Chapter 9 PICTURING JESUS Luke 2:51–52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. (Luke 2:52) We have come to an important point in our study because we begin to form mental images of what Jesus was like physically and personally. My hope is that the pictures we create will remain with us throughout the study. We will tread carefully because we want to capture as accurate a visual as we can even though we will be using our imaginations. I don’t want the Jesus we study to remain faceless and devoid of personality. I am asking the Holy Spirit to help each of us form some kind of image of Jesus that we can picture throughout our study. I am praying that you will picture a face and imagine its changing expression with each encounter in Scripture. I believe we have God’s full approval to use our imaginations and picture His Son as real and vivid flesh and blood. After all, that’s what He sent Christ here to be. When we first began planning this study, my editor asked, “Beth, have you given some thought to what your primary goal will be as you write about the life of Christ?” This is my response: I want you, the reader, to feel like an eyewitness to the life of Christ. I want you to feel the arid, Middle-Eastern breezes as Jesus teaches and ministers and to imagine the expressions on His face. With all my heart I believe God approves of this type of approach because it reflects the very mind-set He seemed to birth in His own people. Ray Vander Laan described a major difference between Western and Eastern thought. He said: “A Westerner like me learns in the Greek way, in the Greek tradition. Truth is presented in words and in careful definitions and explanations. We love bullets . . . lists and points. An Easterner, however, is much more likely to describe truth in pictures and in metaphors, in the meaning of places and structures. For example, a Westerner might describe God as powerful or loving or allknowing. An Easterner would be much more likely to say God is my Shepherd or a Rock or Living Water.”1 I hope, like proper Westerners, we learn through our bullet points and word definitions, but let’s also seek to learn through pictures and metaphors. Right now let’s try to see Christ as an Easterner might. Our purpose in using our imaginations is to picture Christ and His encounters as real and vivid, not to worship an inaccurate image. We cannot begin to picture Christ as He is this moment, seated at the right Hand of God. We have absolutely no reference point to imagine His holiness. His earthly stature, however, is different. We do have a few reference points to help us create His human visage. Our goal is to lightly sketch a possible picture, not to draw one with permanent ink. Luke 2:42 tells us Jesus was twelve at the recorded visit to the temple. Luke 3:23 says He was thirty at the beginning of His ministry. The Gospel writer supplies only two verses spanning the eighteen years in between. During these years, Christ Jesus went from boy to mature man. Luke 2:52 appears brief and to the point but actually broadens dramatically our concept of Christ. It tells us our Lord “grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” Jesus Grew in Wisdom The Greek word for “wisdom” is sophia. Consider two segments of the definition. Each applies to Christ in Luke 2:52: (1) Sophia is skill in the affairs of life, practical wisdom, wise management as shown in forming the best plans and selecting the best means, including the idea of sound judgment and good sense. (2) Sophia is, in respect to divine things, wisdom, knowledge, insight, deep understanding. As you seek to formulate an impression of what Christ was like in His earthly form, please view Him as completely practical and deeply spiritual. In fact, Christ came to show us that the deeply spiritual is very practical. I am affectionately teased at times by those who love me for not necessarily being the poster child for common sense. I can spend hours researching ancient language translations, then get lost on my way home from work. In fact, the verse they sometimes laughingly apply to me around my office is Luke 1:20: “Behold, thou shalt be dumb” (KJV). I, on the other hand, simply say I am blonder than I pay to be. When it comes to the Word, however, I have learned both the hard way and the delightfully pleasant way that the spiritual is deeply practical. I encourage you to avoid imagining Christ as so deep you’d have to dig to find Him or so spiritual His head is in the clouds. He came bringing heaven to earth. In today’s terms, He was a man who could preach an anointed sermon, then change a flat tire on the way home from church. No wonder Christ became such a rare teacher! Believing people are starving for a wisdom that is both deeply spiritual and vastly practical. Christ embodied every dimension of wisdom in His earthly life, even before He officially began His public ministry. Jesus Grew in Stature This phrase tells us the obvious: Christ grew physically (and mentally) in the vigor and stature of a man. What is, of course, less obvious is what He grew to look like. God’s Word lets us use our permanent markers only once as we try to imagine Christ’s appearance. Our solitary source happens to be one of my least favorite verses. God knows my heart and why I feel this way. Isaiah 53:2 predicts about the coming Messiah: “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, / nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” I simply cannot imagine Christ not being beautiful, but I also believe beauty is in the eye of the beholder. All of us can think of people who are beautiful to us but whose faces might never be chosen for a magazine cover. Don’t read more into Isaiah 53:2 than is there, however. The intent of the original terms is that He didn’t have a magnificent, godlike physical appearance that attracted people to Him. The descriptions don’t necessarily imply that Christ was unattractive but that His looks were most