"With hair the color of unripe hazelnuts..."

The face of Jesus is the ideal image of beauty. I can remember when I was a little girl of about 7, my church would host Christmas plays. Most of the youth group kids had long speaking roles, but being younger I was given the task of holding a picture frame. As the play went on, I remember being so proud to hold the picture frame stage right for the whole convocation to see: the face of Jesus Christ.

Much of my perception about the way Jesus looked was formed a this time in my life. I remember learning to memorize the Serenity Prayer in Sunday School, and how repeating those lines made me think of that picture framed painting of Jesus. The light from the top corner of the canvas shining down on His upturned face, as if he were seeing the light of God. He looks sinless and innocent; he looks as the portrait all Christians hope to resemble if not on the outside, then more likely on the inside- the soul: clean, pure, and with an open heart to receive the light of God.

I often found myself, during the movie, painting my own picture in my head with the words the various narrators use to describe the "Face of Jesus". Some of the phrases I found most useful in creating this picture were of his facial features. A man of "surpassing beauty", with "commanding blue/gray eyes". His hair is, "the color of unripe hazelnut; curly, dark and shining". With a "smooth, serene brow", his face is marked by a beard that is, "full, but not long". He is the figure of "simplicity adorned with maturity", he is "beautiful above the sons of men". When I found myself completely enveloped by this image, I realized that not only was I seeing Jesus as that pure face in my childhood, but I was seeing him as...



Jesus Christ: our Superstar through the ages.

The more I listened to the narrative “The Face of Jesus”, I realized that Jesus is most definitely quite the superstar in Christianity. He is the embodiment of everything wonderful and immaculate: a “Sheppard, miracle worker, philosopher, God, and man”. Jesus can make the “divine accessible and approachable”. This is the reason why nothing less than a perfectly divine artistic impression of Jesus will do. His image is less of a portrayal of His physical characteristics, but more about providing believers with a symbol of His image in which to model their lives.

According to Michelangelo in his attempt to portray such a being, he hoped to create something “both completely divine and completely human”. I have to ask myself over again whether or not I find this completely contradictory, and even possible. Does such a thing exist? Can it? And, in accordance with our sinful human lives, can we possibly hope to model ourselves in His image?

And I think of the 21st century, and after whom we hope to model ourselves. To me, the concept of creating a perfect divinely human recreation of what Jesus looks like is easier to grasp when I imagine him as a superstar. I ask myself, well who wouldn’t want to have shining dark locks, stunning eyes, a serene brow in times of desperation, and the light from the Father shining down on them in the face of the many trials and tribulations we must face? To be blessed with status and beauty- why shouldn’t we all just try to be like Jesus Christ?

Well, maybe it’s the trying that counts. After all, says a late narrator in the movie: “beauty was a way in which humans could seek God”. I think it’s arguably still a way in which people seek the Holy, or at least their idea of the Holy. For as long as we can see into the past, and for as long as we can see into the future, the perfect picture of Jesus will forever continue to be a nebulous concept.

Cheers to persistence.