What Did Jesus Look Like?

Legend says that when Leonardo da Vinci painted The Last Supper he used a young man’s face as a model for Jesus’s that radiated the Christ’s nobility, wisdom, and gentleness. Twenty years later, da Vinci also used a model for Judas, a man whose face was scarred with years of crime, pain, and drunkenness—meant to depict the darkness in Judas’s heart. While being painted, it is said that the model for Judas began to weep and explained that twenty years earlier he had been the model for Jesus.

I’ve heard it said that the thrust of the legend is that in due time our true face will reveal itself. It could also simply illustrate how much a life can be changed by poor decisions. We all have choices, and we all have consequences.

But I use this story to introduce the topic of Jesus’s appearance. No doubt that as an artist, da Vinci took some creative liberty to depict Jesus as a loving savior and king. Da Vinci used Jesus’s appearance/face to depict his character, but the reality is that we know very little about the Nazarene carpenter’s appearance because the Bible’s information on the topic is sparse.

“The reality is that we know very little about the Nazarene carpenter’s appearance because the Bible’s information on the topic is sparse.”

Two passages offer the clearest depictions. Here’s one:

“And standing in the middle of the lampstands was the Son of Man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were bright like flames of fire. His feet were as bright as bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was as bright as the sun in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.” (Revelation 1:13-17a, NLT)

There are a few other instances like this in Scripture (Ezekiel 1:28, 3:15; 2 Chronicles 7:3; Matthew 17:6), instances where mortals witness the immortal and are left like John says “as dead.” This though is not how Jesus is treated or seen throughout the Gospels.

Our most notable, and really the only clear description of Jesus’s physical characteristics during his time on earth, comes from the Old Testament, a prophetic message from Isaiah about a blameless suffering servant who would bear and intercede for the innumerable sins of his people through his death. It reads as follows:

“My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, sprouting from a root in dry and sterile ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised, and we did not care.” (Isaiah 53:2-3, NLT)

“We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised, and we did not care.”

From this passage, it could be seen that Jesus’s early life was one of hope and vibrancy in contrast to the “dry and sterile” world around him. Because the rest of the description comes from the perspective of fellow Jews (“we”), it could be assumed that the young Jew’s early reputation was a positive one among his peers, and certainly in relation to God (“in the Lord’s presence”).

But as he grew, the goodwill of his people dissipated. By his adult years, it appears that he is quite simply another face in the crowd, a nondescript participant in their way of life; they expected very little of him. (Perhaps there was even an envious disdain, a “schadenfreude,” as he grew older—in the way of a young man of whom much was expected but who never amounted to much.) By the end of his life, Jesus is openly despised by those same people; they callously reject him and abandon him to a bitter and grievous end.

This attitude is reflected in the record of his return to Nazareth in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke:

“The next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. They asked, ‘Where did he get all his wisdom and the power to perform such miracles? He’s just the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.’ They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him.” (Mark 6:2-3, NLT)

To reiterate, the passage details his neighbors’ offense, their seeming disdain for a man who, in their eyes, clearly shouldn’t possess the knowledge or power that he seems to. As the NLT says, he’s just a carpenter.

“The passage details his neighbors’ offense, their seeming disdain for a man who, in their eyes, clearly shouldn’t possess the knowledge or power that he seems to.”

In these verses the word “carpenter” is the Greek tektōn, which seems to be most accurately translated as “carpenter,” but it’s been suggested that this word could broadly be interpreted as “craftsman,” meaning that in addition to woodworking Jesus could have worked as a mason or metalworker. To do so, people have suggested Jesus could have been in at least decent physical shape. Similarly, this assumption about his physical shape has been made from the account of Jesus tossing tables and driving merchants out of the Temple courts (Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19, John 2), but this remains conjecture. Either way, it is clear we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel for any physical traits about Jesus we can pull from the text.

That said, there are a few other “physical traits” about Jesus in the Bible. One is that he was about thirty years old when he began his ministry (Luke 3:23). Scholars then speculate that his ministry lasted three or four years based on historical references in the Gospels to the reigns of Tiberius (Luke 3:1) and Pilate (Luke 23:1) or the three distinct mentions of the Passover, a yearly festival, in the Gospel of John (chapters 2, 6, and 11).

And while they might seem evident or inconsequential to some, details like Jesus’ hunger (Matthew 4:2, Mark 11:12) and his mortal suffering (Luke 22:44, John 19:34) are paramount to the theology that the Son of Man was incarnate, a man of human habits and hurts. Again, these physical traits might not feel all that compelling for those searching for vivid descriptions of one of history’s most controversial figures, but the reality is that the Bible offers us a pointedly limited view into those types of details.

“Details like Jesus’ hunger and his mortal suffering are paramount to the theology that the Son of Man was incarnate, a man of human habits and hurts.”

What, of course, is clear from the text is Jesus’s character, his impact, and his teachings. Those are all outlined explicitly and consistently—both in the Old and New Testaments.

The Messiah is prophesied to have been “gentle—he will not shout or raise his voice in public. He will not crush those who are weak or quench the smallest hope. He will bring full justice to all who have been wronged. He will not stop until truth and righteousness prevail throughout the earth. Even distant lands beyond the seas will wait for his instruction” (Isaiah 42:2-4, NLT).

Admittedly, one of the first things that sprang to mind after reading this passage was the aforementioned account of Jesus flipping tables in the Temple in addition to some of his stern rebukes of the religious leaders—“a brood of snakes” as Jesus called them (Matthew 12:34, NLT). But these events come in contrast to the accounts of a Jesus who came to “seek and save those…who are lost.” (Luke 19:10, NLT)

“The Messiah is prophesied to have been ‘gentle—he will not shout or raise his voice in public.'”

Acknowledging that this might be some verbal gymnastics, it could be argued that instances like the rebukes and Temple episodes were included because of how noteworthy they were to Jesus’ followers. If it was so unlike him to speak or deal harshly, the significance or gravity of those moments would not have been lost on people because of how aberrant those reactions were.

To support this idea, the Gospels are littered with accounts of Jesus healing the blind, the lame, and the spiritually destitute. This gentle and caring behavior was his common nature. A powerful example comes in Luke when he enters the village of Nain and passes a funeral procession for a young boy, the child of a widow. “When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion” and he raises the boy from the dead (Luke 7:13, NLT). Examples like this demonstrate that everywhere he went, Jesus’ heart yearned to right the wrongs of the world, to comfort the broken. His miracles, his teachings, and his heart amassed great crowds all throughout the regions of Judea, Galilee, and Samaria—and everywhere he went, he healed; he helped, and his heart longed for his people, even those who rejected him (Luke 19:41-44). This is who Jesus was during his time on earth and what he was broadly known for.

But perhaps the most powerful part of this exploration into the physical appearance of Jesus is the reality that his body isn’t even here anymore. Scripture’s boldest and most pivotal claim is that the nondescript body of a despised carpenter was resurrected after it was brutally murdered. The body was then witnessed walking (Luke 24:15), talking (Matthew 28:9, Mark 16:8, Luke 24:17, John 24:15, Acts 1:4), eating (Luke 24:43, Acts 1:4), and ultimately ascending (Luke 24:51, Acts 1:9).

“Perhaps the most powerful part of this exploration into the physical appearance of Jesus is the reality that his body isn’t even here anymore.”

What remains of the perceptibly unremarkable hands, feet, and face of the Nazarene man, Jesus, is a remarkable legacy of love and a promise to return—though the revelation of John suggests that the carpenter’s physical return won’t be anything like his appearance two thousand years ago. Amidst a flurry of thunderous brilliance and fire, all creation might fall “as dead” before its Returning King—the day when Jesus the Christ reappears.