Tuesday, December 26, 2006

The Face of Jesus



On Christmas Eve I went to my son's church called Watermark in Tampa. It's cut out of the "emerging church" mold. They held a very different but very worshipful service with the pastor preaching a solid gospel message. This post-modern church experience was new for me but was quite refreshing to tell you the truth. There was lots of music and drama fitting their cultural genre with tons of visual aids. There was an interesting art exhibit displaying the faces of Jesus perceived by various imaginations through the centuries. There were plenty of the traditional representations along with various unusual pictures such as abstract paintings, a photo of Jesus' face in he clouds, another on the bark of a tree. Even the Jesus from South Park was displayed. The point was that everyone has their own idea of who Jesus is. Some reverent, some not so reverent, some even absolutely ridiculous but one thing was clear... Jesus is the central figure of human history that has captured the imaginations of millions all over the world. The one here was from my own imagination done a couple of years ago. I guess the thing that struck me was that this central figure in human history is interested in me. Regardless of everybody elses perception of Jesus, He wants to touch my eyes to see Him as He really is. He wants to reveal Himself so clearly to me that everything else comes under subjection to Him. But to see His face, I don't need to look at the imaginations of others, I simply look into the Word. It is there we will see His face... and hopefully, the more clearly I see, the more clearly others can see Him in me.