Faces

I submitted this post for the RPCC Women's Ministry Blog, but thought it would be nice to post it in full:

Have you ever stopped to think about your face? The face of your child, your spouse, the stranger next door? No? Well I have. At least recently, that is.

This past weekend I traveled to Michigan to visit my mom’s side of the family and enjoy some much needed rest outside the city. Within minutes of sitting down at the kitchen table my aunt and I started chatting about our respective family history research finds. I had some new records to show her; she had some old photos to show me. Faces floated before my eyes. Some I recognized, others were unfamiliar, but distinctive features show up throughout all the generations.

As I sat there playing history detective, I was reminded of Psalm 139 where it says,

¹³ For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
   when I was made in the secret place,
   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
   all the days ordained for me were written in your book
   before one of them came to be.

On this earth, we are known by our faces. We recognize our friends because of their loving smiles. We remember historical figures by seeing their faces on money, stamps, and the sides of mountains. Celebrities, often airbrushed, are branded by their appearance. So much emphasis is placed on the captured image. Facebook, Flickr, Tumblr, Picasa—they are all there to share and promote our faces, to tell the world about who we are and who we want to become.

Recently I had the opportunity to see an exhibit of Yousuf Karsh’s photography. An immigrant from Syria, Karsh quickly gained standing as a photographer in the 1930s and ‘40s. In 1941 he took an awe-inspiring photography of Winston Churchill. Almost immediately his career as a photographer of “exhilarating people” was buoyed, marking Karsh as a celebrity himself.  He photographed thousands and thousands of famous people, yet what strikes me most is that he never tried to glamorize his subjects. His uniquely chiaroscuro style is indeed moving, but each portrait tells a story of the person’s character, struggles, and fame. While some thought this style too driven by propaganda, he defended his art, saying that he was trying to capture something truthful, not trying to change people’s minds.

Karsh’s photographs are a mesmerizing look at the human form and an insightful look at the human spirit, but thinking back at that afternoon in the gallery, an interesting thought popped into my head. Would Karsh have photographed Jesus if Jesus were still walking the earth? Even better, what would Jesus have looked like in Karsh’s photo? Not, what color eyes were his eyes and how long was his hair? But, really think about it. What does Jesus look like? How do we see Him?

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul paints a picture, so to speak. Explaining Christ’s humility, he says,

Christ Jesus:  ⁶Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; ⁷rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  ⁸And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

For Jesus, taking on humanity wasn’t about getting a nice body, but humbling himself before the Father’s will.

I’m sure Jesus had bad hair days, maybe a pimple or two. Perhaps he had Mary’s eyes and smile. 

When I look at old family photos, I look for familiar traits—characteristics to identify age and relation. We don’t have baby pictures of Jesus that some shepherd-turned-artist painted in Bethlehem, or an Instagram of Jesus’ first miracle. But even better, we have Scripture that has captured His very nature and character. When we think of Jesus, a blue-eyed, blond-haired portrait from dusty Sunday School walls may come to mind, but what we really see is Himself—love incarnate, redemption embodied, and peace made complete.

So many places in Scripture speak of God’s face. Us seeking, Him shining, us seeing, Him hiding. There is one such passage that everyone knows, but whose context not many consider: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. 

 ¹ If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, 

I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  

² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, 

and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  

³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,  

but do not have love, I gain nothing.

 ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 

⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  

⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  

⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 ⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; 

where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  

⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part,  

¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.  

¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. 

When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.  

¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. 

Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.  

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 

Paul is speaking of Christ’s body, the church, and how we should act. For now, he says, “we see only a reflection” (a photograph if you will), but when completeness comes, “we shall see face to face.”

Can you imagine? Face to face with Jesus! Way better than even the most pristine portrait or fuzzy digital snapshot.

Spend some time today thinking about what Jesus looks like—and pray that He shows you (more and more) who He really is.