Asks Father James in his Featured Sunday Homilies:
Had Jesus of Nazareth been a Roman or a Greek, certainly his contemporaries would have left behind statues in his honor. However, because the Jews had a strict understanding of idolatry, their interpretation of the Mosaic Law did not allow them to make any images whatsoever of any human person. It would have been interesting if we had been left something that would illustrate the physical attributes of the Lord.
Throughout the centuries, there has been much discussion on the subject. The Shroud of Turin and Veronica’s veil tell us a lot about his Middle Eastern features; however, our faith is best served by depending on the one authenticated source, the Gospels.