<u>The Face of Jesus</u>
Jesus was God letting man see the beauty of His face and listen to the
music of His voice, and feel the irresistibly gentle drawing power of His
presence. Jesus was very winsome. He _drew_ men. He said that if He were
lifted up He _would_ draw men. They who heard that could believe it, for
He drew them before He was lifted up. He drew the _crowds_. Yet many a
leader that has drawn the crowds has led them astray. He drew _men_--men
of strongest mentality, scholarly, cultured, thoughtful men, and every
other sort. Yet men have often been befooled in their leaders. He drew
_women_. Here is a great test. Men may be deceived in a man. But woman,
true strong woman, pure womanly woman, because of her keen discernment
into spirit and motive, cannot be deceived, when true to her inner
conviction.
He drew _children_. This was the highest test. The child, fresh from the
hand of God, before it is appreciably hurt by parents or surroundings, is
drawn to the pure and good. They are repelled by selfishness and badness.
They draw out the best. They are drawn only by the true and beautiful and
good. That is, in the early years, before the warping of a selfish, sinful
atmosphere has hurt them. This is an infallible test. This told most His
winsomeness.
_Bad people_ were drawn to Him. That is, bad in their lives. Rarely indeed
is a human so wholly bad as to be untouched by true goodness, by sincere
love. Here is the touchstone of service. He touched that spot in the
lowest, and by His presence increased the hunger of their hearts for
purity and for sympathy up toward purity.
His _enemies_--a very small group, but in a position of great power,
holding the national reins--His enemies were drawn to Him, by a drawing
they fought, but could not resist. They admired Him while hating Him. His
presence disturbed because it accused the opposite in them. They
recognized the purity, the love, the rugged honesty, the keen insight, the
poised wisdom, and they hated Him the more intensely, so committed were
they in the practice of their lives to the opposite of these. Jesus was
very winsome. It was to be expected of Him, for He was a _man_ unstained
and unhurt by sin. Man, God's sort of man, is winsome, for he is in the
image of God. It was to be expected of Him, for He was God. And God is
winsome. Did men but _know_ God they would throw themselves at His feet in
the utter abandon of strong love.
Jesus' _personality_ must have been very attractive, because of the man
living within. He found expression in it. The spirit of a man finds
expression in his presence. He goes out to others through his presence.
From what we know of Jesus His presence must have had something distinctly
impressive about it. He would have a gently majestic bearing. He walked
upright like the king He was. He had the true dignity that is not
conscious of its dignity.
Jesus must have had a remarkable _face_. One's presence centers peculiarly
in the face. It comes to bear the imprint of the man inside. A man cannot
keep out of his face the dominant spirit of his life. The sin of the life,
the purity of the heart, is always stamped on the face. The finer the
nature the plainer is the facial index. That is the reason women's faces
reveal the inner spirit more than men's. Quite apart from His features,
the inner spirit of Jesus must have made His face beautiful with a manly
fascinating beauty. Yet in all likelihood those features were finely
chiselled and the skin clear, and with the transfiguring power of the
spirit within, that face must have been a great face in its beauty.
Jesus' face must have borne the impress of His experiences. The early home
experience would bring out patience and simplicity and sympathy. Those
forty days in the wilderness would intensify the purity and strength, and
bring evidence of struggle and of victory. The Jordan waters, with the
voice of approval, would deepen the mark of peace. Constant contact with
the sick and suffering would bring out yet more the tenderness and
gentleness. Constant teaching of undisciplined folk would intensify the
patience. Constant contact with sin would intensify the unflinching
sternness of purity. The Transfiguration would deepen the spirituality,
with possibly an added glory-touch. Gethsemane wrote in the deep lines of
intense suffering, with the intangible spirituality of victory and great
peace. And, at the last, Calvary with its scars marked in a beauty of
suffering and of spirituality refined beyond description. A marvellous
face that human face of Jesus.
_Indeed_, the glory of God was in the face of Jesus as He walked quietly
among men. Looking into that face men saw God. That simple, gentle,
patient, pure face, with its deep peace and victory and yet its
yearning--that was God looking out into men's faces.
