Clearly Jesus was sexy . After all , He is the Son of God . I do n't mean to be disrespectful , but as I watched the trailer for the new movie , `` Son of God , '' I found myself gawking at the actor portraying Jesus . Diogo Morgado is one hot dude . His Jesus looks more like Brad Pitt than that nice man with the beard in all those paintings . I 'm not the only one gawking at Morgodo 's Jesus . He inspired the hashtag , `` # HotJesus '' . It went viral on Twitter . The actor told The New York Times he does n't want his looks to distract from the movie , but , `` If the message of Jesus was love , hope and compassion , and I can bring that to more people by being a more appealing Jesus , I am happy with that . '' Clearly we have a new trend . A `` more appealing '' Jesus is not just a better prophet , he 's ... sexy . We actually do n't know what Jesus looked like . We do know he was a carpenter , so perhaps Jesus was buff . But , I do n't think when the Biblical Nathaniel asked , `` Nazareth ! Can anything good come from there ? '' and Phillip answered , `` Come and see , '' they were talking about Jesus ' beautiful face or chiseled abs . Yes , Jesus , as portrayed in countless paintings , has a six-pack . As comedian and author , Greg Behrendt joked , `` I 'd like to get ripped ... ripped like Jesus . Jesus was ripped . You 've seen the pictures , right ? He 's ripped ! Ripped . He 's the son of God . He 's not going to be walking around saying I 've got back fat today , I 'm so puffy . '' All joking aside , why must Jesus be sexy ? Or ripped ? Or even handsome ? The Rev . Robert B. Lawton , SJ , a Jesuit priest and former president of Loyola Marymount University , says , `` There is absolutely no indication that Jesus was good-looking and sexy . In fact there is a passage in the prophet Isaiah that is taken as referring to Jesus . It says this : . `` He had no form or majesty that we should look at him/nothing in his appearance that we should desire him . He was despised and rejected by others ; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity ; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised , and we held him of no account . '' ( Isaiah 53 . 2-3 . ) While this might not be conclusive evidence , it 's quite possible that Jesus was no Jewish Brad Pitt from Palestine . On the other hand , why would n't God create a perfect Son ? `` Anything that is sexy is going to attract people . People who might not go to the movie might want to check it out , particularly non-Christians , '' says the Rev . Lisa Jenkins , senior pastor of St. Matthew 's Baptist Church in Harlem . `` I do n't see a problem with Jesus being attractive given our cultural context , '' she says . `` I do n't recall a Jesus who was not appealing to the eye . That 's Hollywood . '' Jenkins is more concerned about what she considers an inaccurate portrayal of Jesus ' ethnicity . The Rev . James Martin , SJ , editor-at-large for America Magazine , and author of the coming book , `` Jesus : A Pilgrimage , '' agrees . `` God did not choose to incarnate himself in Laguna Beach , '' he says . `` He chose to incarnate Himself at a certain place , at a certain time in a certain person . '' And that person was a Palestinian Jew . `` Many people have a hard time with the humanity of Jesus ... the closer He is to human physical perfection , the easier it is for some to accept Him . '' But , Martin says , there is a danger in that too . A physically perfect Jesus makes Him into a God pretending to be man . When Jesus was both human and divine . `` He was like us in all things , except sin , as the theology goes , '' Martin says . `` That means , He had a body , He got sick , He got tired , He may have sprained an ankle or two . There are passages in the Gospel showing Him falling asleep because He was tired . We tend to airbrush the physical imperfections away . '' Those traits make Jesus so much more accessible . So much more ... human . I tried to come up with a living person to compare to Jesus . That , of course , is impossible . The closest I can come , as a Catholic , is Pope Francis . I 've grown to revere him . Is it because he 's sexy ? In a word : No .
A play starring Diogo Silva as Jesus opens this week . Carol Costello says he inspired the " ` ` . '' Costello : Is physical attractiveness necessary for a religious figure in today 's culture ?