From: Ben Kelley
Subject: A "plain Jane" Savior

We are a people obsessed with the outward appearance.  We glorify what we consider beauty, elevating those who we believe possess it.  We spend tons of money on making our own outward appearance "look better" than it does naturally.  We idolize "the beautiful people."  We subconsciously apply this to our idea of what Jesus must have looked like.  I mean, after all, HE was the very King of Glory come down to earth, surely HE was the most beautiful man who ever lived.  I remember, as a 9 year old boy, sitting in a Sunday School class, listening to the teacher describing what he thought of Jesus appearance.  He said he was tired of all the artists who depicted Jesus as a fragile, sickly looking man.  His idea was that such a man could not possibly have endured all the physical torment Jesus went through in the last 2 days of His life on earth, so, he thought it was obvious that the earthly Jesus was a real "man's man", muscular like no one before or after Him.  I believe that Sunday School teacher thought he was glorifying Jesus in portraying Him in such a way, and that idea stuck in my mind for many years, until I started seeking God's Word on my own.  I believe both that teacher and those artists he berated were wrong.  I believe God's Word teaches that Jesus, as HE walked this earth, was a real "plain Jane", with no outstanding physical characteristics at all.  The Scripture passage I've copied below backs me up, for it says: Who has believed our message?   To whom has the Lord's power been revealed? He grew up in his presence like a young tree, like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that would make us look at him. He had nothing in his appearance that would make us desire him.   He was despised and rejected by people. He was a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering. He was despised like one from whom people turn their faces, and we didn't consider him to be worth anything.  (Isaiah 53:1-3 (God's Word)