No Pictures Tonight!

Everyone seems to have an image in their mind of what our Savior must look like. During the course of the past few years I have encountered a number of pictures that are purported to carry the "exact," "definitive," and "decidedly" perfect amalgamation of characteristics that make up what must have been the "image" of my Savior. Whoosh! I cannot begin to understand where this comes from other than a personal need for some to put a "face" on the image of "grace." We don't know what Jesus looked like, people!
We have not got a clue! Paintings and statues, carvings and renditions, cannot give us an accurate point of reference from which to discern what my Savior looked like walking around healing folks. Even the photographs(this is a pun)do not really do justice to His persona.
I'm not upset, and I don't have a bone to pick or any thing else, I just want to set some of the record straight. We don't know! And we will never know until He returns, and even that leaves us wondering because when He comes again we shall be like Him. God forbid that my Savior should ever look like me or any one else that I know personally. The thing is, we all have an image in our minds that is wrong(as in we have all fallen short), but it is ours. So, if you have that picture in your mind and it helps you to be more like He would have you be throughout your walk in life, hold on to it. The greatest artists of the last few thousand years have sought to render Christ on canvas so that we might all know Him as He was. Here comes the rub....."Know Him as He is Today!!! The risen Christ cannot be portrayed on the "big" screen, or placed on a poster. There are no snap shots available, and nobody has any idea what He really looked like. Who He is in your life and in your heart is the important part of living and understanding that unfolds within us as we follow the teachings that He gave us.
I like to think of Christ as a simple fellow with a beard and long hair, but you don't have to see Him as I see Him. See Him as you see him within. Look within yourself to find the truth of the Savior that was sent to us in the image of all humankind. The innocent babe that was born in a lowly place to ascend to His Father in heaven and in the process free us from our sins. In other words, "A Hero" beyond our wildest imaginings! In Christ's Love, Preacher.