<u>The Music of God in the Voice of Jesus.</u>
The face of that face was the _eye_. The eye is the soul of the face.
Through it the man looks out and shows himself. Through it we look in and
see him. Where the fires of self-ambition burn the flame is always in the
eye. Only where those fires are out or never lit does the real
beauty-light of God come into the eye. Great leaders have ever been noted
for their eyes, before whose glance strong men have cowed and quailed, or
eagerly coveted the privilege of service.
Those must have been matchless eyes of Jesus, keen, kindly, flashing out
blinding lightning, sending out softest subdued light. The Nazareth mob
couldn't stand the look of those eyes, nor the bolder Jerusalem mob
reaching down for the stones, nor the deputation sent to arrest, nor even
the reckless Roman soldiers at the garden gate. The disciples who were
closest sometimes followed him afraid and amazed because of the look of
those eyes. And yet the little children put their arms around His neck,
and looked up fearlessly and lovingly. And the crowd listened by the hour
with their eyes fastened upon His.
The _voice_ of Jesus must have been music itself. It speaks once of His
singing a hymn. How we would all have loved to hear Him sing! But that
voice was music at all times, whether in song or speech. Low, modulated,
rhythmic, gentle, rich, resonant--wondrous music. Those who have heard
Spurgeon and Gladstone almost always speak of the rare musical quality in
their voices. So, and more would it be with this Jesus. It has been said
that the personality reveals itself in the speech. It reveals itself yet
more, and more subtly, in the sound of the voice. The power or weakness of
a man is felt in the sound of his voice. The blind have unusual skill in
reading character in the voice. Were we wiser we could read men's
character much more quickly in the voice. Children and animals do. The
voice that stilled the waves and spoke forgiveness of sins, that drew the
babes, and talked out to thousands at once, must have been full of
sweetest music and thrilling with richest power.
Jesus made much of the personal _touch_, another means whereby a man's
power goes out to his fellow. He believed in close personal touch. He drew
men into close contact with Himself. He promised that when gone Himself,
Somebody else was to come, and live as He had done right with us in close
touch. He touched those whom He helped, regardless of conditions. There
was power in His touch. Some of Himself went out through that touch of
His. The fever, the weakness, the disease fled before His touch.
Is it to be wondered at that everywhere, in the temple yards, on Judean
hills or Galilean, by the blue waters of Galilee or the brown waters of
the Jordan, men crowded to Jesus? They couldn't help it. He was
irresistible in His presence, His face, His eye, and voice and touch. It
could not be otherwise. He was God on a wooing errand after man. Moses'
request of Jehovah, "Show me ... Thy glory," was being granted now to the
whole nation. In Jesus they were gazing on the glory of God. A veiled
glory? Yes, much veiled, doubtless, yet not as much as when Moses looked
and listened.
Jesus _draws_ men. All classes, all nations, all peoples are drawn to Him.
It is remarkable how all classes in Christendom quote Jesus, and claim Him
as the leader of their own particular views. They will selfishly claim Him
who will not follow Him.
Jesus draws _us_. Let us each yield to His drawing. That is the sincerest
homage and honor we can give Him. That will draw out in us to fullest
measure the original God-likeness obscured by sin.
Let us lift this drawing Jesus _up_ by our lives of loyalty to Him, by our
modest, earnest testimony for Him, by our unselfish love for the men He
loved so. _Up_ let us lift Him before men's eyes; _up_ on the cross,
transfigured by His love; _up_ on the Olives' Mount, Victor over all the
forces of sin and death; _up_ at the Father's right hand in glory, waiting
the fullness of time for the completion of His plan for man.
Thou great winsome God, we have seen Thy beauty in this Jesus. We have
heard Thy music in His voice. We feel the strong pull upon our hearts and
wills of Thy presence in Him. We cannot resist Thee if we would. We would
not if we could. We are coming a-running to keep tryst with Thee under the
tree of life thou art planting down in our midst. We will throw ourselves
at Thy feet in the utter abandon of our strongest love, Thy volunteer
slaves.