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A happy principle in the world of word processing is, What you see is what you
get. I like the principle. What you see on the screen is what you get from the printer. Nothing more,
nothing less.
But with human beings, what you see is not always what you get. And that s why its easier to work
with word processors than it is to work with people. With people, what you see is not always what you
get, and that is why we must always look at ourselves and at others, not through the images we project
upon the world, but through the eyes of God.
When God created the world, and us, he created a destiny for us. He made the earth our dominion
and all its creatures subject to our care and governance. Our destiny was that the creation was to be
subject to us. But at present, we have not fulfilled our destiny. We do not yet see everything subject
to man, as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews puts it. In other words, we do not see human beings as
they were created to be.
This is because we have fallen from our destiny. It is because we human beings have chosen to see
the earth and the rest of God s creation, not as God created it, not as a world we are to care for as
the vicars or stewards of God, but as something we can exploit and use for our own purposes. It is, in
the language of the Bible, because of sin.
But Gods purpose for us in creation, his destiny for us, remains what it was from the beginning.
And our hope is in seeing ourselves and God s creation, not as we appear to be in the present, but as God
created us for eternity.
There is a little childrens song that goes like this: We see people as children, but God sees a
king.
We might provide additional verses that read like this: We see people as sinners, but God sees a
king. Or, we see people as foolish, or difficult, or weird, or wrong, or different from us -- and
nothing is worse than that! But God sees a king.
All of us can remember how our first impressions of someone have failed us. I was thinking the
other day about Bill Pitzer, who was our Junior Warden when he died twelve year s ago. Some of you
will remember Bill. And I was thinking about how all my first impressions of Bill had been totally off
base, completely wrong.
When I first met Bill, I saw him as a rather severe person. In fact, I thought he was about the
grumpiest person I had ever known. And in Wednesday Bible class, Bill himself used to share with us how
people sometimes got that impression, because, as he himself said, I don t have a very smiley face.
But all my earliest impressions were wrong. I grew to know Bill rather well, and with time I came
to know him as a man of great faith, a man of commitment and love and faithfulness and warmth -- and,
contrary to my earliest impressions and the biggest surprise of all -- a man of great hu mor, the
exact opposite of what I had originally perceived.
And my thinking about Bill led me to think of places in the Bible where we are cautioned to be
careful about first and outward impressions.
For example, when Saul was deposed as King of Israel the prophet Samuel was sent by God to find
Sauls successor and to anoint him as king. God told Samuel that he would find the next king of Israel
among the sons of Jesse. So Samuel went to Jesses home, and when he arrived the first person he saw was
Eliab. Now Eliab, as I imagine him, looked something like a young Arnold Schwartzeneger, tall and
handsome and the picture of strength. Just what a king is supposed to look like.
But God said to Samuel, Samuel, with Eliab what you see is not what you get. Do not consider
his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.
Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
We see people as one thing -- as children, or as difficult, or as sinners, or as wrong, or as
different from us -- but God sees a king.
Then Samuel saw Abinadab, and then Shammah, and then four more of Jesses strong and handsome sons,
seven in all. And they all looked pretty good to Samuel. But God had not chosen any of them. So Samuel
asked Jesse, Are these all the sons you have? No, well, theres David, said Jesse, but he s only a
boy, just a kid, a servant really. He would hardly be a candi }date. Hes out tending the
sheep.
And Samuel told Jesse to send for him. And when David came, Samuel said, Rise and anoint him; he
is the one.
What we see is not always what we get. We see people as only children, as only servants, or as
difficult or different, or as wrong, or as sinners. But God sees a son and an heir, a king.
Or consider Matthew. Now Matthew, youll remember, was a real scum bum, a tax collector. Not a
faithful Jew at all to all outward appearances. Matthew was the worst kind of sinner, a traitor, not the
kind of man to lead people. Matthew had sold out to Rome. Yet Jesus saw something more in Matthew, and
he went home with him where he broke bread with Matthew, and with many tax collectors and sinners.
And when the pharisees saw this they were beside themselves! They saw something that was, to
their eyes, absolutely scandalous. So th ey asked Jesus disciples why Jesus would do such a thing.
Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners, they asked. And Jesus said, Go and learn what
the prophet means when he says, The Lord desires mercy, not just the outward keeping of the law. For I
have come not to call the righteous, but sinners.
We look at a person and see a sinner, or we see someone who is different or difficult or wrong.
But Jesus sees a disciple, a child of God, a king.
The pharisees looked at Jesus and saw one who came eating and drinking, and they said, Here is a
glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. But God sees a king, a savior. For the
Lord does not see as man sees. Man looks at the outward appearance, but t he Lord sees the heart.
