The One Who Looked Like Jesus

I just walked in into the Clinic last night to start my usual night shift. Placing my transparent purse to the familiar corner, someone tried to grab my attention.

“Rcubes…Look!!! Who do you think he looks like?” asked a per diem nurse who had been coming a lot lately to pitch in with our short staffing.

I stared at a copy of an inmate’s booking photo. I knew the answer he wanted me to say. But I remained silent and smiled.

Photo Credit

“Who do you think he looks like?” he repeated, anticipating my slow response, as he laid out the printed picture with his right hand. The inmate’s beard and contour of the face did resemble a famous face. His hair, though disheveled showed the long length that he allowed to grow.

“Did you want me to say Jesus?” I asked.

“Yeah….So, are you saying now that Jesus looks like an inmate?” he laughed, not careful if he would offend others surrounding us. He was a Muslim.

Others heard and laughed with him. I did not. Looking at him straight in the eyes as he continued to enjoy his own humor, I asked in one simple sentence, “But how do you know that Jesus did look like that?”

His awry smile disappeared. His laughter died. He mused.

“You’re right…I don’t know.”

“Then, don’t make fun of Jesus because some human looks like him. The truth is we don’t really know how Jesus looks like,” I added. The others who joined him in reveling laughter stopped and went back to what they were doing prior to me arriving at the Infirmary. He did the same.

Let me ask you…”Do you know how Jesus looks like?”

The Bible described Jesus this way:

“My servant grew up in the LORD's presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him.” – Isaiah 53:2 (NLT)

Like what the lady said at the last part of the video, I would say the same thing…. "that it doesn’t really matter how Jesus looks like. What matters is what He did…” If many of His followers were there to describe his physical appearance, they could have. One thing was obvious. No one did except that brief description from the prophet Isaiah. If we truly believe in God and in Jesus, we don’t need to see his physical attributes because those were not important. It was what Jesus did that was the most important. He suffered, died and was resurrected. He came as a suffering Servant but will return again as a Judge and will rule as a King.

Psalm 2

 ¹ Why do the nations conspire
   and the peoples plot in vain?
² The kings of the earth rise up
   and the rulers band together
   against the LORD and against his anointed, saying,
³ “Let us break their chains
   and throw off their shackles.”

 ⁴ The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
   the Lord scoffs at them.
⁵ He rebukes them in his anger
   and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
⁶ “I have installed my king
   on Zion, my holy mountain.”

 ⁷ I will proclaim the LORD’s decree:

   He said to me, “You are my son;
   today I have become your father.
⁸ Ask me,
   and I will make the nations your inheritance,
   the ends of the earth your possession.
⁹ You will break them with a rod of iron;
   you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”

 ¹⁰ Therefore, you kings, be wise;
   be warned, you rulers of the earth.
¹¹ Serve the LORD with fear
   and celebrate his rule with trembling.
¹² Kiss his son, or he will be angry
   and your way will lead to your destruction,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
   Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (NIV) - (emphasis was mine)