God Sees

1 Samuel 15:34-16:13

2 Corinthians 5:6-17   

An item that has been in the news for the past week, gaining in intensity, is about the detention centers where our government is keeping children who cross the border, and the fact that some of these children crossed with their parents, seeking asylum. But at the border, the children were separated from their parents – sometimes by deceit. We have heard from some of these parents that agents told them they were taking their children to be bathed. They simply never returned.

I don’t assume they lied to the parents out of meanness. Perhaps these agents simply couldn’t deal with having to tell them the truth.

The children who were taken from their parents were placed in detention centers, warehouse-like facilities where they are kept in fenced-in areas. Last week some congressional representatives and journalists were allowed into one of these facilities. One of the executives who runs the facility spoke with them before they were escorted in to see the kids. One thing he said to them gave me pause. “You might want to smile. The kids feel a little like animals in a cage, being looked at.”

Like animals in a cage, exhibits at the zoo. Have you ever felt that you are being looked at like an exhibit on display? I don’t think I have. I have felt overlooked, looked down upon, and looked askance at, but I have never been looked at as an animal in a cage.

I appreciate the empathy of this man who was tasked with leading the tour; he had some sensitivity to the humanity of these children. He cared, at least a little, about how they felt. And I guess he hoped that others would see these children as human beings. It doesn’t seem like too much to expect, does it?

This story from the book of Samuel, about the anointing of David, always makes me think about what we see when we look at another human being. The truth is, sometimes, we see others for how they are useful to us – or not. We see the parts of them, the aspects of them, that we care about for our own reasons.

I remember a young man I met when I was in college who looked at me and said, "you seem like the right size." He was looking for a girlfriend who could be a dance partner, someone he could lift. He thought he was Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing and I could be Baby. So he might date me just for that reason. But I couldn’t dance, and I wasn’t very teachable. I just wasn’t going to leap into the air trusting him to catch me. It wasn’t happening. He would have to keep looking for the right size woman to be his Baby, someone who was braver than I was. 

The story about Samuel looking over the sons of Jesse reminds us how we look at other people. The way Samuel looks at them is probably the same way we would look at them. When Jesse calls all his sons together and lines them up, oldest to youngest, they seemed to be an impressive lot. Like those strapping young men in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers – handsome, strong, eager to please.

Of course, when he looked at them, Samuel was still grieving the loss of Saul, the king that God’s Spirit had departed from. 

Remember how Samuel resisted giving Israel a king? He didn’t think this was the best way for Israel, and he was probably right. But he relented; Saul was the young man he chose. Samuel felt the Spirit of the Lord leading him to Saul, who is described as tall, broad shouldered, handsome. Saul looked the part of a king. 

Samuel tried to teach him to be a king. He took so much time and care with Saul, he gave him so much encouragement. But this situation was a little like me and dancing. Saul didn’t really have the confidence, the trust, the faith that he could do what was being asked of him. 

Saul looked the part, the right size and all, but it simply wasn’t in him. And Samuel was still grieving. But God said to Samuel, “Get over it. Fill your horn with oil and get out there. I’ll show you who I have in mind.”

And everything that happens after that is unexpected. 

God sends Samuel to Bethlehem – not an important place. Bethlehem was small, remote, not a likely place to find a king. Samuel is led to the family of Jesse – a famer. Samuel has come under false pretenses, saying that he is just there to perform the ritual of sacrifice to the Lord. No one knows he is there to find a new king, because, remember, the Spirit of the Lord has left Saul but the power of the kingdom is still very much with him.

He asks Jesse to call his sons so they can have a proper assembly for the ritual. They all line up and Samuel begins to look them over, one by one. 

Samuel was looking at these young men as if they were part of an exhibit. He might have disguised it well, he might have remembered to smile at them in a friendly way, but they were an exhibit – contestants for the role of king of Israel.

And the story says each one Samuel looked at – tall, handsome, strong – he heard God in his ear saying to him, “Not that one, Samuel. Not this one, either. You’re looking the wrong way. Look as the Lord looks. See what the Lord sees.

Samuel is looking at their stature, but the Lord does not look on the outward appearance – the Lord looks on the heart. 

Samuel is looking at their bone structure, but the Lord does not look on the outward appearance – the Lord looks on the heart.

Samuel is looking at the size of their muscles, but the Lord does not look on the outward appearance – the Lord looks on the heart.

Samuel is only looking at these young men the same way anyone else would. No one even thought to call David to the assembly. He was too young, too small, too insignificant to matter. But as Samuel looks over each one of Jesse’s sons, and each time fails to sense the Spirit of God alighting on him, Samuel looks at Jesse and asks, “Is this all there is?”

Jesse admits, well, there’s David, who is out tending the sheep. But they send for David, even though no one would have assumed that it mattered for him to be there. After all, he was a child.  

When Samuel looked at him he knew right away that this was the one God had chosen. Samuel took his horn of oil and anointed David in the presence of his father and his brothers.

Mortals look on the outer appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. And David was, as the scriptures say, a man after God’s own heart.

Maybe younoticed something odd in the story. The text can’t resist saying that David was handsome. So, although God does not look on the outward appearance, apparently the narrator does.

How difficult it is for us to see as God sees. How often do we really look at someone and see them? We see aspects of a person that put them into categories: we see skin color, we see age, we see clothing. We see how pleasant a person is to look at – eyes, nose, hair. We see physical fitness or strength, and we judge a person on the basis of all these things. And, you know, you can do that a whole lot more quickly than the alternative. Because it takes time to really see someone, and begin to get a glimpse of their heart.

Jill Duffield, a Presbyterian minister who is editor of the Presbyterian Outlook, wrote this week about the undocumented youth who are being kept in these detention centers. There is a poet who has worked with the youth in one of the centers, encouraging them to write poetry. He has compiled a volume of their poems. One of the young poets wrote a poem titled I Want to Support:

I want to support the
poor and end
hunger. I'd like to give
a great place to live
to those
without one, and also
to the animals.

I wonder – if we walked into that detention center and looked upon the young person who wrote this poem, I wonder what you and I would see. Would we see an animal in a cage? An exhibit? An object to observe?

Perhaps we would we see a label. What would that label say? illegal? deportee? burden on American taxpayers? What would you and I see?

Paul writes to the Corinthians a reminder that in Christ we are given the chance to be made new. In Christ there is a new creation, and we no longer regard anyone from a human point of view. In Christ, we are to know that there is no value – there is nothing to be gained – from looking on the outward appearance. In Christ we are given the gift of being able to look on the heart, just as God looks on the heart.

Blessed is the one who seeks out the heart, in Jesus’ name. 

Photo provided by Custom and Border Protection; Detention Facility in McAllen, Texas.