likely ordinary. Now let’s put down the permanent marker for a moment and pick up our light lead pencils. We can sketch a few more details on our mental canvas through supposition. His people and part of the world offer a few clues about His physical appearance. His skin was most likely very brown, as were His hair and eyes. The men of His culture and era usually wore their hair almost touching the shoulders. They wore it longer if they had taken a vow of consecration (see Num. 6). The texture of their hair was probably as varied as the Caucasian hair of the Western world. Christ’s hair could have been wavy or straight, thick or thin. The most common appearance was probably dark, thick, and wavy hair to the shoulders. Jesus almost certainly wore a beard. His facial features were probably strong, bony, and masculine. The biggest error many painters have probably made in their interpretations of Jesus is portraying a small, almost scrawny stature. He was a carpenter, used to manual labor. Jesus’ daily dress was much like you probably imagine. He would have worn the traditional tunic, girded with a belt, and at times a large cloak called a mantle, which served somewhat as an overcoat. The climate and terrain meant His feet and sandals were more often dusty than muddy. In public Jesus probably wore a turban made of linen. The colors men most often wore on an ordinary day were tan, beige, brown, and amber tones. Right about now, our men readers are wondering who cares, while our women readers are wondering what He wore to church! So I’ll stop while everyone is dissatisfied. Jesus Grew in Favor with God Oh, how I love picturing the relationship Christ shared with His heavenly Father. I will limit my comments for now because I don’t want to steal the joy of discovery as we search out dimensions of their relationship in the chapters to come. For now, note what the word favor means. The Greek word is charis, which is often translated “grace” in the New Testament. Charis means “grace, particularly that which causes joy, pleasure, gratification, favor, acceptance.” Jesus’ growing in favor with God basically implies that their relationship became an increasing delight to both of them. Without a doubt, the relationship between God the Father and God the Son is totally unique. Indeed Jesus is the One and Only—the only begotten of the Father. And the relationship the two of them shared while Christ was earthbound is unparalleled. Jesus Grew in Favor with Men As we attempt to formulate a picture of Christ’s stature and personality, this description is extremely important. Isaiah 53:3 tells us that He was despised and rejected by men. Understand that He was not despised and rejected until He became a complete threat to the establishment. Actually, His popularity was the driving force behind Jesus’ opponents’ lust for His blood. In Luke 2:52, God states Christ’s favor with men, but throughout the Gospels He demonstrates it. Fishermen don’t leave their nets to follow someone void of personality. People didn’t just respect Him—they liked Him. The word favor is undeniably related to the word favorite. I don’t believe we are stretching the text in the least to say that Christ was a favorite of many who knew Him. Think for a few moments of the different characteristics of people who tend to capture your favor. Unless those characteristics are inconsistent with godliness, in all likelihood Christ possessed them. I can readily share a few of my favorite characteristics in people: godly, warm and personable, at least somewhat demonstrative, knowledgeable in a specific area so I can learn from them, trustworthy, and funny! Let’s explore some of our favorites for a moment, assuming we probably share a few of the same ideas. I have the utmost respect for anyone who characterizes godliness, but if they don’t also possess some semblance of warmth, my feelings toward them may not progress much further than respect. I know lots of people who are funny, but if their humor is unkind or inappropriate, I am very resistant to choose their company. Although God’s Word tells us that we are not to show favoritism, all of us have favorite characteristics we enjoy in people. I think you can safely assume that Christ possessed many of the dimensions you would favor most. Work with me here while I make one more suggestion that you may or may not choose to sketch on your pencil portrait. I believe Christ had a warm smile and a great sense of humor. If you can’t imagine a godly person as funny, I know some folks you need to meet. The older I’ve become, the more I’ve asked God to purge my personality of anything that is inconsistent with godliness. I stopped giving place to inappropriate humor a long time ago, yet dozens of times a week I laugh so hard I can’t sit up. Not only are my husband and children hilarious, but also my coworkers and I laugh hysterically over things that are neither off-color nor unkind. I am convinced laughter is as much a gift of expression as tears. Proverbs 17:22 says “a cheerful heart is good medicine.” Can you imagine that Christ, the Great Physician, would not have used such an effective medicine? Good humor and laughter are far too wonderful not to come straight from the heart of God. One of the surest characteristics of a healthy little one is cackling laughter and smiles. Christ dearly loves for us to come to Him as little children. I pray that this chapter will help you pencil a picture of Christ on the canvas of your mind. He was real. His sandals flapped when He walked down the road. His hair was misshapen when He awakened. He had to brush the bread crumbs off His beard after He ate. The muscles in His arms flexed when He lifted His little brothers and sisters. He had hair on His arms and warmth in His palms. He was the Son of God and the Son of man. Fathom the unfathomable.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 11:09:38 +0000
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