Sunday, 13 June, is the second Sunday after Trinity Sunday. The readings are (to read them, go HERE):
1 Samuel 15:34 – 16:13
Psalm 20
2 Corinthians 5:6-10, (11-13), 14-17
Mark 4:26-34
“The Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
This is the message that God gives to the prophet Samuel. What is happening is that Israel has a king, their first king, named Saul, but Saul has fallen out of favor with the Lord. So God is telling Samuel that there will be a new king, chosen from among the sons of a shepherd named Jesse. Samuel is to go to Jesse’s house for a feast and anoint with oil (that’s the way it was done) the one that God would point out to Samuel.
But Samuel did not know how God would make his choice known. So when he sees the first-born son, Eliab, who is attractive, plus the eldest, he thinks this is surely the right choice. And that’s when the message comes:
“The Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
These words are echoed by the Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians, as he compares those who boast in their outward appearance instead of in the heart. The heart is what matters. In ancient Israel, the “heart” didn’t mean just emotions, or certainly not just an organ in your chest that sends blood throughout the body. It meant the basis, the center, the essence, of who you are as a person.
God looks not on our outward appearance. God looks on our heart.
So the question any of us could ask ourselves is, How does God look on us? It is very likely that we do not see ourselves as God sees us. We each have all sorts of ideas, perhaps, about who we are — based not just on our physical appearance, but also on our accomplishments in the world’s eyes, or what we think are a lack of accomplishments. We might base how we see ourselves on some character trait that we either like or hate, or on some experience we have had in the past. We look at other people in the same way, seeing them from a human point of view, based on external characteristics and worldly measures.
But God looks on the heart. God looks on the essence of who we are. So when Samuel went to choose a king from among Jesse’s sons, he did not find the Lord’s chosen from among seven sons who came before him. He had to ask Jesse if there was another. The chosen of the Lord, the future mighty King David of Israel, was the youngest, out tending the sheep. It turns out he was also good-looking, from an outward appearance: “he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome.” But the Lord saw something else. David did not turn out to be the mightiest king of Israel in terms of wealth, or political alliances — his son Solomon passed him in these measures. And David had trouble with his sons and committed some horrible deeds. But he had faith in God, from which he did not waver.
Actually, who knows what exactly the Lord saw in David to make him king? And more than that, to make him the ancestor of the Messiah, Jesus Christ? Who knows exactly how God sees any of us? Back to that uncomfortable question: How does God look on us? What does God see in our heart?
There are two answers. One is that God probably sees us as both better and worse than we ourselves do. And second, God gives us the means to change in our hearts and grow toward God.
First, God sees us as both better and worse than we ourselves do. If we look on ourselves, we might see character flaws, and actions we regret, and also our outward appearance. But God has far more compassion for us than we do ourselves, and God knows us and loves us for who we are, and God forgives us for things we have done and left undone.
But God also is always prodding us, pushing us, to be better than who we are. Not better in those categories of outward appearance and other worldly measures, but better in our hearts — to grow in those fruits of the Spirit: to love others and to be more kind to them, to be more joyful, to grow in faith, to be at peace, to be more generous and patient, to exercise self-control over our actions.
And God does not just prod us and push us, God also gives us the means to change in our hearts. God gives us Christ. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”
If we have even just a smidgeon of faith, Christ can make it grow. It is like the mustard seed that Jesus talks about in the parable we heard. He says it’s the smallest of all the seeds, but it can grow up into the greatest of all shrubs. Our faith can be tiny, but if we feed it with the things of God, then it can grow to be mighty and it can change our heart.
As I was preparing this sermon, I ran across an interesting story. I like watching tennis, and I was interested that Djokovic had beat Rafael Nadal in the French Open. This is big news in the tennis world, because Nadal has lost on the French courts only three times. So I was looking up the three big tennis players of the past 15 years or so: Djokovic, Nadal, and Roger Federer. Federer is known for his poise and calmness and good sportsmanship on the court. Apparently it was not always so. I read that when he was a junior player, he had lacked self-control and would throw his racket and be a terror. He decided to change. And he did.
Now I am not saying that Federer relied on Christ to change. I do not know what he relied on, except that he says it took him about two years. But the change is a sign of a change in heart, a growth in the fruits of the Spirit.
We do not know just how God sees us. But what we can be sure of is that God does not see us as people see us, if what people pay attention to is outward appearance and worldly measures. God pays attention to our heart, forgiving us our transgressions, loving us for who we are, having compassion on us, and calling us and prodding us to feed that tiny mustard seed of faith in our heart.
“If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”