How tall was Jesus?

Not baby Jesus. I know it's Christmas, but I'm thinking about the grown man Jesus.

I had never until yesterday thought about how tall Jesus was. The question arose yesterday, when I was blogging about a NYT article that described a man as having "Christ-length hair." Some commenters brought up the question whether we know the length of Christ's hair, but to my mind, the grammatical construction "Christ-length hair" means (unintentionally) hair the length of Christ.

That's ludicrously long hair, whether Jesus was tall as the actors who've portrayed him in the movies — such as Diogo Morgado who is 6'3" or Max von Sydow, who was 6'4" — or as short as the average man in the time and place where he lived — which might be 5'1":

From an analysis of skeletal remains, archeologists had firmly established that the average build of a Semite male at the time of Jesus was 5 ft. 1 in., with an average weight of about 110 pounds.” I admit that it feels a bit strange to think of being over a foot taller than Jesus! But it’s good to have our cultural preconceptions—even prejudices—challenged....

We do know that in the writings, Jesus and people in his area sustained themselves on bread and fish.... Jesus height probably we stunted by his diet. Plus, we know that Jesus also practiced the art of fasting like so many other religions... [T]he average roman male was probably between 5′ 3″- 5′ 5″. Jesus was alive during that time, but he was not roman, and he did not live the same life. The 2 inches of difference which would result from the lifestyle difference and the hardship of his life suggest the value by archeologists is quite accurate. In conclusion, I would say that the real height of the historical Jesus Christ was probably between 5’0- 5′ 2″.

In yesterday's post, when I said "I looked up how tall was Jesus and saw the estimate that he was only 5'1"," a commenter (Darrell) retorted: "He is God--and He could be any height that pleased Him." Are we to infer God, taking on the life of a man, would definitely want to be tall? What's more sacrilegious, imputing a height preference to God or assuming Jesus was within the bell curve of height for men of that time and place?

One answer is do not think about the height of Jesus. I've lived twice as long as Jesus and had not thought until yesterday about how tall he was.

But I went looking for Biblical text on the subject of how Jesus looked, and I found this useful page, with verses from the Old and New Testaments.

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. 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. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

That's Isaiah 53:1-12. I would interpret "he had no form or majesty that we should look at him" to mean that Jesus was not tall.

On the subject of whether we should be thinking in terms of what height God would choose for himself, there's also Isaiah 55:8-9:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.