you more than you can possibly imagine! He’s holding your hand! So those times when I long for someone to listen to me without scolding or preaching; those times when I am so very lonely or isolated in the hospital: those times when I would love to have someone just let me lean against his chest and he would slip his arm tenderly around my shoulder and say, “I understand, dear one, I understand.”
I have that! You have that!
But we have kept Him in our box and refused to let Him reveal Himself to us in a relationship such as this. Perhaps we are reluctant because He is infinite and we are finite, or because we would be “bringing Him down to our level”. But this relationship can be mine and it can be yours.
“I want that closeness, Anabel. How can I do that?”
Maybe we need to get a picture and hang it on our bedroom wall?