A Renewed Vision of Jesus: Seeing Jesus
How do you see Jesus?
What is he like when you think about him?
The image of Jesus that many people were raised with in the church painted a certain picture of Jesus that may have had some accuracy to it, but largely had some cultural inaccuracies. For example: when I was younger, I had in my mind that he was likely Caucasian, with brown hair, a short manscaped beard, light-coloured eyes, a well-ironed white or light coloured outfit with a slightly darker, perhaps light blue cloth wrapped around his waist and up over his shoulder like a beauty pageant sash. In some of the pictures, his hair was blowing in the breeze, all teased out (or perhaps it was the Holy Spirit blowing as wind), and he always seems happy, or at least quite pleased to be there. Wherever there happened to be in the drawing or painting. At times, I pictured Jesus as loving, kind, and compassionate, and at other times as someone who was closely watching and scrutinizing my life to see if I was sinning or doing something wrong. How I viewed him thought affected how I chose to approach him or tried to hide from him. What we think about Jesus and what we think he is like impacts how we live our lives in response to him.
What are some of the words that come to mind when you think about Jesus?
What is he like?
We usually describe someone or something based on our experience, awareness, senses, and impressions. This can be further informed from other people’s experiences, awareness, senses, and impressions. And, we also have the testimonies of those who encountered him in the Gospels left to us through stories, experiences, and descriptions that define our understanding of what he was and is like. The Bible says,
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8)
The Gospel writers wrote about their experiences with Jesus firsthand. They shared about what they learned, what he said, how he said it, and what they saw him do. They shared how they encountered him and what he was like.
The entirety of the Bible is filled with stories of real people’s encounters with God that help us to anticipate and see Jesus. We also have Old Testament scriptures that talk about what Jesus would be like when he came, some of them written prophetically 400 years and more in advance.
If you want to have a renewed or fresh vision of Jesus:
Ask God to show you by the Spirit who Jesus is and what he is like. We have the Holy Spirit to help us get to know God better (Ephesians 1:17).
Read the Gospels with a view to learning what he was like from those who encountered Jesus firsthand (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—start with John)
Ask others who have journeyed with Jesus to share their story and talk about who they have encountered Jesus to be in their lives
