How do you see Jesus? I don’t mean literally see Him with your eyeballs, although if you do see Jesus that way, I would very much be interested in talking with you after the service because either you are a prophet or you need to have your medications adjusted. What I mean is, when you think about what Jesus looks like, when you paint a portrait of Him on the canvass of your imagination, what does your mind’s eye see? Is He tall? Is He physically fit? What color is His skin, His eyes, His hair? Does He have a beard and if so, how long is it? Is He attractive? The prophet Isaiah tells us “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.”[1] So it sounds as though physically Jesus looked like an average Jewish man of that time. That means Jesus most likely had brown eyes, brown hair and olive-brown skin. He may have stood about 5’-5” tall[2] and considering gluttony would have been a sin He resisted, and He walked everywhere He went, I’m going to guess Jesus weighed about 145 pounds.
Physically, we don’t really know what Jesus looked like so if you want to imagine Him as a 6’2” blond hair, blue eyed, Caucasian or a 4’9” black haired, black eyed, Asian, I suppose you can. But regardless of the details of His physical appearance, how else do you see Jesus? If I were to ask you this question two weeks from now when most of you will have already hung your stockings by the chimney with care you would likely see Jesus the same way Ricky Bobby sees Jesus: a cute and cuddly 8-pound 6-ounce baby laying in a manger. However, if I ask you this same question several months from now, I’m guessing how you see Jesus will drastically change. When the altar is draped in a black cloth and there is an old rugged cross looming over you from the corner of the nave it is likely you will see a bruised and bloodied man who has been beaten within an inch of His life. When you choose to look at Jesus greatly effects how you see Jesus.
Today is the last Sunday in the season of End Times. Today is Christ the king Sunday. Today the apostle Paul invites us to look up into the heavenly kingdom and see “15 the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” Today Paul asks, “how do you see Jesus?”
The image of Jesus that Paul is about to share with us is an image that we desperately need to see, that is as long as we live in a time when the love of most has grown cold and we find ourselves surrounded by wars and rumors of wars. (Humanity, these days seems so full of hate that surely granny was right when she said they were going to hell in a hand basket.) The state of humanity aside, personally we don’t want to miss the image of Jesus that Paul wants to show us this morning, at least not as long as our own lives seem so full of uncertainty and insecurity, fear and anxiety, loneliness and depression.
Saint Paul invites sinners living in a sinful world to look at Jesus. The first thing we see is a craftsman. In verse 16 Paul writes, “16 … by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.” We typically assign the work of creation to God the Father, and rightly so for scripture identifies Him as such. But here we are reminded that God the Son, that is Jesus, was also involved in the creation of all things, and not in some insignificant way.
In the beginning Jesus created things that had not previously existed. With no material to guide Him and no examples to inspire Him Jesus demonstrated a depth of creativity that surpasses all human capabilities. Look to the heavens and you will see light radiating from the sun and illuminating objects of various shapes, sizes, and colors. Then consider that our sun is but one star among billions that fill the Milky Way and our Milky Way is but one galaxy among billions that fill our universe. The vastness of His creation demonstrates His ability, but it is perhaps in His attention to detail that we see the skill of this craftsman. Out of all the planets of all the galaxies in our universe, this planet with its atmosphere and elements has been crafted in such a way that we might not only survive but thrive. Further, look closely at the people who thrive on this planet and you will marvel at the complexity of their design. Skin that protects us, bones that support us, muscles that move us, organs that sustain us. Even though they have been damaged by sin, and sometimes poorly cared for by the likes of us, you have to admit, the human body is the work of a master craftsman. Paul invites us to see Jesus as a craftsman who cares about His creation.
Now let’s take a look at verse 17 and see what else we can see. There, Paul tells us Jesus, “17 is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Here, Paul invites us to see Jesus as someone who holds it all together. Now, there are some who see God as little more than a clockmaker who simply winds up the universe and then walks away, leaving us to fend for ourselves in a dangerously chaotic and harshly unforgiving environment. But those people fail to understand that creation cannot be without its creator. The sun would fall from the sky, the earth would spin from its orbit, the fabric of space would be torn to pieces, and the DNA of all living things would unravel.
