“For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.”
~ Isa 53:2
Christmas traditions and hymns can often paint an idyllic picture of the first night of Christ’s life. We are left thinking of a lovely, clean little stable, some cute farm animals, and a beautiful child resting peacefully in a manger.
For example, think about the words to the second verse of Silent Night.
“Silent night, holy night, all is calm all is bright. Round ‘yon virgin, mother and child, holy infant so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace.”
A quiet evening, a bright star in the sky, and a Precious Moments couple watching their glowing baby…seems God-like, doesn’t it?
But the truth is quite the opposite. Jesus as a baby looked more or less like every other Jewish baby that had been born that year. And He probably cried the same amount as most babies do.
The prophet Isaiah tells us that Jesus as a baby was nothing special to look at. He didn’t have a form that made His mother and father gaze wistfully at Him. He wasn’t born with any particularly majestic features that drew people’s eyes. What’s more, He wasn’t a beautiful baby that crowds desired or noticed.
These things didn’t change as Jesus grew. He was a normal Jewish carpenter. He wouldn’t have stood out in a crowd for His looks, His appearance, or His majestic demeanor.
Why would God make Him so mundane? Why not have Jesus come into the world looking spectacular?
It was not His form or appearance that mattered. It wasn’t that He was a good looking man that made people desire Him. No…those things would only have confused His message.
He didn’t appear special, but He was the unique Son of God.
He didn’t look handsome, but He was the Creator of beauty.
He didn’t have external beauty, but He was the glory of God incarnate.
He was a normal looking baby boy, but the angelic host sung about Him.
The plainness of Jesus’s form points to the glory of His person and work.
Christmas reminds us that a normal looking Jewish man from Nazareth has come…but that He alone has carried the weight of our sins.
