The real Jesus

I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately and I came across something in one of Phillip Yancey’s book, The Jesus I Never Knew. One minor side note that he includes is about what he thought Jesus looked like when Yancey was a child. He remembers Jesus portrayed as a friendly guy, with nice eyes, and generally attractive features. He always saw the peaceful Jesus talking to the children and feeding the five thousand. Yancey later discovers the other non peaceful side of Jesus when he gets angry with the money changers in the temple.
Another discovery that Yancey writes about is the physical appearance of Jesus himself. In the pictures we have of him it is apparent that we tend to like our Jesus tall, charming, endearing eyes, definitely not overweight, and generally attractive. God forbid that our savior of the world look fat, chubby, and with a stubby beard. Oh no, that simply would not do. We like Jesus to have all the features that we value and are important to us. The truth of the matter is that Jesus had no home other than his mother’s home; he was dirt poor, and hung out with all the ‘wrong’ people. He was not what we would think of as successful in today’s world. Jesus was not a part of the status rat race that pervades our very materialistic society. He had bigger problems, like the furtherance of his Father’s kingdom.
Just something for everyone to chew on. I really thought it was worth a posting.