Thankfully Paul does not show us an image of an absentee clockmaker. Instead Paul shows us an image of Jesus holding it all together. Throughout scripture, we see Jesus personally involved in His creation; personally, involved in you. Jesus causes His sun to shine, His rain to fall, His plants to grow all so that He can cloth you with the splendor found among the flowers of the field and feed you better than the birds of the air. As the psalmist sings, “The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.”[3] Jesus opens His hands and gives food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, rest to the weary, companionship to the lonely, protection to the persecuted, comfort to the frightened and everything else we could possibly need. Paul invites us to see Jesus as someone who holds it all together, heaven’s planets in one hand and God’s children in the other.
There is still more for us to see. In verse 18 Paul tells us Jesus “18 is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” At any given time, there are a number of individuals jockeying for power over the people of the earth: kings, dictators, presidents, advertisers, influencers, celebrities. The power of these individuals comes and goes.
In contrast to the would-be rulers of the earth, Paul invites us to see Jesus as the ruler of the church, here and in the days to come. While they are living Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to call His people out of darkness into His wonderful light. He provides pastors and teachers to prepare His people for works of service. He equips parents to train His children in the way they should go. Jesus guards His church from false prophets who like wolves in sheep’s clothing seek to lead His people astray and He protects His church from the devil who prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
While they are living Jesus rules His people, but even after they have left the land of the living Jesus continues to rule His people. As the “firstborn from among the dead” Jesus opens the doors of heaven to His people and invites them to join those who wear the white robes and stand before the throne of God serving Him day and night in His temple. There, His people will never hunger; there they will never thirst. There, the sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For Jesus will be their king and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.[4] Here on earth and forever in heaven Paul invites us to see Jesus as the ruler of His church.
There is one more thing Paul wants us to see. In verse 19-20 Paul tells us that “19 God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” The final thing Paul want us to see when we look at Jesus is our Savior. There are some who see Jesus as a great moral teacher, others see Him as the leader of a movement, still others see a prophet of the divine, but Jesus is much more than that. He is 100% almighty God. And that is a good thing because that’s was sinners need Him to be.
Sin destroyed our relationship with the holy, holy, holy LORD God almighty. Though we were created to be in perfect harmony with Him, because of sin we hated Him. Because of sin we were, as Luther would say, “lost and condemned creatures”. Well, lost and condemned creatures need more than a teacher, more than a leader, more even than a prophet. Lost and condemned creatures need almighty God. Because only almighty God can reconcile, that is resolve the conflict between lost and condemned creatures and the holy, holy, holy LORD God almighty.
This reconciliation took place on a cross. On a cross almighty God was sneered at. On a cross almighty God was mocked. On a cross almighty God was insulted. On a cross almighty God suffered. On a cross almighty God died. And in so doing almighty God rescued sinners from their lost and condemned condition. Because of almighty God, our relationship with the holy, holy, holy, LORD God almighty has been restored; we are as we were intended to be, at peace. The final thing Paul want us to see when we look at Jesus is our Savior.
In a few weeks we will see 8-pound 6-ounce baby Jesus laying in a manger. But Jesus only looked like for 1,2, maybe 3 years. The baby Jesus is all growed up. Several months from now we will see Jesus beaten within an inch of his life hanging on a cross between two criminals. But Jesus only looked like that for about 6 hours. Today we have looked up into the heavenly kingdom and seen what Jesus has looked like for the past 2,000 years and will continue to look like for an infinity of years to come. So when I ask you, “how do you see Jesus”, I pray at least once in a while you see Him as the creator of heaven and earth, Who holds everything together while He rules over the living and the dead, as the Savior of the world. I pray at least once in a while, at least on Christ the King Sunday, this is how you see Jesus. Amen.
[1] Isaiah 53:2
[2] the average height of a man at the time
[3] Psalm 145:14-16
[4] Revelation 7