My Spiritual Director, whom I travel
to see in Syracuse about once a month, recently recommended a book for me. Authored by Michael Casey, the book is called
Fully Human, Fully Divine. Brother Casey, a Cistercian monk from
Australia, uses the Gospel of Mark to explore the humanity of Jesus, revealing
much about our own humanity.
I haven’t gotten too far in the book yet,
but early on the author addresses the question: What did Jesus look like? Of course, there are no photos of Jesus for
us to view, but must of us probably have an image in our minds of what Jesus
may have looked like. Most likely our
image comes from artists’ renderings of Jesus, which, of course, are no more accurate
than what we might imagine. Such
paintings simply capture the artist’s idea of how Jesus looked—no more than a
guess really.
So most of us have in our minds at least a
vague picture of what Jesus may have looked like. In truth, it may help in our prayer life if
we have an image, but we need to realize it may be far from reality.
Our cultural background probably influences
our image. If we are of northern
European descent we might picture Jesus as fair-skinned and blue-eyed; if we
are of African descent we may picture Jesus as dark-skinned with dark
eyes. I remember an episode of the old
TV show “All in the Family” in which Archie Bunker (Caucasian) was having a
disagreement with Mr. Jefferson (African-American) about the color of Jesus’
skin. Archie insisted Jesus was white;
Mr. Jefferson insisted he was black (of Ethiopian descent). Of course, nothing was resolved; the two
characters simply got angrier and angrier at each other (while the audience
howled with laughter).
Maybe there was a reason that Jesus came
among us before cameras and artists began to capture people’s looks. (Thank goodness there were no selfies back
then!) Maybe it’s best if we don’t know
what Jesus looked like because we tend to be judgmental about looks. Certainly God never intended a particular
group of people to embrace Jesus, while excluding others. Certainly God never intended for anyone to
judge Jesus based on his outward appearance.
Maybe He was short; maybe tall.
Maybe He was overweight; maybe too thin.
Maybe He was handsome; maybe plain or homely.
Most of us probably think he was tall,
handsome and muscular; but why do we think that? Is it because we believe Jesus was perfect
and therefore had to look perfect (at least the way most of define perfect)? Jesus was fully human, like us in all things
but sin. But being fully human applies
to both tall and short; to both thin and fat; to both handsome/beautiful and
homely. If we think otherwise, we’re
mistaken.
If we stop and think about it, we realize
that how we look on the outside matters not to God at all. God looks at the inside, at the heart. That’s what Jesus did. There’s no evidence whatsoever that Jesus
placed any importance on outward appearance.
So why do we? Because the culture
around us does?
Next time we judge someone on their looks,
maybe we can stop and remember that’s not what God asks of us. God asks us to try and see the heart. Not an easy task, of course, but the more
time we spend in quality prayer, the more likely we’ll be able to look inside
rather than focus on the outside appearance.
Have a blessed week . . .
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