The prophet Isaiah gives us a picture of what Jesus looked like which is far different from that which is presented by artists or portrayed in movies. “When we shall see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him” (Isa. 53:2). There was nothing physically attractive about Him, but those who truly saw Him found another kind of beauty which came from within.
In Luke chapter seven, we read the details of that time when Jesus was a guest in the home of Simon the leper. While they were eating, a sinful woman came to where Jesus was and stood behind Him weeping. She fell at His feet and began to wash His feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair. She kissed His feet and anointed them with oil.
What a contrast to her in the presence of Jesus and that of Simon. When Jesus entered his house, the leper failed to give Him the usual greeting by kissing Him, but the woman likely was still kissing His feet. Simon had failed to wash the feet of the Guest in his house, but she washed His feet with her tears. Simon had failed to anoint Jesus’ head with oil, but she had brought fragrant ointment to anoint His feet and the aroma surrounded them. Two amazing differences in the way they saw Jesus. Truly, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder!
There also was that time when some rejoiced to see that nail driven into the feet of Jesus to anchor Him to the cross. How could He not show that evidence of pain on His face while others gleefully watched it all! John chapter twelve described another who had looked at those same feet, just days before His death. Jesus had raised Lazarus of Bethany from the dead, and the very week of His crucifixion He was again in the home of Mary and Martha, when Mary came to Jesus with a pound of precious ointment. It was worth the equivalent of 300 days’ wages. She anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair.
Judas, who was motivated by his covetous heart of theft, criticized her openly. Jesus rebuked the apostle and said she had kept that fragrance for that day to anoint Him for His burial. What a contrast between those views of His feet! Two vastly different views of His feet.
Following His resurrection, others saw His pierced feet. He said, “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is Myself” (Luke 24:39). What a difference His feet now made. Pierced feet might look hideous to some who looked at them, but not to those who follow Him.
When you think of what Jesus might have looked like, do not think of the movies. See that inward beauty of the feet of Him who has no beauty that we should desire Him.