Don’t
you love it when people ask you, “hey, would you like to see some pictures of
the grandkids? They always act like you
actually have a choice. You know they’re going to pull them out
and show you anyway.
So
would you like to see one? This is the
newest addition to our family…my sweet granddaughter, Clara Belle.
It’s funny how everyone always tries to
decide who the baby looks like. “Has her
eyes.” “Has his smile.” When the baby gets to go to the viewing area
for the family to see, you hear these conversations over and over. Once we were there and heard the
grandparents saying…”oh he looks just like you. He has your eyes. Same hair color. Has your smile.” Another family member walked out and said, “hey,
you guys are looking at the wrong baby.”
This
got me to thinking. I wonder what Mary and Joseph said when the baby Jesus
arrived. Joseph says “Mary, I think He has
your eyes.” Mary says hey…. uh, uh, “He
looks just like His heavenly Father.” The
Bible doesn’t bother to tell us what Jesus looked like.
The closest thing we get to a description is in Isaiah 53:2b, “He had no
beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we
should desire Him.” All this tells us is that Jesus’ appearance was just like
any other man's – He was in fact a bit ordinary.
Isaiah
was prophesying that this "soon to arrive" Savior would be born in humble conditions...
a manger in a barn… no respectable room available. There would be no royal robe. That’s what the Jewish community was looking
for. A King. Someone to come and rule. Red carpet.
But there was no fanfare. At
least not here. Certainly there was in
heaven. The angels rejoiced but the only
reason we know that is because we have the testimony of the shepherds in the
gospel of Luke. The general population
did not even know about it.
What
we do know is this….God stepped out of heaven, came down in the very likeness
of man, so that we could identify with Him and so that we could know Him as our
personal Savior.
This much is clear: if it was important for us to know what He really did look like, we would. His disciples would have written
it down. His brothers and sisters would
have told us. But the Bible gives us few
details. The reason is simple. It really does not matter what He looked like….
what matters is how much we look like Him.
When
this little baby arrived He came as the Savior of the world. I want you to get that. He didn’t become the Savior of the world, He was the Savior. “Jesus, Lord at thy
birth.” As my daughter said to me this
week, “Jesus didn’t have to wait until He turned 21 to get His Messiah license.” He was the Messiah….at that very moment. Consider this during this season. How much do you look like
Jesus? In your thoughts, in your words,
in your actions? How much do you look like our
heavenly Father?
PRAYER. Lord make us like you. We were created in your image for a
reason. May others when they see us, see
only your image. May others feel and see
the love of God through each of us. In
Jesus name. Amen.
