Day 39—Wednesday, January 7

My heart overflows with a good theme;
I address my verses to the King;
My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
You are fairer than the sons of men;
Grace is poured upon Your lips;
Therefore God has blessed You forever.
Gird Your sword on Your thigh, O Mighty One,
In Your splendor and Your majesty!
And in Your majesty ride on victoriously,
For the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness;
Let Your right hand teach You awesome things.
Psalm 45:1-4

BEAUTIFUL SAVIOR

The beauty of Jesus is a motif that often appears in Christian art. The hymn Fairest Lord Jesus reminds us of the draw many feel to Jesus and His beauty:

Fair is the sunshine, fairer still the moonlight,
And all the twinkling starry host;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels heaven can boast.

Many times throughout the World Cup last summer television viewers were treated to images of the iconic statue Christ the Redeemer, towering on a beautiful hill over the Maracanã stadium and the city of Rio de Janeiro. Our desire to create beautiful images of Jesus is based on biblical themes. Our text today, Psalm 45:1-4, reminds us that we serve a Savior that invites praise: “You are fairer than the sons of men; Grace is poured upon Your lips; Therefore God has blessed You forever.”

This focus on the beauty of Jesus, however, can be off-putting to many people in the modern world. A closer look at beauty helps to clarify the concept, as the physical beauty of Jesus does not usually seem to be in view (Isaiah 53:3 even says that he had “no beauty”), but rather the beauty that results from supplying a need in a time of crisis. Jesus is beautiful not because He fulfills a culturally created standard of physical beauty, but because He saves us from sin in our darkest hour. The gigantic (about 90 feet across!) wide-open arms of Christ the Redeemer remind many of His love for the world and His open call to the world to follow him.

This beauty of Jesus also has a darker and more terrifying side. Although I have never seen it firsthand, I can imagine that standing at the base of Christ the Redeemer would be an awe-inspiring experience as you look up at the head of Jesus over 100 feet above you. Fairest Lord Jesus reminds us that He is also “ruler of all nature” and “Lord of all the nations.” Our Psalm speaks of this theme with divine warrior terminology: “Gird Your sword on Your thigh, O Mighty One, In Your splendor and Your majesty! And in Your majesty ride on victoriously.” However, the Psalm helpfully explicates this theme by reminding us it is not simply about sheer power and awesomeness, but also about the directed end of that power: “For the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness.” The Psalm goes on to describe the fall of the king’s enemies and the eternal reign of God (a passage picked up by the author of Hebrews), which will bring righteousness and joy to the world. In a world that is broken and knows much suffering, we long for the beautiful warrior Jesus who will restore righteousness and joy.

To these things, we can only join Jessye Norman in saying, “Amen!”

Charlie Trimm, Talbot School of Theology