What Did Jesus Look Like?

The answer, of course, is that we don’t know.

We do know that Jesus was probably in his early 30s when he began his ministry and would not have had long hair.

It’s fair to assume that Jesus had a beard, in light of first-century Jewish culture and tradition—though Scripture doesn’t say this explicitly. (Isaiah 50:6 says the suffering servant, ultimately exemplified in Jesus, has his beard plucked out, but the NT doesn’t cite this).

Isaiah’s messianic prophecy suggests that there was nothing unusually attractive about him (“he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him,” Isa. 53:2)—though it’s taking it too far to say that he was thereby unattractive or homely.

He was a Galilean Jew who spent a lot of time outdoors, so his skin tone would likely be a darker olive color, as is typical of those in Mediterranean countries.

In December 2002 Popular Mechanics did a cover story called “The Real Face of Jesus.” The positioning of the piece was obviously sensationalistic. But it was nevertheless quite interesting. Using “forensic anthropology” scientists and archaeologists combined to investigate what a first-century Galilean Semite might have looked like, with medical artist Richard Neave commissioned to do the rendering. The article describes the process:

The first step for Neave and his research team was to acquire skulls from near Jerusalem, the region where Jesus lived and preached. Semite skulls of this type had previously been found by Israeli archeology experts, who shared them with Neave.With three well-preserved specimens from the time of Jesus in hand, Neave used computerized tomography to create X-ray “slices” of the skulls, thus revealing minute details about each one’s structure. Special computer programs then evaluated reams of information about known measurements of the thickness of soft tissue at key areas on human faces. This made it possible to re-create the muscles and skin overlying a representative Semite skull.
The entire process was accomplished using software that verified the results with anthropological data. From this data, the researchers built a digital 3D reconstruction of the face. Next, they created a cast of the skull. Layers of clay matching the thickness of facial tissues specified by the computer program were then applied, along with simulated skin. The nose, lips and eyelids were then modeled to follow the shape determined by the underlying muscles.

How tall would a first-century Jew be? “From an analysis of skeletal remains, archeologists had firmly established that the average build of a Semite male at the time of Jesus was 5 ft. 1 in., with an average weight of about 110 pounds.” I admit that it feels a bit strange to think of being over a foot taller than Jesus! But it’s good to have our cultural preconceptions—even prejudices—challenged.

Of course no depiction can tell us what Jesus looked like for sure. But the following rendering is undoubtedly closer to reality than the typical rendering by artists and film-makers:

Don’t know what he looked like then - other than a beard - but the Apostle John saw him in the heavens and this is his “God-breathed” description...

“I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone “like a son of man,” dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.”

“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”

“Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”

Akiane spoke of colorful dreams and visions about heaven, Jesus, and God’s amazing love. Her stunned parents realized her intense focus on God could not have come have been inspired by anything in the world they created for her. Indeed, Akiane seemed to be having supernatural encounters with the living God.

“Most of my spiritual experiences I kept secret, so as not to overwhelm my parents,” she says.

At a tender age, God implanted the desire to articulate her divinely-inspired dreams and visions into art. “When I was four years old, suddenly I started experiencing vivid impressions about different dimensions and a great desire to express them through art,” she says. Initially, she utilized whatever medium was on hand: candles, lipstick, fruits, vegetables, charcoal or pencils.

The Shroud of Turin shows lots of that kind of evidence. Not sure where it talks about being beaten so bad as not to be recognized as a human. There have been numerous studies by medical experts that discuss the wounds shown on the shroud. Weapons experts that talk about the wounds from the whipping.

http://pinterest.com/pin/372884044117805010/

Just one image from the front of the shroud. Many more images on the net of course. And obviously the shroud doesn’t matter to my faith. But it sure seems to fit the account recorded in the Bible.

In Isaiah 53:3 it talks about Jesus as not good looking “no form nor comeliness”-”no beauty that we should desire him”-”despised and rejected of men”, and “as one from whom men hide their face, he was despised and we esteemed him not.

Of course Jesus was perfect, so the “good looking” part must be our distorted view of what is attractive. And just looking at the surface, and not what is inside. And the despised by men part probably because Jesus calls us to do hard things.

I can’t say if the image on the shroud would be considered homely or not. Especially in their time and place. Heck - a good looking movie star of today may look homely to them if dropped back in time. (”Get a load of that new guy. Don’t marry him - he probably can’t fish, farm or walk more than 10 minutes in the desert.”)

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