In our walk with each other here in Gods creation there are two important road maps -- truth and
love. Both are important. But as we human beings make our way through this created world, one of the
great problems we have is that, in our own sinfulness and because of our own limitations, we often confuse
what we see as truth with the truth.
The sun appears to us to move around the earth. Therefore the truth must be that it does.
Eliab and Abinadab and Shammah look like kings to us. Therefore one of them must be the one God
has chosen.
Jesus keeps company with tax collectors and sinners, and he breaks bread with them. Therefore, he
must be a glutton and a drunkard.
Truth is important. But, from a purely human perspectiv Ye what we see is not always what we
get. What we see as truth is always less than the truth, until we see as God sees.
God alone sees the truth, because God always sees through the eyes of love. And love does not
fail, because loves does not look at outward appearances, but at the heart. And that is why love is more
basic than truth. Not because truth is unimportant, but because love is more than truth. Love is the
perfection of truth. Love takes truth as we human beings perceive it and perfects it.
And that is why we can tell what truth is only when our perception is filtered and purified
through love. For love sees behind, and beyond, our limited perception.
The pharisees could not see beyond Jesus eating and drinking and the company he kept, because
their vision was fixed only on their limited perception of truth.
Jesus promis ed that we shall know the truth and that the truth will make us free. But the
truth Jesus was talking about, the Truth, was not a proposition. The truth Jesus was talking about was
not some kind of statement we can affirm. The truth Jesus was talking about was not some scientific
formula like E=MC2, or even some kind of religious creed like belief in the Bible or justification by
faith rather than works. The truth Jesus was talking about was truth lived. The truth Jesus was talking
about is a Person, the truth Jesus walked, truth walking the way of love all the way to the Cross.
Because of his love for them, Jesus could eat and drink with Matthew and with many tax collectors
and sinners, even with you and me, because, looking at Matthew, and at us, with the eyes of the heart,
Jesus sees a child of God, an heir, a king whom Jesus himself has come to serve.
Thats what Matthew had been created for, to be a king. So that s how Jesus treated him, because,
in the eyes and heart of God, Matthew was a king, a ruler of creation.
And just so, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews is led to ask with the psalmist, Who is this
Matthew? What is man? What is man that you, O Lord, are mindful of him, mere man that you care for
him? Your heavens, Lord, are so great. Your glory and majesty are beyond comprehension. And yet, you
have made man little lower than the angels and have crowned him, crowned him with glory and honor, and
made him ruler over the works of your hands. You have put everything in creation under his
feet.
And thats the good news for today. God has made you a king and has left nothing that is not
subject to you. But as the writer of the letter says, at present we do not see everything subject to
man. At present we don t see ourselves as kings.
Thats because our sight, our vision, is the sight of fallen creatures, vision not mixed
sufficiently
with love.
When you take love -- not just an emotion or some kind of affect, but when you take love, the
love of Jesus, which is a genuine concern and hope for the good of another person, and you mix that love
in with what you see -- then you see the destiny God created for that person in creation. You see a
king! Because then you see as God sees.
And that, friends, is how God sees you!
What is man? Who are you? Do you sometimes see yourself as weak, as unworthy, perhaps as a
failure, as one who doesn t have what it takes? Or as someone who has failed to be all youre meant to
be, a sinner? Yes, but God sees you as a king. Because God s view of you is perfected by his love for
you.
So thats why God sent his Son, his own Son who is himself the # radiance of Gods glory and the
exact representation of his being. Thats why God sent Jesus, the one who, with the Father, sustains all
things by his powerful word.
This Jesus has come to share your humanity in order to raise your sights for yourself, and for
others. He has come to show you who you were created to be. Jesus came to share your flesh and blood, to
share your pain and grief and disappointment as well as your joy, to share your sense of unworthiness and
failure as well as your hope.
God sent Jesus to be with you and to hold you up, because, in you, as in others, God sees a king!
What a great salvation that is!
God left nothing that is not subject to man. That is the good news the author of the Letter to
the Hebrews reminds us of today. Yet at present we do no t see everything subject to him. And that s
the bad news. But we do see Jesus, he quickly adds. And thats the really good news. We do see Jesus,
the author and perfecter of our salvation, the author and perfecter of our faith, the author and perfecter
of our vision. So let us fix our eyes of Jesus.
With us human beings, what you see is not always what you get, until we see with the eyes and
heart of God. With us human beings, what you see is not what you get until we see through the eyes and
heart of Jesus, who died for Matthew and for many tax collectors and sinners, until we see through Jesus
on the Cross, where love died for truth, and for you and me, and where what you see is always what you
get, a king.
In the Name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. |