Daily Reading: 17 May
(from www.christianaid.org.uk)
Taking the time to get things right.
Something to read
Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgement.
- John 7:24 from full reading of John 7.
Something to think about
Greg Boyd in his book Repenting of Religion tells of a Saturday afternoon when he was sitting in a café sipping his Coke and relaxing, watching people walk by. As he does this he notices that some are pretty and others less so. Some are slender, some are obese.
Looking at their facial expressions and the way they relate to their spouses, friends or children, he concludes that some are ‘godly’ while others are ‘ungodly.’ Some give him a warm feeling as he watches their tenderness toward their children. Others, he writes, make him angry or disgusted. This is what he writes next:
‘Then suddenly I notice I’m noticing all this. Believing as I do that every activity we engage in, including our thinking, is for a purpose, I begin to wonder what purpose this silent commentary about other people is serving. After a moment’s introspection I realise it is on some level making me feel good. It is in a sense feeding me. It is satisfying some need I have to stand in judgement over people. Deep down, I enjoy being the one who at least before the tribunal of my own mind gets to pronounce the verdict: Pretty. Ugly. Good figure. Fat. Godly. Ungodly, Disgusting. Cute and so on.’
Do we do the same? Do we look at people in the same way, dividing them into categories of good and bad, loveable or unlovable, saint or sinner? And based on what we ‘see’ do we either write them off or see them as our kind of people and therefore worthy of our respect, or love or, if they need it, assistance?
And if we do this with the people on the other side of the window in a café, or any public place, isn’t it possible that we do the same when we look at a TV screen or when we pass by someone homeless in the street or begging outside a shop? Do we categorize them into desirable or undesirable, deserving or undeserving?
It has always struck me how unquestioning the Good Samaritan was in Jesus’ wonderful parable in Luke 10:25-37. He sees a man in need, wounded and left for dead, and he helps him. No questions about who he was or where had he come from or whether he was a Jew or a Samaritan. He was simply a man in need and so he helped him.
That is, I believe, what Jesus is talking about here. He is reminding us not to look at the outside of a person – the colour of their skin, their size, weight, appearance – but look with right judgement, at who they really are. Human beings, people just like you.
Something to do
Next time you sit in a café, on a bus or stand in a queue, look around you at the people passing by. Who are they? People, says Genesis 1:27, made in the image and likeness of God. Think about that statement. What does it mean? How does it affect the way you think about them? Try and look at them through the eyes of Jesus.
Something to pray
God of Love, thank you for making me like you. Please help me to see everyone I meet in the same way. Amen.
Daily Reading by Rev Mark Williams, minister in St James’ Church, Uplands, Swansea, Diocese of Brecon and Swansea.