The gospels say almost nothing about what Jesus looked like. Some days ago, I mused here on the matter of Jesus’ “second coming.” I threw out the thought: why should Christians (believing Jesus to be God) presume that Jesus should be limited by anything, even including human appearance? Yet we often get most excited about determining the historical nature of Jesus, as if that’s the ticket to an authentic faith. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is presently showing a collection of how the Dutch master of light, Rembrandt van Rijn, chose to depict Jesus in his gentle
paintings. “Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus” shows an evolution away from traditional European depictions of Jesus with pale skin and light brown hair to a Jesus that reflects the dark features of Jews that the artist knew – nearly all refugees. Reading about the exhibit and knowing a little of the history of Christians’ persecution of Jews got me thinking about the matter again – how even the most historically accurate images of a first century Jesus might disturb our sensibilities that God should conform to our expectations.
