Disfigured Beauty

Walter Henegar | Dec 10, 2023

Isaiah 52:13-53:3 (ESV)

13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely;

he shall be high and lifted up,

and shall be exalted.

14 As many were astonished at you—

his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,

and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—

15 so shall he sprinkle many nations.

Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,

for that which has not been told them they see,

and that which they have not heard they understand.

53:1 Who has believed what he has heard from us?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,

and like a root out of dry ground;

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

and no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.


Sermon Summary

Isaiah's prophecy of the Suffering Servant suggests that Jesus was not physically attractive, and nothing in the Gospel accounts suggests otherwise. Why? Why wouldn't he be the most beautiful human who ever lived? The answer, Isaiah suggests, lies in his mission to rescue humanity from our dead-end quest to trust in our own beauty. Jesus challenges us to fight to find beauty in the ugly places of grace, and to follow fading beauty to the unfading beauty of God himself.


Discussion Questions

  1. What stood out or stuck with you from the sermon?
  2. Describe the way you have typically envisioned the physical appearance of Jesus. How do Isaiah’s words challenge your assumptions?
  3. How is beauty important to you personally? What is good and right about your relationship to beauty, and what may need changing?
  4. What is beautiful to you about the person and work of Jesus, even if he wasn’t physically beautiful?
  5. Describe a time when you experienced beauty in an unexpected, or even “ugly” situation.
  6. Where do you think Jesus may want you to focus more of your attention, seeking his eternal beauty behind fading earthly beauty?


Resources Consulted

  • Africa Bible Commentary, Tokunboh Adeyomo
  • Isaiah for Everyone, John Goldingay
  • The Message of Isaiah, Barry Webb
  • The Prophecy of Isaiah, Alec Motyer
  • How to Know a Person, David Brooks
  • The Soul of Desire, Curt Thompson