Nice Picture?

I always laugh to see supposed portraits of Christ hanging in churches I may visit. I often snidely remark to someone there I know: "Nice picture. Who's the hippie?"

Honestly, we know little or nothing of our Lord's physical appearance. A couple of references in Isaiah let us know that we likely would not have found him what we might call attractive and that, in accordance with Jewish tradition, he certainly was bearded. Other than that, all else is speculation. I think it's a safe bet that he didn't appear as the blue-eyed European portrayed in the more well-known portraits from the Enlightenment.

Jesus is always easy to spot in these famous, or infamous, works of art. He’s the one with the longest hair, the palest skin, the sickliest expression and, disgustingly, the most feminine in the group.
There are paintings of black Jesus and Asian Jesus. I guess there's an Irish and Italian Jesus painted out there somewhere too. Everyone seems to have his or her own interpretation of what our Savior may or may not have looked like.

I’m old enough to remember a time when Baptists wouldn’t have had “pictures” of Christ in their homes or in their churches. Alas, times have changed. It's become, if not common, then not an uncommon thing, to see artistic renderings of the Lord on our church walls, Sunday School literature and Bibles.

There was a big split among the Catholic churches a thousand years ago or so over what they called "icons." The Romans thought it a great teaching tool and the Eastern churches thought they had become nothing more than graven images. It appears to me, the latter were correct.

Have you ever seen a Catholic, God love them, bow down before a portrait or statue of Jesus or one of the Saints? Have you ever seen them kissing one of those statues’ feet? If you’ve felt disgusted at that sight, then you have a little clue of how I feel when we behave not so differently.

How so? When I see my fellow Baptists, as well as other non-Catholic Christians, give honor and reverence to a man in a sketch that most of us wouldn’t want dating our daughter, I’m not too sure if I should laugh or cry.

Recently, I received a picture in a text that contained a rendering of Jesus praying on a rock. So, I decided to have a bit of fun with it. I conducted a little experiment by asking several people I know if they could help me figure out exactly who the “hippie” in the picture is. I was amazed and somewhat aghast at the “conservative” Christians who were offended by my query. Worse yet, some seemed fearful that I was being, shall we say, blasphemous.

Hey, people! That’s not my Lord! He did not pose for that drawing. It is not holy! Sheesh!


Now, I'm not accusing anyone of worshiping these conceptual portraits of our Lord. (At least not any among my Baptist brethren…maybe.) I'm only saying we don’t require ample thought before swallowing an idea. We accept far too much without applying enlightened reason.

Isaiah 50:6
I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.


Isaiah 53:2
For 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.