What do you think Jesus looked like when He was on the earth? Artists continually try and capture what is in their mind’s eye as to what the Savior looked like. There are thousands of photos and paintings that try and capture what is really something we only can imagine.
We really don’t have much to go on. Nobody ever describes him in the scriptures. We do have a prophetic description for Isaiah, but it isn’t very flattering, and it doesn’t work very well with our traditional view:
“For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground: he hath no form or comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.” Isaiah 53:3
And a couple of odd factoids:
• The average Semite male a the time of Christ, based on skeletal research was approximately 5’1`” tall, weighing around 110lbs. (link)
• The style of the day was short, hair for men, and long hair for women. Paul even taught that it was shameful for a man to have long hair. (1 Corinthians 11:14)
• He was able to blend into the crowd often, and had to be pointed out by Judas in the garden. (Luke 22)
I didn’t mention any of these things to alter your opinion, I just wanted to point out how little we know about Jesus’ appearance. Let me make it very clear: I don’t think it matters at all what Jesus looked like. It has absolutely no bearing on my salvation, and maybe that’s why there is so little description in the scriptures.
Since we don’t really know what he looked like, and He is so important in our lives, each of us has most likely decided on a mental image of what works for us.
So what do you think He looked like? There is no right or wrong answer. And it is deeply personal, but I am curious as to what the current view is among my readers – a very astute and attractive group.
When I was young, we had a picture of the Savior (The picture in the upper-left hand of the grouping above) hanging on our wall. We still have one, but it is different. Our ideas change and our tastes change. I’m not going to tell you which one I am partial to now, because…
We are going to do a survey to see what you think! That’s correct – I am proudly humble to announce that MMM will be hosting a survey to see what my readers think Jesus looked like. Are you curious? I am.
Here’s how it will work:
For the next few days, please email me pictures of what YOU think Jesus looked like. (Please don’t send gigantic files – I only need 72dpi.) middleagedmormonman@gmail.com, or message them to me on Facebook.
I will be taking submittals until Tuesday, August 7th..
After I see how many are submitted, we will break them up into rounds, and vote. Eventually, we will have the winners of each round compete for the “Best Picture.” After we decide, I’ll tell you what the right answer is my opinion. I will update the submissions often, so look at the bottom of this link before you submit, to make sure someone didn’t beat you to it.
Please Read the Notes:
• ONE VOTE PER PERSON PER SURVEY
• I am only going by the face. I will be cropping the pictures – so the picture needs to be about what he looks like – not the story, or the setting.
• It doesn’t have to claim to be Jesus. If you think your neighbor looks like Jesus, send in his picture.
• Include the artist name, and the title of the piece, if you can.
• If you don’t want to email me, you can share it with me on Facebook.
• Don’t limit yourself to LDS art. It is a big world out there.
• I don’t care if a prophet said this, or that, or a GA said this one is his favorites – whatever. Base it on what YOU think.
• Unpublished original art is acceptable too.
• Paintings or photographs are OK.
• If you have an actual photograph of the Savior, you are so cool, and thusly you automatically win.
• If you are the artist or copyright holder of any of these images, and want them taken down, please let me know, and I will remove them. If you do ask them to be taken down, we will criticize you for being a chicken and you will lose. (Remember, I am free publicity and not making any money at this.)
So send in your pictures and let’s see what we think of collectively, and then we can talk about why.
middleagedmormonman@gmail.com
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| Mark Mabry, Reflections on Christ – Joy |
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| Jim Caveizel – Passion of the Christ |
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| Harry Anderson – The Second Coming |
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| Liz Lemon Swindle – Come Unto Me |
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| Simon Dewy – Good Shepherd |
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Steve Sawyer – Title?
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Svetoslav Nikolaevich Roerich.
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself” |
Here
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I found a copy of Bette Meyer’s “The Masterpiece” in a thrift store for under $10.00, frame and all. Lucky me! I had never seen it and I dearly love it. It’s probably my favorite because of the kind look and gentle smile on his face. I, like you, don’t care what he looks like. Still, I have several paintings of Him (artist’s renditions) around my home to remind me to follow Him.
