If you lived in Jesus’ time, would you have recognized Him as the Messiah based on His appearance!?
The King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords came in an unexpected appearance! The Jewish people were looking for a mighty warrior to save them from the oppression under Roman rule. Jesus came into the world with an unexpected appearance in the form of a baby. When He was born, no one cared or had room for His mother who was about to deliver. The scripture doesn’t tell us that He was able to do anything out of ordinary as a baby!! He was as all other babies, completely dependent upon his parents.
The religious leaders, and even ordinary Jewish people, did not view Jesus as someone special. He grew up in an ordinary home, with ordinary parents, in a village. As a matter of fact, He was so ordinary that many times His statements offended others because they thought, “who does he think he is!?” Very few people understood Jesus was special. His own parents knew, because of the angels’ visitations prior to His birth. Also, Anna the prophetess knew she had seen the redeemer when she saw baby Jesus as did the three magi who came and worshiped baby Jesus saw Him as king.
“Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” John 7:24
The world tells us that first impressions are everything. However, the Lord is not impressed with first impressions!! People can be impressive for variety of reasons. They can be beautiful or handsome. They can be well accomplished in their field. They can articulate or express ideas well, or preach and teach dynamically. They can be wealthy and well-dressed. Those are the things that grab our attention, external packaging, or performance. However, the Lord is not after a package!!
Even Samuel the prophet of God had trouble with this. When he went to Jesse’s house to anoint one of his sons to become a future king, he started at first looking at their appearance, assuming the ones who were older and equipped for military work must be the most qualified ones to be the future king.
The Lord has a different perspective. He sees the visible and the invisible. He has given us a visible side and an invisible side. The visible side can be changed easily but cannot be hidden. The invisible side cannot be changed easily but can be hidden. The invisible is much deeper than we can even know or imagine. Our visible part is like the tip of the iceberg that is seen by the natural eyes. The visible part of us is for the casual inquirer, but the invisible part requires more work, more searching, and more vulnerability for exposure.
Jesus did not come with impressive appearance or credential so the Pharisees who were the causal inquirers, were offended by his statements, thinking, “Who does he think he is?” But the Pharisees (since they wore their religious clothing, with their phylacteries), looked like they had it all together and had answers for every spiritual question. The invisible part of them at best was lazy and self indulgent, and at worst was a deceiver of truth.
Having righteous judgment means that we need to put our prejudices, fears, and our own ideas aside, so we can be truly open to what God wants to show us. Sometimes our cultures have created such a stigma about a person, or group of people, that our heart is not open for the Lord to speak to us about that person. People’s age, gender, color, origin, size, looks, education, income should not be our measuring rod for spiritual issues. Obviously there is discernment involved in choosing the right person for the right job, but when it comes to how we relate to people, we should judge as the Lord judges.
Two simple questions we can ask ourselves, “would Jesus judge the person the way I am?”
Then we ask, “Lord, what do you care about that I should care about!?”
For those of us who have been wrongly accused or misjudged, be of good cheer. The Lord knows you and He knows what most people don’t know about you. He knows your labor of love and your sacrifice for Him even when the world seems to be driving fast on the highway of life and you don’t seem to matter. Remember David the Shepherd boy who wasn’t invited to the party when Samuel came to visit. But the Lord didn’t forget Him. He was finally invited not by the voice of his father or his brothers but by the voice of the Lord through His prophet.
For those of us who think appearance is everything, do you have the invisible together as much as your appearance? That’s the life of integrity, where what is seen and what is unseen match up!! No achievement, no success, no money, no title, no position is worth putting on a show that has no internal substance.
As for me, I don’t want to be a nice decoration at best or a whitewashed tomb at worst. Do you?