Good Morning!

I spent the early morning hours of Wednesday watching a Charlie Chaplin film called “City Lights”. As usual Charlie Chaplin was the tramp. And, as usual, there was a girl that he wanted to win. In this movie, the girl is a blind flower girl. He befriends her … and she is under the impression that he is a millionaire. Eventually he gets enough money to send her to get her sight restored … knowing that when she can see, he won’t be that attractive to her. What made the movie was the last few minutes where she discovers who he is. His line is “You can see now.” And she responds lovingly, “Yes, I can see.” That is the last scene … fading to black. The implication is that she truly does see the tramp for the loving soul he is.

The old lady entered the sanctuary at a church I attended many years ago. Her clothes were threadbare. Her appearance was unkempt. And, well, she smelled … almost reeked. The first inclination was to turn away. And that’s what most did. Including me. I had not yet learned the valuable lesson that all people matter to God … even the ones who aren’t pleasant to look at or to be around. That lady had come to the house that God had prepared for her … and God’s people had turned away. I often think about that lady … a memory that reminds me to look beyond the surface and see the soul. You and I have been given so much that sometimes we forget that we are no different from the beggar in the street or the drug addict or the person who is trapped in some sin that we consider despicable. We are all sinners … separated only by the grace that God gave us in Jesus Christ, our Lord. We need to be able to SEE people with the spiritual eyes that God grants us.

Jesus had just finished feeding four thousand men and crossed the Sea. There he encountered some Pharisees seeking a sign from Him. He got back in the boat and headed to the other side. While he was going, he warned his disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees. Well, here’s how the story goes:

Mark 8:14-21 (English Standard Version)
The Leaven of the Pharisees and Herod
14Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15And he cautioned them, saying, "Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."[a] 16And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" They said to him, "Twelve." 20"And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" And they said to him, "Seven." 21And he said to them, "Do you not yet understand?"
Footnotes:
a. Mark 8:15 Some manuscripts the Herodians

Jesus was warning his disciples about becoming like the Pharisees. What is the leaven of the Pharisees? Well, I think the "leaven" was the fact that they had become so self-focused that they could not see their true mission. The Pharisees put themselves on exhibit … they were the example on how one walked and talked and worshipped. They were proud, considering themselves as being right with God. And in the process they lost sight of what God was teaching them. The Pharisees today would picket funerals; hold up signs touting "God Hate Fags"; would celebrate the death of soldiers as being God's punishment; would threaten to burn the Koran. They would be so busy telling people what God hates that they would forget to say who God loves. This they could not see because they were spiritually blind.
Jesus wants His disciples to see with Spiritual eyes. And His disciples were seeing with their earthly eyes … worried about bread. They were focused on the things of this earth and not on the glories of heaven. And so He exclaims “Don’t you get it?!!!”
Yes, we are to point out sin … but our primary task is to present the One who saves us from our sin. Jesus wants us to see beyond those things that make a person unlovely to the preciousness of their soul. I believe that is what God sees even in the worst of us … sinners all. Sometimes we are so busy seeing the things of earth that we are blind to the things of heaven – like that lady who was old, unkempt, and smelly. God loves that woman. And He loves us. And He wants us to love each other. He wants us to say even to the tramp “Yes, I can see.”
Agape’


Mr. Jim