Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

What does Jesus look like?

I bet there are as many answers to that question as there are people here today. Or, maybe I should say there are probably as many answers to the question that you think I asked as there are people here today. Most of you, I am going to guess, heard me ask you “What did Jesus look like?” And that’s what your mind set off to answer. So let’s start there.

What did Jesus look like?

You know, stained glass windows in church buildings originally were intended to teach illiterate people the stories of the Bible. Most didn’t own their own Bible – and, even if they did, they couldn’t read it. So many people often envision Jesus as they saw Him depicted in the windows and artwork of the church where they grew up. Check and see if that is not the case in your own mind.

If you look around you right now, you will see how for the past 74 years, we have indirectly taught that Jesus looked like a central European. If you travel just about 10 miles south of here, to St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church on West Adams in Los Angeles, you will see that Jesus was indeed not a central European, but was an African instead. And if you travel to Central or South America, you will see that Jesus looked like most of the neighbors who live around our church today.

It’s interesting – it’s fascinating – that we have a tendency to all think that Jesus looked like us. And that’s really not a bad thing because, after all, Scripture tells us that God created us in His image so that means that we look like God and that God looks like us, no matter how diverse we are.

That’s an interesting sermon all by itself, but we’ve gotten diverted because if you were carefully listening to me a few minutes ago you will be able to tell the rest of us that I didn’t originally ask “What did Jesus look like?” Instead I asked, “What does Jesus look like?” And there’s a big difference between those two questions, even though our answers will likely be just as diverse, no matter which question we’re answering.

What does Jesus look like? Jesus looks like that annoying child who gets seated right behind you on that 5-hour cross country airplane flight.

What does Jesus look like? Jesus looks like those three women blocking the aisle of Office Depot, loudly and annoyingly – to your ears – speaking their native Asian language.

What does Jesus look like? Jesus looks like that man with an overflowing cart of Thanksgiving groceries in the 15-item or less express line at the store.

What does Jesus look like? Jesus looks like the taxi driver who just cut you off and then made a colorful hand gesture at you when you honked your horn.

What does Jesus look like? Jesus looks like the unshowered person wearing obviously dirty clothes listening to a boom box radio with no sound and with no batteries who happens to sit in the booth next to you at your favorite restaurant when there are no other seats available for you to move to.

What does Jesus look like? Jesus looks like your neighbor – oh, not the neighbor that you like, but “that” neighbor no one seems to like.

That’s what Jesus looks like – and we can’t even stop there.

Are you confused? So were the people listening to Jesus almost 2,000 years ago. “Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You? When did we see You thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we invite You in or clothe You or visit You when You were sick or in prison? Lord, when?” “Whatever you have done for the least of these, you have done to Me!”

Christmas is a holiday that is visually easy to celebrate. We pull out the manger scene. We hang the angel decorations. We say things like “Jesus is the Reason for the Season.”

Easter is a holiday that is visually easy to celebrate. We light the Paschal Candle. We start our service in darkness, symbolizing the early morning atmosphere of Christ’s Resurrection. We exchange greetings like “Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Hallelujah!”

Even Thanksgiving is a holiday that is visually easy to celebrate. We write a list of things for which we are thankful to God. Before we dig into the turkey, we use that special Thanksgiving Day prayer that is printed on the back page of the church bulletin.

How about Christ the King Sunday? How do you visually celebrate Christ the King Sunday? How do you celebrate the victory won for you by Jesus Christ as He suffered, died and rose again for you? How do you celebrate Christ’s breaking open the tomb, declaring eternal victory over sin, death and the power of the devil for you and for me? How do you celebrate Christ’s ascension back into Heaven, when He sat down at the right Hand of God, the Father Almighty to rule and reign for all time and for all eternity?

How do you visually celebrate Christ the King Sunday? I suggest we do it the way Christ tells us to do it. I suggest we celebrate Christ the King in the way we deal with that annoying child, in the way we deal with the women blocking the aisle, in the way we deal with the express line crasher, in the way we deal with the taxi cab driver, in the way we deal with that person who has obviously slipped through the loving care of social service agencies and in the way we deal with “that” neighbor.

Who knows? Maybe if we celebrate Christ the King Sunday the way Jesus wants us to, seeing Him wherever we go and whatever we do today, maybe – just maybe – we will see those faces again on that Day when the Son of Man comes in His glory with all His angels with Him and maybe – just maybe – those faces will brighten as will ours when we hear Jesus say, “Take your inheritance, the Kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world for I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you invited Me in; I needed clothes and you clothed Me; I was sick and you looked after Me; I was in prison and you came to visit Me.”

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena