You may have seen people wearing pins with “WWJD?” on them? That means “What would Jesus do? Or even ”What would Jesus drive?“ Some of them are just light humor, some are serious. In this little article, I’m serious.

A couple of months ago, Wendy Jeffcoat Crider did a good job of reviewing a book by Justin Griffin about images of Jesus. There are a lot of Jesus images extant today, motion pictures and TV programs about him, magazine and newspaper articles. In his book, Mr. Griffin has an argument with himself and concludes that the Bible forbids us indulging ourselves with holy pictures of Jesus and other Biblical figures because the second commandment of Moses tells us, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything in Heaven or on the earth beneath” nor bow down to them.

I bought the book, read it and conclude that, right or wrong, we are too far gone with a standardized image of Jesus to retreat now. He’s purported a handsome bearded man with gentle blue/gray eyes in some position of devotion.

After his death on the cross and ultimate disappearance as a human being, he was not depicted for 2-1/2 centuries and mankind possesses no known pictures of him as drawn or described by a contemporary human. A vague tradition has it that the disciple Luke drew a likeness of him but nothing more is known of that. The shroud of Turin, a cloth covering of his face, is questionable historically but shows an outline of a look alike to the face we’ve learned to know.

I won’t inject myself into this controversy but will indulge myself in what I think could be the way he looked, sounded, projected. During his short two-year ministry, he might have presented himself to 7,000 or more people as a person of interest, influence, devotion, exaltation; a force of healing, education and, above all, love.

In the ancient, prophetic book of Isaiah, the man who was to become the Messiah was described as being lacking in comeliness or noticeability. This man came from the hick town of Nazareth in Galilee, spoke in a limited unfashionable language, Aramaic, and, although he was religious and observant, dared to challenge some of the central temple’s religious practices. He loathed hypocrisy.

He walked the earth in his brief ministry at a special time of ferment in the western world’s evolution. Stoics in Greece were talking of a better, more meaningful good life on earth. Travelers in what we call the Holy Land brought a mixture of Mediterranean volatility. Then there was Roman governance, various permutations and non-observances in the Jewish faith and the already-mentioned Greek ideals and realities.

How might where he came from and his mode of living have shaped him and his appearance? He must have looked like his own followers and the essential fact was that he lived outdoors, always walking, his body blackened by the sun and desert air, with Semitic hawklike features. Shortly before his arrest by Roman soldiers, he had walked himself and his disciples all one cold night through damp, frosty, bandit-infested mountains toward Jerusalem – more than 25 miles. (Small wonder the 12 couldn’t stay awake while he prayed alone at Gethsemane).

He must have been rail thin with a dark and weathered face. His eyes must have been alert, expressive and warm. I’ve been to the place where he probably preached the Sermon on the Mount. Although, I believe his main, extraordinary message was meant for his disciples, his voice must have had carrying power out to the multitude even if his accent was strange and foreign, sort of like Lincoln’s country cadences at Gettysburg.

He spoke Aramaic, a localized language. When he said, “Our Father which art in Heaven,” it would have been “Avvon d-bish-maiya, nith-qaddash shim-mukh.”

During his two-year ministry, he and his disciples might have touched the lives of perhaps 7,000 Jews. By the end of the 1st century A.D. (anno domini-“ in the year of our Lord) there might have been 10,000 Christians. In a time of almost no printed media at the beginning of the 3rd century, there could have been 217,000, thanks to St. Paul and his loyal helpers. After Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, half the Roman Empire was Christian, 34 million had joined up – there’s been nothing comparable throughout human history. It was the kind of religion the world had been thirsting for.

But I still want to know what Jesus looked like. I know the exact face of Julius Caesar, a man who walked the earth in the century before Jesus. How? I’ve seen a sculptured bust of him. He looks like a lean American businessman. Why can’t I get some notion of Saul of Tarsus’ appearance, our St. Paul, who was the greatest, most intense public relations man and missionary ever?

Paul was that rarity, a Jewish Roman citizen, a Pharisee who probably saw Jesus and who was indefatigable, after his dramatic conversion, in setting up Christian centers throughout the known world; who travelled and hiked and swam and wrote and followed up and supervised even from jail cells; even when stoned and beaten and run out of town. When he finally died in prison, he was still writing and establishing that firm foundation we’re still benefitting from. But was he tall, bald? Did he ever laugh? I have stood where he stood in half a dozen places.

Did Jesus look relaxed when he told one of those brilliant parables of his? Did the listeners respond? I just wish old Moses hadn’t started such strict enforcement of this image thing. I’ve seen Michelangelo’s statue of Moses. At least I know what Michelangelo thought Moses looked like. Magnificent!

Jesus’ words are as alive as they’ve ever been. “His coming was the central event of all history.” “He founded a civilization.” “He divided the human calendar into two sections: ”Before“ and ”After.“

I’ll finish with his very own prayer as he might have spoken it – the Lord’s Prayer. When you say it, whatever the language, believe he’s listening.

Avvon d-bish-maiya, nith-qaddash shim-mukh.

Tih-teh mal-chootukh. Nih-weh ciw-yanukh:

ei-chana d’bish-maiya: ap b’ar-ah.

Haw lan lakh-ma d’soonqa-nan yoo-mana.

O’shwooq lan kho-bein:

ei-chana d-ap kh’nan shwiqq-qan l’khaya-ween.

Oo’la te-ellan I’niss-yoona:

il-la pac-can min beesha.

Mid-til de-di-lukh hai mal-choota

oo khao=la oo tush-bookh-ta

I’alam al-mein. Aameen

Attorney Austin Cunningham has been the president of five business companies and in 1988 was named Outstanding Elder Citizen of the Year for South Carolina.

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