This post is old, I realize, but I wonder why you don’t ask children. They would know way better than adults.
I like the depiction of the Savior in the 70’s era print of Him with children. I have it hanging in my kitchen and the grand kids know who he is. I’ll see if I can find this painting and send it along.
I’ve been thinking about your post. Mulling it over in a way. I can’t say that I picture Christ in any certain way, just as almost all artists have depicted him I guess. (They’re all very similar to me.) But I CAN say that the ones I like best, are the paintings by Greg Olsen. And I love the paintings of Christ with the children. I can’t even describe all the qualities I see in Him in those paintings. Patience, pure love, and just the desire to spend every moment possible with those children teaching, and guiding. Talking about the simplist things and finding pure joy in it. All qualities that I find myself struggling with each and every day with my children. Despite seeing all my shortcomings in this area, I feel very very drawn to them and I feel peace and love and admiration when I look at them. And I think the biggest reason I love them so much, is I seem to feel Christ’s love for me more.
Completely off the topic, but I just wanted to share.
I have an interesting little anecdote on the subject: Joseph Smith said that his brother, Hyrum, looked the most like Christ of anyone he had met. There is a bust of Christ in the Carthage, Illinois visitor center that was sculpted using Hyrum’s death mask as a model. The bust can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rossaroni/4126850726/
That is very cool, and new to me. Thanks!
Wow you really got back to me fast! I’m impressed. I thought that was cool too, and now it’s my favorite way to picture Christ. I don’t have my own “copy” or representation of that Christ in my home because I don’t think you can buy that one yet, but I guess I get to see it often enough living in the Nauvoo stake.
So I just read on Wikipedia (can we believe everything on that website?) that the story of Del Parsons being given direction on how to draw Jesus the Christ is an urban legend? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Del_Parson
A little bit sad, as I’ve always liked that version the best… Other than that I’ve always liked the Simon Dewey and Greg Olson versions.
Del Parson is in my ward. I’ll ask him and get back to you. 🙂
Is it true that they used to put pictures of the Savior in the chapel but removed them so people could picture Him however they saw fit?
That’s the reason that we were given.
After reading this thought provoking blog, I went into the kitchen and said to my EC, “What did I ever do before MMM came into my life? He certainly can spice up a Sabbath afternoon.” My guy is 78 yrs. old and never had a jealous bone in his body, but he took exception to that.
For some reason I’m strangely drawn to the National Geographic pic. They do travel all over & perhaps got a ‘scoop’.
My EC liked that one too – perhaps because it lacks the detail that forces us to choose.
Tell your EC not to feel threatened. Old guys with a chip on their shoulder frighten me.
(Anon/M) I can’t vote because I don’t like any of the usual LDS pictures of Christ and traditional ones even less. You are right to say we really don’t know what Jesus looked like and supposed descriptions are likely to be forgeries. If we base our guesses on what contemporary Jews looked like, that takes only half of Jesus’ DNA into account, Mary’s side. We don’t know what our Heavenly Father looked like during his mortal life. Religious artists really copy from one another and don’t deviate too far from a basic format. It’s even worse for pictures about Book of Mormon figures, since we know absolutely nothing historically reliable about them. That’s why I would never have any religious pictures in my home because they are only works of fantasy inappropriate for the seriousness of the subject.
Even though we don’t know what Jesus looked like in mortality, we feel it is important to find the best representation that we can to adorn our homes. We don’t worship the picture, but see it as a reminder and statement of who we are.
After a lot of searching, we settled on Greg Olsen’s “The Gentle Healer” to hang in our living room.
Here is the link to a larger one:
http://www.gregolsen.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/244258439fb2e70a6e72fcf67dcce1d0/g/e/gentle_healer_large_1.jpg
Book of Mormon characters were drawn bigger because Nephi was “large in stature?”
I worked for an art printer while at BYU and had the chance to meet many LDS artists and view many different depictions of the Savior. One artist had the tendency to paint a Jesus that bore an uncanny resemblance to himself.
