… he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. — Isaiah 53.2
We are often swayed by what our eyes see. Some studies have shown that good looking people make more money and are more likely to be hired than not-so-good looking people. In this election season some of us may even recall the first televised presidential debates, where surveys of people who listened to the debate on the radio felt Nixon had done better than his handsome opponent while those who saw the debate on television favored Kennedy. This effect reportedly carried over to the election, with many people saying that they voted the way they did because of the visual appearance of the candidates.
Yet when we read the prophecy of Isaiah, one that describes the Messiah as a suffering servant, we note that along with everything else he was not attractive. In the Gospels no description of Jesus is given; the only eye-witness descriptions of him are found in Revelation where they are visions of him in his glorified form.
People did not follow Jesus because of what he looked like or what they saw. Rather, they were overwhelmed by what he said. The reaction of the soldiers sent by the Sanhedrin to arrest him reflects this:
The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?”
The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” (John 7:45-46)
What we see has a powerful influence on us, to the point that people say that “Seeing is believing.” Yet what we see is actually fundamentally ambiguous. A person’s face says nothing about his character. An event that we see may have a meaning completely different from what we initially think.
But our faith is not based on what we see but what we hear. “We walk by faith, not by sight,” Paul tells us. And our faith is in the Good News of salvation through Jesus, through which we encounter the power of God to salvation.
Don’t be fooled by what you see. Instead pay attention to words that will save you.
Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. — 1 Peter 1:8-9