Ch. 53 - My Jesus

'Have you ever thought about what Jesus looks like?
How does he act?
What is his attitude like?
How does he speak?
What does his voice sound like?'

These questions were presented to my Sunday school class a few years ago by our teachers, Gary and Larry (what a team).

We were told to simply close our eyes and picture Jesus in our minds. 'Have a conversation with him. Make mental notes of what you see, what you hear, what you, technically, come up with.'

The class shared with one another what they saw, speaking up if they felt like doing so.

There were some pretty interesting Jesuses out there.

There was a surf-bum Jesus.
A homeless Jesus.
A teenage Jesus.
A genie Jesus.
A zoologist Jesus.

These are among the most memorable Jesuses of the class.

As people started to share, I started to feel... uneasy. My Jesus wasn't as cool as everybody else's. We hadn't 'said' anything to each other. He didn't have anything really special about him. He was your stereotypical Jesus that you see in paintings and pictures - short beard, shoulder-length brown hair, semi-long robes wrapped around him. He was standing in front of me, arms outstretched. Yep, stereotypical down to the pose, even. But it was Jesus, and He was mine. There were two notable things, however, about the whole 'imagine your Jesus' experience.

One, my Jesus was wearing tennis shoes.
Two, what I kept focusing on in my mind were His hands.

I put tennis shoes on my Jesus because I figured it'd be easier for Him to get around than when wearing sandals. I mean, it's Jesus - He's got things to do... places to go, people to see, sermons to preach, and parables to explain. I also like the idea of running with Jesus. I think He'd make the best workout partner in the world.

The reason I mentioned Jesus' hands is because for the longest time, I've always thought about them. I couldn't tell you why. Whenever I see pictures of Jesus my eyes go straight to the hands. More often than not they are beautiful. They look soft and smooth, very gentle. But my Jesus' hands are not. They are rough and worn, strong and scarred. He was, after all, a carpenter before He began His ministry. Think about everything He did with those hands. He smeared mud on blind men's eyes, so that they could see. He touched the leper and made him clean again. He wrote in the dust and dirt. He broke bread and gave it to His disciples. His hands were nailed to the cross as part of paying for our sins; later they were shown to Thomas as proof that He did what He said he would do, pushing aside all doubt.

In my mind, my Jesus' hands are more beautiful than the 'perfect' hands of portrait Jesuses.

The reason I wrote this post was because today I let my Bible fall open and it came to Isaiah; the first chapter I saw was 53, so that's where I started my reading. I would like to share the chapter with you. It's a long one, but it's really very lovely.

'Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the
Lord been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender
shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract
us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we
should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with
suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their
faces
he was despised, and we esteemed
him not.

Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our
transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities,
then punishment that brought us peace
was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers
is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was
taken away.
And who can speak of his
descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the
living;
for the transgression of my people
he was stricken.
He was assigned a grave with the
wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him
and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life
a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong
his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper
in his hand.
After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life, and be
satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous
servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion
among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the
strong,
because he poured out his life unto
death,
and was numbered with the
transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the
transgressors.'
[Isaiah 53]


'He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.'
[Isaiah 53:2b]

The prophet Isaiah noted that there was nothing physically attractive about Jesus. Yet people flocked to him in droves, following him and telling others about him. This wonderful man, this Messiah - come to save the nations - was one of the most interesting, mystifying, loving men the world has ever known. What do you expect with the Son of God, though, right? I think his love for everybody is what attracted most people, whether they realized that is up in the air.

To this very day, Jesus' love for me is what holds me together. It keeps me coming back for more. And every day I learn something new about my Jesus.