Never gonna hang his work on my walls.
So this has nothing to do with this post, but I figured it would be the most likely way for you to see my question. We stumbled upon your reverence posts today after a particularly rough day with our 21 month old at church. We will be trying some of your approaches (including “the table”, next week). We were wondering if you ever shared your “other “technique. We sure would love to hear it. Thanks, and we are loving your blog. Just saved it to our “favorites”.
You are so sneaky! I haven’t shared my last technique, but I will soon, and you will understand the delay. Good luck with your munchkin!
Yes–because he was a hard-working builder from his youth, he was probably very muscular, regardless of height. That’s why they had such a hard time nailing him to the cross. I understand there’s a (perhaps apocryphal) description of Jesus in the writings of Josephus. If I remember it correctly, Josephus says Jesus had blue eyes.
I don’t believe it was the historian Josephus. There are a couple of letters by two Romans- one by a Publius Lentulas, and the other by Pontius Pilate (yes, that one) that claim that Jesus had blue eyes and long, chestnut hair. But both of those are presumed to be 4th Century forgeries.
We assume a lot, but we really don’t KNOW anything as to the height, weight, strength, complexion, hair length, eye color, etc. It is ALL speculation.
I’ve never thought of Christ as a weakling or small; he was a tradesman, some say carpenter (as portrayed in the KJV), other scholars say he was a stone mason. He had to have had some muscles. And why couldn’t he have been fair? The Nephites were of the House of Israel and they were described as fair, white and delightsome. I did hear of one prophet saying that a particular portrait looked the most like him, right now I can’t remember which for either of them, but I’m sure the info is out there somewhere.
There’s a story floating around about the painting of John baptizing Jesus that hangs in the baptismal font at the LA temple. Something about Pres. McKay describing him to the artist. But… If Pres. McKay had seen Jesus, he would be seeing Him as a resurrected being, which must look very different than His earthly form because Mary didn’t recognize Him until He said her name, right?
YES! Mindi you are so smart! That’s why all these stories don’t matter. They were either is dreams or visions, or resurrected state.
“1 Nephi 11:13 And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the great city of Jerusalem, and also other cities. And I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city of aNazareth I beheld a bvirgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white.”
If his mother Mary was exceedingly fair and white and was the only mortal to contribute genetic material. It seems to me he would be exceedingly fair and white also.
Nice one, Morgan!
I grew up seeing the one in the top left-hand corner. That was hanging in our church-not our home. Since joining the LDS church-I prefer the one in the bottom left corner. That is the one we have hanging in our home. I have never thought of Jesus as being particularly muscled. However, I certainly can’t think of him as a 98 lb weakling, either. He was (in my mind), average height and a wirey build-had to be strong to deal with all that Heavenly Father placed on his shoulders.
My favorites are the Sermon on the Mount old school picture and Christ and the Rich Young Ruler portrayal. Love those.
Is there any reference to what he looks like from modern day prophets who have seen him? (ie Joseph Smith..) That would be interesting to research…
I saw Jesus in one of my dreams but the light was mostly behind him so not a clear picture of what He looked like. I did see His gentle smile though and that was enough to make me happy when I awoke.
When I was little, I thought Jesus looked like Christopher Reeve. In fact, when my parents took me to see “Supeman” in the movie theater and I watched Clark Kent walk into The Daily Planet office, I leaned over to my mom and asked her why Jesus was wearing glasses (because, obviously he didn’t need them). I don’t think that now, but in my 7 year old mind, I was 100% right.
A couple of thoughts while I decide which is my favorite picture of Christ:
Del Parson is in my ward. I kinda want to say “How cool is that?!”, but really, he’s just another member I don’t know very well. This makes me want to hear from him how he decided what Christ looks like. I’ve heard stories, but I want the truth.
