Lead, Kindly Light

Today’s sermon was fantastic. I can’t begin to reduplicate it here, but I’ll try and share the main points.

We live in a society where we are judged by any number of popular standards: the number of zeros that follow the dollar sign in our savings accounts and stock portfolios; the level of prestige we garner in our jobs; where our colleges rank according to U.S. News and World Report; the number and type of degrees we hold; how beautiful/handsome/sexy we look; whether we’re married and the number of our offspring (and how beautiful they are);…on and on.

We all know what the major categories are. Our lives here are, often and in so many ways, centered on what we can do to earn respect and love. We always feel the need to prove ourselves, because the world teaches us that we have no value apart from these “measures of success” that society dictates to us.

At the same time that we attempt to earn our value and self-worth, our mindsets drive us to devalue others who are, in our twisted calculi, less worthy than we are. So we look down on–consciously and inadvertently–the aged, the boring, the crippled, the poor, the unemployed, the widowed, the orphaned, the mentally ill… and we treat them with everything from contempt to indifference.

The good news in all of this is that Jesus isn’t like that. Jesus looks at us as we are – and He offers a new lens through which we ought to see ourselves. The Bible tells us that “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27). We were ALL made in the image of God, which is why Jesus welcomed all people to Himself.

Back in Jesus’s day, men were the only people that counted. In terms of social status, women were just a smidgen ahead of children, slaves, animals, and other property. In other words, women and especially children were given the same type of contemptuous treatment as we as a society inflict on marginalized populations (the poor, the sick, the less attractive, the less “successful,” etc) today. So imagine the crowd’s surprise when Jesus–who was then known and acclaimed at the very least as a great teacher–responded to children thus, according to Mark’s account:

 People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

(Mark 10:13-16)

Jesus loved the little children, because He saw them for who they were – they were, as we all are, made in His image. And He took it a step further. He didn’t just LOVE the children; He honored them by saying that all the rest of us (adults and whoever is listening) should become like the children–which I imagine must have shocked the contemporary sensibilities of the listeners in His audience. Matthew 18 says –

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child and had him stand among them. And He said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

The thing is that children take and take and take. They can’t feed themselves, clothe themselves, or otherwise take care of themselves. Without parents or other loving guardians, children die. They can’t survive on their own.

Jesus’s point is that WE are like children too. And in order for us to truly understand God for who He is as our Lord, Savior, Provider, and Father – we have to become like children. We need to understand that the world is absolutely wrong; we cannot do anything to earn that which we really need. It’s all fruitless. The only thing that can save us is utter dependence on God, through faith in His Son that gives us eternal life.
That’s point one. Point two goes back to the thing about us being made in the image of God. The pastor had a picture of President George W. Bush with him today at church. He held it up, then lit a match and held the flame close to the picture. We all fidgeted uncomfortably in our seats, and wondered if Pastor D would actually go ahead and burn the picture of our country’s leader. He asked, “Does this make you uncomfortable?” It certainly made me uneasy.

That was his point – that the way we treat something that bears the image of someone else, reflects the way we feel about that someone. So regardless of how people feel about President Bush, he is still our nation’s president, and it would be a huge sign of disrespect and dishonor to burn his image. Not that the piece of paper itself means anything–but it symbolizes him.

Another example comes from the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue in Iraq after his execution. The people didn’t topple the statue because the statue did anything in particular – it was just made of stone and cement and other raw materials. But it symbolized a fallen dictator, and tearing down the statue represented Saddam’s fallen status as a leader.

So it is with us, as people bearing the image of God. Every human is born, made in the image of God – and that alone is what endows us with value. Not our accolades, our fat wallets, our blemish-free skin, our fancy cars or gigantic houses. Just the fact that we bear the image of God is enough. More than enough.

And that’s all that Jesus cares about or sees – He sees through the junk in which we hide and the flimsy nothings with which we self-medicate, and He tells us that we are loved just because we’re His children. It’s a powerful message, and one that should change the way that we treat all the people around us. Regardless of the things that they are or aren’t according to the world’s twisted standards, they have value simply because God gave them value by making them human.

The way we treat others, then, reflects how we value the One in whose image they were made.