Most people assume that Jesus had long hair. After all, that's the
way they've always seen Him portrayed in every painting, drawing or
movie. That's the only Jesus they've ever seen. But are those depictions
accurate?
The fact is, we don't know what Jesus looked like, because the first
depictions of Him weren't done until hundreds of years later. Thus every
image we've ever seen of Him is based solely on artists' imaginations.
While we don't know what Jesus looked like, we do know that He didn't look
like the common depictions of Him with long hair. After all, this same
Jesus inspired the apostle Paul to write in 1 Corinthians 11:14: "Does
not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it
is a dishonor to him?"
In addition to this instruction regarding long hair on men, the Bible
also contains circumstantial evidence that Jesus didn't have long hair.
Perhaps the most telling is that when Judas betrayed Jesus, he had
to identify Jesus by a kiss. That was the prearranged signal Judas had
given so that the guards could identify Jesus. Why did Judas have to
do that? Because Jesus looked just like any average man of His day,
and they wouldn't have been able to identify Him if Judas hadn't betrayed
Him with a kiss.
This incident shows us that Jesus looked like any ordinary, average
Jew of His day; there was nothing distinguishing about Him. The messianic
prophecy of Isaiah 53:2 (NIV) says of Him: "He had no beauty or majesty
to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire
him."
