LOOK (CHRIST’S).—The Gospels give no direct information as to the look of our Lord, if the word ‘look’ he regarded as a synonym for His outward appearance. The first natural request of a child—‘You are going to tell me about Jesus, then tell me what He was like’—puts a question the Evangelists do not even begin to answer; and in a tale generally so frank and childlike this fact is not without significance. No description of Jesus’ ‘face’ is ever given in the Gospels, except when, in the story of the Transfiguration, it is said that the fashion of His face was altered (ἐγένετο τὸ εἶδος τοῦ προσώπου αὐτοῦ ἔτερον, Luke 9:29). Even then, it is stated to have become like the sun (Matthew 17:2); and, as it happens, the figure is of something which, though it lights the world, is not in itself directly to be gazed upon (cf. Revelation 1:16). While it may be possible, therefore, to deduce from the Epistles a message figuratively termed ‘the Gospel of the Face’ (see Bushnell, Sermons on Living Subjects, 73 ff.), the Evangelists afford no opportunity of making this study of Christ ‘after the flesh.’ See art. Christ in Art.

It is further to be observed, in the same connexion, that even the more vivid words for looking, as a synonym for ‘seeing,’ ‘beholding,’ are never used of Christ so as to draw attention to the manner of His look. Such a word, e.g., as ἀτενίζω, ‘to gaze fixedly’ (employed to describe a congregation gazing at Jesus, Luke 4:20; the maid staring at St. Peter, Luke 22:56; St. Paul flashing an indignant look at Elymas the sorcerer, Acts 13:9), is never associated with our Lord. Even διαβλέπω, a milder though still pietorial word, is not connected with Him. It is as though every mental image of Christ’s outward appearance were designedly excluded. We must be content, therefore, to study Christ’s look in the more objective sense in which it expresses simply the act of vision. Here we may roughly divide the references into four classes.

1. The look of Christ is sometimes disclosed as an upward look, expressing dependence on the Father. This uplifted glance is recorded on four occasions—during the miracle of the feeding of the 5000, while giving thanks and blessing the loaves (Matthew 14:19); in the healing of a man deaf and dumb, when Christ looked up to heaven and sighed (Mark 7:34 [in both passages ἀναβλέψας εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν]); in the raising of Lazarus (John 11:41 ἦρεν τοὺς ὀφθαλμοῦς ἄνω); and during the great High-Priestly prayer (John 17:1 ἐπάρας τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν). In all these instances the action and gesture must have imprinted themselves very deeply on the memory of the disciples. They were an outward sign of a lifelong inward attitude. They evidenced the direction of the appeal which Christ made in His human nature to God. Of Him the words are preeminently true, ‘Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord’ (Psalms 25:15).

2. The look of Christ is often disclosed as an outward look of calm clear-eyed discernment on the world around Him. ‘He beheld (ἐθεώρει) how the people cast money into the treasury’ (Mark 12:41)—appreciating not only the matter of their gift, but the manner of it. He ‘entered into the temple, and looked round about upon all things’ (Mark 11:11 περιβλεψάμενος πάντα); and it appeared on the following day how piercing and comprehensive His glance had been (Mark 11:15 ff.). ‘He looked up’ (ἀναβλέψας) and saw Zacchaeus in his post in the tree (Luke 19:5). When the scribes brought Him a crafty question, ‘He perceived (κατανοήσας) their craftiness’ (Luke 20:23)—‘saw at a glance,’ the word might be rendered. If there were space to offer a complete list of those things which Jesus is said in the Gospels to have beheld or seen, the impression would at least be strong that those calm eyes missed nothing. Retaining God continually in the field of vision, Jesus’ sight was not thereby dimmed, but only purged and purified for all other exercise. On one occasion His disciples were permitted to share a deeper gaze into the world behind the veil—‘And He said unto them, I beheld (ἐθεώρουν) Satan as lightning fall from heaven’ (Luke 10:18).

3. A special look of Christ is recorded as directed to a man or an audience during the utterance of some statement or address. The simplest record of this is when it is said that He ‘looked round’ before speaking (Mark 3:34; Mark 10:23 περιβλεψάμενος); or that ‘he beheld (ἐμβλέψας) them and said’ (Matthew 19:26); or when more fully St. Luke states in reporting the Sermon on the Mount, ‘And he lifted up his eyes (ἐπάρας τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς) on his disciples, and said’ (Luke 6:20). This is the look of the sower scrutinizing the field. It is a look adding personality to the word spoken. It is a silent ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you.’ More individual instances of this look are when Jesus ‘beheld’ (ἐμβλέψας) Peter, and said, ‘Thou art Simon … thou shalt be called Cephas’ (John 1:42)—a look sealing the new name upon Peter’s heart; or when He ‘beheld’ (ἐμβλέψας) the chief priests and scribes, ‘and said, What is this then that is written?’ (Luke 20:17)—a grave look of reproach, ‘to add solemnity to His reference to their own Scriptures.’ Christ and His words can never be separated. He is Himself the Word made flesh—the greatest utterance in the greatest Person; and the language of the Apostles is ‘what we have seen and heard declare we unto you’ (1 John 1:3).

4. A few passages form a group by themselves, wherein strong feeling is expressed or implied as accompanying some look of Christ. The most notable instance of this is when ‘the Lord turned and looked upon (ἐνέβλεψεν) Peter’ (Luke 22:61), ‘No word, no gesture of reproach’; but

‘Oh to render plain,

By help of having loved a little and mourned,

That look of sovran love and sovran pain’

(Mrs. Browning, Sonnets).

Akin to this is the look directed by Jesus upon the young ruler, ‘And Jesus beholding (ἐμβλέψας) him loved him’ (Mark 10:21); or the look of the King upon Jerusalem, on ‘what should have been the City’s bridal day,’ ‘He beheld (ἰδών) the city, and wept over it’ (Luke 19:41). As a last instance, though expressing a very different emotion, we may adduce Mark 3:5 ‘He looked round about on them (περιβλεψάμενος αὐτούς) with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts.’ Of Christ, too, might the words have been written, He

‘loved well because he hated,

Hated wickedness that hinders loving’ (Browning).

R. Stevenson.

Bibliography Information
Hastings, James. Entry for 'Look'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/l/look.html. 1906-1918.

Bible Dictionaries Look

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

Bible Dictionaries
Look