What is the oldest picture we have of Jesus? Obviously, there were no photographs before the early 19th century, so all the depictions of people we have before then were done in illustrative form. It’s no surprise that we have many paintings of religious figures, since the Catholic Church routinely commissioned such works to adorn their various cathedrals and Church-professed religious sites.
Indeed, there have been more depictions of Jesus in paintings than perhaps any other figure, and many of them are well-known. For example, this Byzantine-era painting was done in the 5th century (AD400s) and became the basis for scores of imitators and homage-payers…
But that’s not the oldest we have. There’s also this one from the third century (AD200s) that depicts Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead…
You’ll note how Jesus in this painting has short hair, no beard, and a Roman style tunic. Even back then it was common for illustrators to paint Jesus in line with the mainstream culture of the day, just as many illustrations of Jesus today give him fairer complexion than a Semitic Jew ever would have had.
Even still, that painting is not the oldest one we have found of Jesus. In fact, the very earliest one dates back to between the late first century and early second century. Get a load of this…
On the left is the original image. On the right is a modern rendering of it, to help you better see what was originally depicted. What you’re looking at is essentially graffiti, etched onto a chunk of wall by a non-believer. He etched it to make fun of someone he knew, perhaps an evangelist in the area, named “Alexamenos.” The caption that the artist wrote under the image reads: “ALEXAMENOS WORSHIPS HIS GOD.”
The image depicts two figures, one standing to the left (Alexamenos) and the other lifted above him, crucified. That’s Jesus, but you’ll notice that the artist deliberately gave Jesus the head of a donkey, mocking Him and thereby mocking any Christian “foolish” enough to worship Him. That’s hardly a new attack: Enemies of the Gospel have been mocking it as foolishness from the beginning (1 Corinthians 1:21).
So there it is, the earliest depiction of Jesus in popular culture. If you ask me, it’s a fitting representation of the Lord’s way. From this scoffer’s image, I learn four simple truths:
- Jesus is God
- Jesus was crucified
- Jesus’ followers worship Him
- Jesus’ followers are mocked by the world
Those four truths are still true today, just as they were true 2,000 years ago. You can say what you want about me. You can mock me, hate me, fight me, or even kill me, but nothing you do will change the fact that Jesus is God, that He was crucified for me, and that I will worship Him no matter what is done to me.
Alexamenos worships his God…
and so does Matthew.
~Matthew