Wednesday, January 23, 2019

“But God told Samuel, ‘Looks aren't everything. Don't be impressed with his looks and stature. I've already eliminated him. God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7, The Message Bible) 

                Beauty, so some say, is only skin deep.

                One source gives some British noble, Sir Thomas Overbury,  credit for coming up with  this proverb in 1613. But I might argue that Samuel had it first, long before then. Overbury was writing about his wife and her “carnal beauty” and I doubt she much appreciated it, although maybe he appreciated her mind as well as her good looks. Samuel was talking about one of Jesse’ strong, good-looking sons, Eliab, whom he rejected for kingship over Israel and chose the little shepherd boy David, the baby in the family.

                I had some skin removed last week for some small bit of basil-cell skin cancer on my right ear. I get the stitches removed today. I am assured that there is no grave or serious danger in this type of skin cancer. I will remain as handsome as ever.  It seems just another sign of growing older.

But it has reminded me of the stories of Jesus and his encounters with those who were lepers during those times. Now leprosy, biblically speaking, may cover a multitude of skin diseases and not just what we now know as true leprosy or Hansen’s disease. Canker sores, ugly rashes, and other skin deformities and abnormalities had all the same effect on the poor souls who suffered them – ostracization from their families and communities, shunned by the world around them and avoided by everyone. They were deemed as unclean, defiled, sinful and unapproachable. It is said that they were forced to wear bells around their necks so as to let the good citizens know they were in the vicinity.

Their skin made them ugly and unwanted.

So, what comes out of the Gospels is Jesus’ willing approach to meet lepers, interact with them and of course, in a number of cases, heal them from their skin diseases. In some cases, we are told he would touch them to do so. He did not run away; rather he ran toward them.

                It would be likely that his actions would disgust some of the “clean” population. It might have put fear into them to keep their distance from Jesus, too, before he contracted the same disease. Many may have thought he was crazy to have anything to do with lepers. It was scandalous and highly impious for Jesus to relate in any way with “these kinds of people.”

                But since Jesus was acting as God would act, he would look deeper than the superficiality of  flawless skin. I am assuming that Jesus, too, looked deeper into the heart, soul and spirit of the person and saw more than the blemishes, scars, physical flaws, and ugliness that lay on the surface.

                Jesus looked through the community’s shallow standards of beauty and acceptance and broke down barriers that kept people from community, from fellowship, and replaced rejection and judgement with acceptance, love and inclusion.

                Perhaps, there is no greater example of his Kingdom values than his breaking the shackles of judging people by superficial, artificial criteria instead of embracing them in the fellowship of Christian love and grace. He was clear that this responsibility was also passed on to his church: “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!” (Matthew 10:8)

                It then challenges me not to assess people based on the colour of their skin, the beauty of their faces, their disabilities, their sexual orientation, the poor clothes which they wear, the hungry look in their eyes, or whatever their so-called differences may be which all too often condemn these, our brothers and sisters, to live outside our acceptance and love. Some Christians can be the worst for perpetuating leper status, in the broadest sense of the word, on people who don’t fit their ideas of purity and norms. Talk about body-shaming!

                Thank goodness, we have Jesus who stands as a bold corrective to these dogmatic definitions of beauty. Men and women may look at the face but God looks at the heart.

Dale