What We See

1 Samuel 15:34-16:13          Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord was sorry that he had made Saul king over Israel.

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.” Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?” He said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.” He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.

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Some people did this project where they took photos of Victoria’s Secret swimsuit models and put them next to photos of ordinary women of every shape and size wearing the same suit and striking the same pose.  Can you picture it?  It looks like they were having a whole lot of fun doing it.  But the most interesting part is that the photos were captioned by the women’s comments.  They said things like:

“Don’t compare yourself to the model. Very few of us are the model”

“It’s really hard to be objective about your own body — so when someone says something nice about you, you should believe them”

“Having airbrushed skin and zero fat doesn’t make you beautiful; having confidence and radiating that confidence makes you beautiful — ‘flaws’ and all”

And so, you can laugh at the pictures of them … or you can listen to what they have to say, and think about what we see when we look at someone. 

The story of Saul and David, the first two kings of Israel, asks us to think about what we see when we look at one another, and when we look at ourselves.  On this subject, there is much that lies below the surface.

When God sent Samuel out in search of a new king to replace Saul, God had to teach Samuel how to see.  Because Samuel was just like us – when he looked at a person, he saw the outward appearance.  And he made certain judgments based on that appearance, just as we all do.

We talked about this at the roundtable – the fact that leaders in business and politics tend to be men (yes, mostly men) who are tall, good-looking, not too heavy.  You may remember that there was a lot of discussion not too long ago about Governor Chris Christy’s weight, and whether he could be a viable candidate for president unless he went on a diet.  These are all indicators of attractiveness.

Another indicator of attractiveness is youth.  One person commented that in China all the leaders seem to have black hair – but is it because they are young or because they use dye to cover the gray?  We can guess.  We have a certain image of what a leader should look like.

Ancient Israel had an image of what a leader should look like, and Saul fit the bill. He was a man of kingly stature.  He stood head and shoulders above everyone else; this is what the scripture says about him, more than once.  Saul looked the part, and when he was presented to the people they shouted, “Long live the king!”

David, on the other hand, did not.  When Samuel came to the house of Jesse, and asked Jesse to present all his sons, they lined up and passed before him – kind of like a beauty pageant, seven strong and healthy young men.  But no one even thought of including David.  He was a puny little thing.

Samuel was reflexively drawn to the eldest, the tallest son, but the Lord held him back and reminded him:  Remember, the Lord does not see as mortals do.  The Lord is not swayed by rugged good looks, broad shoulders, and tall stature.  The Lord looks upon the heart.

The Lord is not swayed by a trim waistline and long legs.  The Lord looks upon the heart.

The Lord is not swayed by the smoothness of one’s hair and the color of one’s skin.  The Lord looks upon the heart.

I wish I could understand why it is so hard for us to do the same thing.

We need to talk about racism.  We need to accept that it is pervasive in our land and it hurts people every single day.  It is powerful, and this is true, in large part, because we are influenced by what we see – and what we see in the outward appearance often prevents us from looking upon the heart.

I know that it is an infection in my own heart.  I am aware that I form judgments of people the instant I lay eyes on them.  I put them into categories based on their clothes, their shoes, the way their hair looks, the way they walk.  I can look at a person across the street and without knowing anything more than what I can see, a part of my brain decides what kind of person she is.  And I am quite sure that others look at me and do the same thing. We are all about making decisions, making judgments; we are doing it every conscious moment.

We look at a young Chinese woman and see someone who could tutor our children in math.  We look at a Hispanic man and see someone who has no right to be here.  We look at a young black man walking down the sidewalk toward us and we see someone to fear. 

These statements are generalizations, of course.  They are not true for everyone; they are not true all the time.  But such prejudgments are the fuel that drives the violence we saw in Charleston on June 17.  And we all, every one of us, suffers and pays a price when that kind of hatred prevails.

When we judge someone based only on his appearance, when we fail to see the humanity – the image of God – inside that person, when we reduce him to an object of our resentment, we are allowing hate to rule.  We all suffer when that happens, and the Lord is sorry to see what we have done.

As we were discussing at the roundtable the ways we look upon the outward appearance of a man or a woman, one voice posed a question, “I wonder how Dylann Roof appeared to the men and women in that room, who studied and prayed with him for an hour before he shot them.”

Since that day I have thought frequently about what we would do here at Faith if someone like Dylann walked through our doors and asked to join us for a Bible study.  I know the answer.  We would say, “Have a seat.  You are welcome.”  We might wonder if there was something else he wanted.  We might assume that after the study was finished he would let us know that he needed money or food or a ride.  We might expect that he would wait around until he could have a private conversation with the pastor, to talk about something that is troubling his spirit.  These are the things we would probably think about this young man if he walked into our church, and these may have been the kind of things the people of Mother Emanuel were thinking as well, as they looked on his outward appearance.  We know what Dylann thought of them based on their outward appearance. 

A friend of mine said that he tries to remember their names – the victims.  And he stands in front of the mirror, looking at his reflection, and says the names out loud.  Cynthia Hurd; Susie Jackson, Ethel Lance, DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Clementa Pinckney, Tywanza Sanders, Daniel Simmons Sr., Sharonda Singleton, Myra Thompson.  Try this.  Acknowledge that who we are and who they were is no different.  We are made of the same stuff.  And furthermore, I am made of the same stuff as Dylann Roof, a young man who thought so little of life that he could do what he did with a handgun.  There are many others like Dylann, but you know we are all made of the same stuff.

During that last confrontation Saul had with the prophet Samuel, before they parted ways, there was something very important Samuel said to him.  He said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? Saul, the Lord anointed you king over Israel.” 

Saul could not see himself as God saw him.  Saul could not live into God’s image of him, and this was his downfall.

How different things might have been if Saul could have seen himself the way God did.  How different things might be today at Mother Emanuel Church if Dylann Roof could have seen himself and the others in that room the way God does.  How different might the world be if we could see ourselves, and everyone else, the way God sees us?

I don’t expect that we will get there in this lifetime.  But I am not without hope, because the power of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, gives us the strength to choose love over hate, to choose forgiveness over vengefulness, to choose courage over fear, and to just take the next step in the right direction – with the Lord leading us on.

All glory and honor and praise be to him, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.