What does Jesus look like?

Hey friends…
 
How real is Jesus to you? Can you visualize him? What does he look like? Sound like? What does he say to you? What is he doing right now? Or are you simply blank about who he is, other than maybe to picture some dark-haired, bearded fellow with olive skin that you’ve seen on “The Chosen”? Let’s talk about all his good looks in Deeper Thoughts below.
 
But first… a few quick reminders and updates:
 
·      Memorial service for Mary Ellen Motz, the mother of Pastor Chris, TOMORROW Saturday, March 8, at 3:30 p.m. All are welcome.
 
·      Are you interested in taking more ownership of Mt. Hope? Our version of traditional “church membership” is called “Covenant Partnership.” Join us for a Covenant Partners orientation class and luncheon, THIS Sunday, March 9, 11:45 – 1:00 p.m. Learn about how to become an official member of our church partnership team!
 
·      Teens: Youth Group THIS Sunday, 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Chris Bowen will be sharing. Lunch and games too! Contact Jess if your teen needs a ride home.
 
·      Ladies: Mark your calendars for our next women’s event, Saturday, March 29, 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. as we learn to make jewelry with Joan Lyerly. Cost will be $5.00 for supplies. More info and RSVP to come!
 
·      Don’t forget our “Daily Six” video series, six-minutes every weekday to read along with me as we study through the Gospel of Mark. Click here to jump in! And if you’d like to receive daily email reminders, click here for a link to The Daily Six each morning!
 
OK…that’s it today for you email skimmers and those who doubt Jesus looks very good anyway. BUT…
 
 
Some Deeper Thoughts…
 
I saw Jesus once.
 
It was September 19, 1986, around midnight. He was in my bed. Not in a creepy, weirdo kind of way. But more like a loving dad, head propped on his elbow, having a lengthy conversation with his teenage son on a camping trip.
 
Now mind you, this vision was not with my physical eyes. My natural eyeballs were only seeing the warm shadows of moonlight on the wall next to my bed. But my spiritual eyes saw him as crystal clear as anything I’d ever seen.
 
“What’s that like, Chris? I have no idea what you are talking about…”
 
Standby. First let me set the stage.
 
I was sixteen years old. I had accepted Jesus as my savior a year prior, but it was only very recently that I had begun to actually follow him. There is a difference. Jesus as savior is about trusting him to forgive my sin. Following Jesus is about consistently doing what he did--and what he is presently doing.
 
Less than four weeks earlier, I concluded that just bumping along as a typical teenager wasn’t enough for me, even if my sins were forgiven and I knew I’d go to heaven.
 
There were three teenage boys in our church youth group who looked different than everybody else. The other ninety of us—me included—seemed content to focus on all the normal worldly interests: sports, hobbies, social status, grades, or… well… in my case, girls. I liked girls a lot.
 
But these fellas were different. They seemed to care less about all the normal stuff. Instead, they were filled with this insatiable zeal for Jesus. They talked about him incessantly, and with great intensity, passion, and joy. They were constantly yammering on and on about him saying this or that to them. It was as if they were in real conversations with Jesus. He wasn’t just an idea, a moral construct, or a system of thought. They acted as if Jesus was literally standing right there in the room… and they could see him.
 
I wanted that.
 
So, I began to tag along behind them. Uninvited. Everywhere they went. It got a little weird. They didn’t even know my name. “Um… hey… uh… man?” they would say whenever I walked up.
 
Eventually they gave in, learned my name, and started inviting me to join their escapades. But their exploits weren’t going to high school parties. They weren’t calling girls. They weren’t drinking beer. Their adventures? Prayer meetings.
 
Yep.
 
These 17-year-old punks would sneak into the church after hours and hole up in the prayer room. They would stand in a circle and read Bible passages to each other. They would memorize Bible verses and have “quote-offs”—seeing who could quote more verses from memory than everybody else. They would turn on the church sound system and pretend to preach to a filled auditorium. They would pace around the room praying loudly for their peers at school or in the youth group. They would be shouting the name of Jesus over situations and boldly claiming the promises of God.
 
I know what you’re thinking right now. You might be visualizing these teens as three serious nerds with zero social skills. But part of what made their passion so attractive is that they were as masculine and outgoing as any young man you could envision—popular, muscular, secure, confident, smart, articulate. They embodied all the natural charisma and good looks of the most popular high school quarterback or homecoming king. Except that their passion was entirely channeled towards the things of God.
 
So, I made a choice. I dove all-in and began to seek Jesus as the real person that he clearly was to these bold fellas.
 
Fast forward to September 19, 1986. It was Friday night football at Park View High School in Sterling, Virginia. We went to the game, not so much to watch football, but rather to walk around and engage fellow students in conversations about Jesus. When it was all over, we huddled in the back of a pickup truck in the parking lot. And we prayed. Hard.
 
I’ve described many times what happened next. If you’re really interested in it, you can click here to see me tell the whole story about the mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit that fell upon us that night. Fast forward to the 11:38 mark for the seven-minute version of my story.
 
When I got home and slid into bed, there was Jesus, head propped up on his elbow, staring right at me.
 
When I tell you that I saw Jesus, it wasn’t anything natural. My literal eyeballs saw nothing. But in my soul, deep down inside my chest, my spirit was on fire. There was an absolute reality to this tangible presence of Jesus in my room. It was as if I could see his personality, his interests, his intentions for my life. Everything I knew about his story from the Gospels became instantly vivid, as if I had been there in-person when it all happened.
 
That night, Jesus moved from being an idea, a character in a story, to a real person.
 
Before you become jealous and wish you could experience something this bold, let me warn you. 


When we meet Jesus at this level of tangibility, it will cost you everything. Nothing can stay the same about you. You will be compelled--by virtue of the reality of who he is—to live with this same radical, not-normal, over-the-top passion that my three high-school prophet buddies lived.
 
This same thing happened to Peter, James, and John when they saw Jesus. Check it out in Mark 9:1-10. This Sunday, we’ll explore what this might look like in your life and mine… today. Northern Virginia. Busy people. Normal people.
 
Shall we meet? Can’t wait to see you all on Sunday… and to see Jesus for who he really is… right now!!
 
Chris Eads
Mt. Hope Pastor
Friend