Was Jesus short?
When our boys were young and prone to get in to trouble, I would sometimes tell them that the average height of a Jewish man in Jesus’ day was 5’1”. If that warning didn’t click with them right away, I would then remind them that their mother is also 5’1”…Which means, boys, that your mom sees eye-to-eye with God – so don’t mess with her!
Most estimates have first-century Jewish men ranging in height anywhere from 5’0” to 5’5”. The Bible doesn’t say anything about how tall Jesus stood. It’s not like the Bible totally ignores physical descriptions of people – whenever there is a unique feature about a person, it’s acknowledged: Esau was red and hairy (Genesis 25:25), Saul was head-and-shoulders taller than everyone (1 Samuel 9:2), and David was “ruddy” and handsome (1 Samuel 16:12). While the gospels may tell us about what Jesus taught and how He lived, they give us no clue as to how we would pick Jesus out of a crowd.
The only approximate description of Jesus comes from the prophet Isaiah, when he gave a rather unheroic description of Jesus’ appearance:
Isaiah 53:2-3
He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground.
He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at him,
no appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was.
He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him.
Not exactly a ringing endorsement for us to come to Jesus because He “looks the part” of what we want in a savior.
Instead of what Isaiah detailed, our modern-day pictures of Jesus align more with today’s standards. Have you ever noticed how our portrayals of Jesus have him about 6’1”, a solid 210 pounds, and the tallest person in the picture? In all media – paintings, movies, color book pictures, Bible covers – He always has long hair and often looks Swedish. When in reality, Jesus was probably around 5’1”, had short dark hair, a middle-eastern complexion (likely much darker than us Westerners assume), a round face, and average-at-best looks.
But why even bring this up, right? Does how we visualize what Jesus looked like make any real difference? Honestly…yeah, it could…because it’s the start of a very slippery slope. You see, whenever we imagine Jesus having physical traits more “like us” instead of what’s true, it is a very short trip to begin taking other aspects of God and making them in our image. When Jesus is “like us”, we immediately assume that all those not-like-us or not-liked-by-us are the ones who aren’t acceptable to God.
I love Todd Agnew’s song My Jesus, as it challenges many of our assumptions. Here is a portion of the lyrics:
Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a clear complexion
Is how you see Him as He dies for Your sins.
But the Word says He was battered and scarred or did you miss that part?
Sometimes I doubt we'd recognize Him.
'Cause my Jesus bled and died.
He spent His time with thieves and the least of these.
He loved the poor and accosted the comfortable.
So which one do you want to be?
'Cause my Jesus would never be accepted in my church.
The blood and dirt on His feet might stain the carpet.
But He reaches for the hurting and despises the proud,
And I think He'd prefer Beale St. to the stained glass crowd.
How we imagine Jesus strongly influences how we expect to partner with Him in the here-and-now. Let’s make sure that our portrayals of our hero, high priest, and king accurately reflect who He is – and not some picture of the American dream.
Keep Pressing,
Ken