You used “thusly”? Really? Thus is an adverb in itself. ;p
The people of the pioneer era chose between salt and baking soda to clean their teeth. Toothbrushes were made of pig hair and pieces of bone. I’m pretty sure they sterilized their toothbrush material before making their toothbrushes. Also, b.s. is a great way to freshen your breath and whiten your teeth. (Please don’t miss the pun. 🙂
And now to decide on my favorite picture of Christ…
I can use incorrect words if i want to on my own blog. What cracks me up is that I can suggest that someone might have an actual photograph of Jesus, and it goes unnoticed, but if I play with a word like thusly,” I get called on it.
I noticed “the actual photo” comment and chuckled appropriately.
I noticed!! And I did laugh. I was, however, being interuppted by three children while I was typing, and I had difficulty remembering what I wanted to say at all. Also, I was only teasing about thusly. It’s interchangable. 🙂
If you ever speak with Del Parsons, please enlighten us.
I spoke with Del Parson today (last week was Stake Conference, and I didn’t see him) and he said that he sent sketches to the art director who then gave Brother Parson the comments about his sketches from “The Brethren”. There were no details about who said what. From the comments he made changes and the process repeated. And there we have it. Brother Parson also said that he’d be happy to answer all of the questions we have for him. (I wonder if the answer would be 42. Also, I think it’d be a little bit funny if he became the Bishop. Because isn’t Bishop Parson a little redundant? 😉
OK. I sent you 2 of my favs before you even started this little contest.. AM I disqualified for being too eager or submitting my submittals prematurely?? OR, am I to be commended for getting ‘right to it’ after you ‘teased’ us with your little Jesus picture this week? Well, in any event, I will again say, my 2 all time fav pictures of the Savior are Mark Mabry’s, with John the Baptist as they are hugging after Jesus’ baptism (They couldn’t be happier!!!), and Prince of Peace, by Liz LS, which I also already sent to your FB wall this week. He can’t be solemn, or look mean, He can be tan, a little buff but not quite too much to distract from the reason He’s who He is, He’s handsome, dark hair, green eyes, & He smiles ALOT. He has this presence that you can feel before you even see Him. & Man-o-Man, when He looks at you, it cuts right to your very core, cuz you KNOW, right then & there, in case there was EVER an inkling of any doubt, that HE loves you…more than you could EVER, EVER know, feel or begin to describe.. & His teeth are clean & white….even tho at that time they probably didn’t even have Crest or Aim or Ment-a-dent. (Maybe they just used their sleeves to rub the gunk off their teeth every so often, like I sometimes do on my way to work, when I realize I forgot to brush my teeth that morning, but that’s just me…)
You were just one step ahead of everyone else. Well done!
I choose the picture of Jim Caviezel’s face. Serious and intense eyes. Beard, hair dark and not to long.
Yo don’t get to choose yet! Wait until it’s time to vote!
Just sent you my picture. : )
Despite what many popular Christmas songs say, I seriously doubt that he had blue eyes. Blue eyes would have been unusual for that culture. While it’s not important nor likely accurate, I like pictures of Christ that symbolize his strength and power. I’ll email my choice.
I actually have a pet peeve about this. It drives me nuts that all the modern pictures of the Savior represent an almost blonde, straight-haired, 6’2″ caucasian guy who is ripped. And all the older paintings of the savior seem to portray him as equally caucasian but emaciated and weak. We actually don’t have any pictures of the Savior up in our home because we are on a life long quest to find one that we like (and incidentally isn’t already hanging in every latter day saint home). I actually don’t like very many portrayals of the Savior. I will enjoy seeing the results of this post.
Nobody really wants to think that, genetically, Jesus should look a lot more like Jerry Seinfeld than say, Chris Hemsworth. But then again, James Franco is Jewish ttoo.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/forensics/1282186
In your square of 4 pics, I’m partial to the bottom left….it could be generational.
I’m five feet tall and 110! If anyone wants a visual reference for just how tall that isn’t, give me a call! I’ve also been used as a reference for such characters as Lucy Mack Smith and John Smith (Yes he was five feet tall!). I do classroom visits and weddings for a nominal fee 🙂 This gives a whole new meaning to the scripture that says, “By small and simple things…” So excited to see the entries and winner!