Most of us would be aware of the saying – don’t judge a book by its cover. The meaning of this being that sometimes the true beauty of something is hidden from plain sight. And yet this is something that does not come naturally to us. We don’t really have the ability to see inside something so our initial thoughts on something is what we can see. We judge people by what we see on the outside. We judge by the clothes they are wearing. We judge by the way they keep themselves – their hair, their smell, their grooming. One of the first questions we might ask is – what work do you do.
St James warns against that in the church when he says: My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Whether it’s a car, a house, clothes, hygiene, or any item – first appearances create immediate impressions. How many people have bought a 2nd hand car because it looked great on the outside – great paint job – not dents or scratches, low mileage – only to find out it’s a lemon. But it’s our natural instinct.
It was also the instinct that Samuel was tempted with today when he was told by God that he was going to replace King Saul with a new King. He would be one of the sons of Jesse. So he goes to the house of Jesse and, as was custom, the first born was presented before Samuel. And Samuel was mesmerised:
When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.” And that’s when we hear the nature of God revealed: “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. We don’t know what God saw in the heart of Eliab but we do know is that God sees through all the surface things that we might look at when we are making judgments.
All of Jesse’s sons were presented and none were chosen by God. Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” Well, there is the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep. It’s easy to fall into the same error as Samuel – to look at the outer and miss the true inner beauty of things and people. It makes you wonder just how much of God’s amazing creation we miss because we look so shallow. The sacraments are a perfect example.
We look at a few splashes of water and wonder what difference that can make against all the evil and violence in the world that we see. But it is as Paul said in our 2nd reading about the comfort that comes from being a Child of God: We are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord– for we walk by faith, not by sight. So even though, as Paul said, we are “away from the Lord”, the Lord Jesus is not away from us. He made that promise in our Baptism – I am with you always. What we SEE brings us despair, fear, a sense of hopelessness. But what our faith brings us is HOPE – and hope never disappoints us.
The same comfort comes in Holy Communion. What do we see? A piece of bread? A sip of wine?
What are these compared to all the things being thrown at me – the climate crisis, the economic crisis, the war crisis, my health crisis drugs crisis, crime crisis, pandemic crisis. Well, again, the comfort is hidden behind the surface – the body and blood of Christ, in, with and under the bread and wine – to again give us assurance that while we are away from the Lord, the Lord is not away from us: This IS my body – this IS my blood.
That’s why Luther, when explaining the sacraments said: How can water do such great things? It is not the water that does these things, but the Word of God which is in and with the water, and faith which trusts this Word of God in the water. And the same with Holy Communion: How can eating and drinking do such great things? It is not just eating and drinking that do these things, but the words written here: “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” These words, along with the bodily eating and drinking, are the main thing in the Sacrament. Whoever believes these words has exactly what they say: “forgiveness of sins.”
So, we don’t judge a book by its cover. And we don’t judge God’s beautiful creation by what we see but by what God has promised. And perhaps when you look in the mirror you don’t see what God sees. Maybe you don’t see a person loved by God. A person worthy of God’s love and forgiveness. Israel were reminded of this when Moses pondered why God would choose them out of all the mighty nations in the world he could have chosen. This stiff neck people who grumbled every time things didn’t go their way – who kept wanting to go back to Egypt – who replaced God at first opportunity with a Golden Calf.
Moses tells Israel as they are about to enter the promised land: The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you.
God knows exactly what he chose when he chose you – As St Paul says in Romans 5 – But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God always surprises us by his grace. It is only we who put conditions on God’s love on us and others. God surprises us, as Jesus says in today’s parable: The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.
So if you undervalue yourself or others then you are undervaluing God. If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! And, as St Paul says in Ephesians 2 – we are God’s masterpiece created anew in Christ Jesus to do the good things he planned for us long ago.
