As I was working in our church’s kitchen one Sunday morning recently, helping to prepare for an all-church meal on the grounds, I overheard one of my fellow workers ask another, “If Jesus were alive today and came to our church, what would He look like, what would He wear?”
Laughter broke out as a number of suggestions were made. Everything from a “nice suit” to a “robe” was mentioned. I chuckled to myself and thought it a fun topic for some chit-chat to help pass the time.
One person suggested the He would probably dress somewhat generically, like “everyman,” in order to relate to as many as possible and offend no one. Doesn’t scripture say that there was nothing physically about Him that stood out from the ordinary? An interesting perspective, I thought to myself.
I would imagine that most of us have wondered the same thing at times. I know I’ve certainly tossed the idea around in my own head before.
What WOULD Jesus look like? How would He dress? Would His hair be long or short? Would He have a beard? Would He carry a Bible with Him? A cell phone, perhaps? Would He know the songs we sing, or even sing along?
In other words, would He ‘look’ (i.e., dress, act, think, worship) like us?
Let’s be honest. A large part of our identity as believers (particularly in the worshiper-centric culture of the American church) is tied to the deep seeded, but unspoken, concept that He is in fact ‘like us.’ Our music reflects it, our teaching reflects it, our art reflects it, and often our preaching reflects it.
After all, when we take a look around our churches on any given Sunday morning, what do we see? In spite of the minor variations, most everyone there ‘looks’ like us. Even when we attend larger, cross-denominational church functions, it’s same thing. For the most part, we all tend to ‘look’ alike.
Thus, in the recesses of our subconscious minds we’ve determined that He, too, must look like us. He must. Our corporate identity depends on it.
Yet, as I listened to the conversation that morning something else began to tug at the back of my mind. Something seemed amiss with this entire line of thinking. Although the original question was offered out of harmless curiosity, this was altogether the wrong question to be asking.
No, there was another question we should be asking ourselves, both as individuals and as His body.
If Jesus were alive today and came to OUR church, would WE look like HIM?
Would we? Honestly?
Would we relate to Him as He is, whatever His appearance, or only if He looked like US?
Or would we even recognize Him? Are we sure?
In John 10, Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me….My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” But knowing, hearing and following are prefaced by watching, listening and recognizing.
I propose to you that on any given Sunday, at any given church, Jesus often slips in (and out), unnoticed.
We don’t see Him when He visits, because we’re not usually watching for Him. Or when do see Him we don’t recognize Him, because He seldom looks like us.
But then, I’m pretty sure we actually have seen Him there, haven’t we? You know…
~ The middle-aged man who sat quietly at the end of our row a few weeks back. We didn’t take the time to meet him. We needed that time instead to complain to the grounds keeper about the trash we found on the sidewalk and to the worship leader for his choice of choruses. Come to think of it, we haven’t seen that man since.
~ Or the young woman three rows back who ‘forgot’ to drop her toddler at the nursery. He made quite a bit of noise during the service, disrupting the usual quiet of the congregation. We might have said something to her afterward about the “wonderful nursery facility” the church offers, but we didn’t recognize her, so we held our tongue and only glared slightly as we walked passed.
~ Then there was that unkempt man from a couple months ago, dressed in dirty jeans and wearing a leather vest – with a chain. Looked like he’d just dropped in from a biker gang. Unshaven, long hair. Might have smelled a bit, too, but we didn’t get close enough to know for sure. Somebody said they thought he was the son of an old widow who lived down the street from the church. Rumored to be into drugs. They didn’t trust him. Good thing he’s not been back.
~ Oh, and there’s that teenage girl who was there last week. Sat alone across the sanctuary. Stared into the distance during the whole service. How odd. Someone should mention to her, in a nice way of course, that short skirts and tights with holes in them are not appropriate for church. And her hair – hot pink! Wow, what’s up with that?
~ And don’t forget the old man who’s always asleep on the bus stop bench at the corner across from the church. The one we pass every Sunday morning on the way to services. The police really ought to do something about him. It IS against the law, after all. Come to think of it, he’s not been there the past two Sundays. Maybe he’s moved on to somewhere else.
Any of these sound familiar? Did we see them when they visited? Could they have been Jesus in disguise? Perhaps? No?
But how would we know unless we take the time to step into their world and find out? And why don’t we?
I’ll ask it again. Is it really because they don’t look like us…or because WE really don’t look like HIM?
If He were to drop in on our church this week, would we even know He had been there? Or would He move quietly on while we concern ourselves with other, ‘more important’ business.
Sadly, for some of us, He may have already moved on. We just don’t know it, yet.
“And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me’.” Matthew 25:40
Get A New View 