Lesson 18: What Does God Look Like?

When the senior suggested we discuss “What does God look like? What did Jesus look like?” at our next meeting, my first thought was, “This is silly” Then I realized the question probably hid some much deeper concerns. I sent out the following very brief essay which asked the young people to spend time pondering the pictures of Jesus found in the Popular Mechanics article.

WHAT DOES GOD LOOK LIKE?

Joe’s first question was “What does God look like?” Just about everyone realizes God is a spirit who has no gender. Yet most still think of him as an old, bearded man, probably because men have been the authority figures most of our history. And, of course, Jesus called him Father. However, when the Old Testament pictured God manifesting himself in our world, he was usually beyond gender. He could be an angel, wind, fire, or simply the silence after the storm.

We Christians believe the most important manifestation was in the Incarnation, when God came to us as Jesus of Nazareth. That brings us to Joe’s second question, “What does Jesus look like?” Because no one drew a picture of him, we really do not know. Well, he obviously was a Jewish man. When artists did draw pictures, their attempts usually reflected the people around them. Europeans made Jesus European. In 2002 Popular Mechanics magazine published a story “The Read Face of Jesus” which was a computer generated picture constructed by British forensic scientists and Israeli archeologists. They used findings from anatomy, dentistry, climate studies, evolution, and nutrition as well as three well preserved first century skulls. They determined a typical Jew of Jesus’ time would have been 5 foot, 1 inch and weighed 110 pounds. Being a carpenter for 30 years he would have been muscular and fit, probably weather-beaten, because the people spent a lot of time outside. Take some time to ponder the result of their efforts. Then look over the other pictures. One is the imprint from the Shroud of Turin which some believers think is from Jesus’ burial cloth.

People tend to picture Jesus as someone who could be their brother, which is not necessarily a bad idea. He is the Christ for all people. However, we want to consider the dangers which are also involved in picturing Jesus as someone just like us.

When the kids arrived we passed out a page with 16 paintings of Jesus, each picturing him with different of ethnic features. Obviously each group made Jesus in their own image. We compared these with the Popular Mechanics version. During the reflections someone asked why Jesus is never pictured smiling. Luckily I had a picture of the smiling Jesus which circulated some decades ago, arousing a great deal of controversy in some circles.

Interestingly, nobody mentioned the famous “Christa” by Edwina Sandys, which was one of the 16. It presents a female Jesus on the Cross. When I pointed to this, the youth launched into a long discussion about women’s rights, asking why some Christian groups still deny them. I mentioned that one of the only times anyone left the congregation was when the youth group presented a play, 1-800-GOD, in which God answered the telephone with a female voice. Although some middle age and aged still question the modern role of women, I find that every one of the youth and young adults on our groups accept this, at least publicly.

With this the young people began to speak of their own ideas about God, sometimes contrasting these with those held by friends from fundamentalist churches. This reinforced my belief that that the church in our day is called to provide a safe place where youth can honestly test their ideas. Christian education obviously includes teaching and inspiration as we pass on the tradition, but in this society where groups take absolutist positions, we must also help youth to engage the tradition in new ways.

Popular Mechanics: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/research/1282186.html
Laughing Jesus: http://photobucket.com/images/laughing%20jesus/
Christa: http://www.edwinasandys.com/sculpture/scultureChrista.html

Tags: Christa, God's face, Holy Spirit, incarnation