I have heard several people say that Jesus was not a physically attractive man. In fact I have re-echoed these words to others. But I had never really given much thought to the importance of this truth. See I had never read the scripture that says this for myself so I couldn’t truly relate with it. Yesterday, I finally came across Isaiah 53: 2b which describes Jesus as follows:
“He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.”
It finally hit home that Jesus looked nothing like Jim Caviezel from The Passion of Christ or Diogo Morgado from Son of God and The Bible. Not physically at least. Yet whenever I read of the wonders Jesus did, the image in my head is of a man who must have been appealing. And society has made appeal to be about the physical so of course I’ve always thought of Jesus as physically appealing. Surely he couldn’t attract all these people to him if he wasn’t, right? At least that is how we usually look at it. Just look at the portrayal of people who do great things in adverts, art, books, and movies and you get what I am saying.
And sure there is nothing wrong with physical appeal. Beauty can be dazzling but the problem with this dazzle is that it can blind us from the important stuff. Think of all the times a story about a person who is doing phenomenal work goes viral, with their photo attached to it, and the comments end being about how “hot” the person looks. Or why such a “fine-looking” person is going through the hustle of whatever project it is that society believes is too demeaning of their physical attributes.
Away from why beauty can be a distraction, Jesus; appearance made me realise that I dismiss people several times because of their physical appearance. I don’t make this admission with a sense of pride mind you nor do I accept it easily. Thankfully, I’m not alone in this. Extensive research has revealed that people with more symmetrical features are thought to be likeable, trustworthy and even persuasive. Their physical attraction alone therefore draws you in before they even say anything. And there’s the catch. If we are only drawn to what is meant to attract, we miss out on things that may be more important to us.
I don’t know about you but the first time I watched Son of God, all I kept thinking is, “Morgado has beautiful eyes. The kind that inspire poems”. These thoughts were followed by asking God not to send lightening my way for the wayward thoughts. Thoughts which were distracting me from the message of the movie. In fact I know someone who said Morgado is the only reason they watched that movie. Think of all the women who would have sat at Jesus’ feet simply to gaze into his eyes had he looked anything like this actor. I know that is a skewed picture but it shows that they would have been following Christ for the wrong reasons. Much like the ones who followed Him only for the miracles.
So now it makes sense that Jesus wasn’t physically attractive. The people might have been so distracted by this beauty that it might have been credited for getting people to follow Him. Yet people came to Him for who He was and is.
Here is to making a conscious effort not to be dazzled by what is on the outside, despite what the researchers say. Otherwise I could be missing out on some pretty great things.