Ecce Homo, a fresco painting on a wall of a Roman Catholic church in Zaragoza, Spain, is in the news lately. It is being called “the worst art restoration projects of all time”, done by an elderly woman of the flock (the “restored” version is on the right). I have to disagree though! I mean, think about what Ecce Homo means. It means “behold the man”. Had you visited the church, you would have walked right past the peeling fresco of Jesus. The “restored” version however captures your attention; you behold the man indeed, even if it is accompanied by a shaking of the head and the thought, “What happened?! How can someone screw it up so badly?” The bottom line though is that she was super successful in making the painting live up to its name. We are compelled to behold the man!

The “restored” image also prompted this thought for me: what if Jesus did actually look like that? Would anyone have listened to him? 🙂