210905 Lectionary 23B
September 5, 2021
Sermon: “Get a New Prescription”
In the past several months I was starting to notice a problem, one that became especially acute when I was preaching. It’s my eyes. I would look at all of you with my glasses on and see you just fine. But then I would look down at my script and I couldn’t read it! The words were getting blurrier and blurrier, and it was taking my eyes longer to adjust and focus. I don’t know if you noticed, but back in July I was taking my glasses off to preach and not looking up from my text much at all. So a few weeks ago I took myself to the eye doctor and he told me just what I expected: buddy, you’re middle aged and your eyes are not what they were. You’re going to need progressives. So now I have them and I’m getting headaches and nausea all the time as I look around. But they tell me that I’ll get used to them soon enough. I hope so.
My eyesight, my vision, needs an adjustment. I’ve got a new prescription so I can see properly. And today that’s kind of what scripture is inviting us all to do too — to make an adjustment in how we see.
The book of Samuel has the most pointed story of how our eyes sometimes need adjusting. It tells the story of the anointing of David as king. How the prophet Samuel arrived one day in the town of Bethlehem where Jesse lived with his many sons. And he said, “Jesse, I’ve come to choose the next king of Israel. God tells me it will be one of your sons.” We can imagine how pleased Jesse was with this news, as he rushed to find his oldest son. The big man arrived in front of the prophet with his long hair glistening, his strong jaw filled with resolution, and his muscled biceps bulging. Anyone could tell just by looking at him that he was a natural born leader of men, a real hero. But Samuel just looked at him for a moment before announcing simply, “Not the one. Do you have another son?” So the next one was brought out, and with his confident stride and steely gaze he looked just as promising as his older brother. But no, the prophet just shook his head. So the third son was brought out, and the fourth, and all the way down to the seventh son, but each one got a thumbs-down. When they got to the end of the available sons Samuel looked at Jesse and said, “Have you got any more sons? There must be another somewhere.” And Jesse said, “Ya, but you wouldn’t want him. He’s young and small and only really good for looking after sheep.” “Go get him,” commanded the prophet. So they did, and of course it was David and of course he’s the one God chose - the youngest, smallest, and of least account by everyone’s reckoning except God’s, for “the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look upon the outward appearance, but the LORD looks upon the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)
That’s the moral. They needed a new prescription for their eyesight so they could focus correctly - not on the externals of human appearance, but more deeply on the heart.
It’s really one of the core themes of scripture. Where humans make judgements about each other based on birth order, class, rank, physical appearance, social status, wealth, nationality or any number of other cues—where we assess, judge, and classify people based on our what we can get from them—God does not. God looks upon the heart, says Samuel. “The rich and the poor have this in common: the LORD is the maker of them all,” affirms the Proverb (22:2) Don’t make distinctions between people, and don’t show partiality, says James (2:4, 9). And even Jesus comes to see that Syro-Phoenecian foreigners are worthy of his healing attention.
So don’t judge based on externals. That’s what the Bible says. But really, why not? Why is it so terrible to have the old vision? Why is James so stark when it says, “If you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as a transgressor”? Here’s how it looks to me.
We human beings are fundamentally created to be in relationship - with ourselves, with others, with creation, and with God. We are creatures of relationship and we can’t be any other way. This is what it means to be created in the image of the triune God. God is an eternal dialogue between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, an eternal relationship of mutuality, hospitality, and love. And we, likewise, exist perpetually in dialogue—again, even within our own selves, but also with God, creation, and others. Life is a dialogue, and existence is an event of mutual giving and receiving. Each one of us is a unique subject, and we receive our existence through relationships with other subjects. We are not objects in the universe, each with its own independent existence, to be used by others or to react impersonally with other objects.
When we “show partiality” or “make distinctions” between people based on any outward marker, however, we are suddenly treating them as an object, an it, not a whom or a Thou. A person becomes either a tool to us, to be used to get something we want, or an obstacle in our way. The people of Samuel’s day saw not a human being in Jesse’s first son, but a generic Leader, good for bringing them peace and prosperity. The people of James’ community weren’t seeing children of God gathered for worship, but Rich individuals and Poor ones. From the Rich there could be gain, if you treated them with respect; from the Poor, nothing to be gained so it was just “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet.” (Jas. 2:3) Whatever. Didn’t matter. To show partiality and to treat others as objects is to settle for far less than our vocation calls us to as authentic, subjective beings in relationship; and it is to wreak damage on the others whom we treat as things. That’s why James is so blunt in saying that if you show partiality, you commit sin.
“Get a new prescription,” says James, So you can see each other like God sees you - each as a unique and beloved subject of relationship. Quit making distinctions. Get a new prescription so you can actually fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’
How to do this… etc. ex cordia
Blessed be God, who calls us into relationship, who gives us new eyes, and invites us into love. Amen.
Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash