Isaiah 58:1-12; Psalm 112:1-10; 1 Corinthians 2:1-16; Matthew 5:13-20
Appearances. We live in a society that is obsessed with appearances. Are my teeth white enough? Is my hair the right color? Do I have the right amount of hair in all the right places? Am I tall enough? Am I young enough looking? Am I thin enough? Does my car and my clothes and my house properly show how financially successful I am?
Some of us do some very painful and very expensive things to make sure our appearance is what we want it to be, what it “should” be, what others would like it to be. Dental bonding. Colored contacts. Hair plugs. Breast augmentation. Face lifts. Cheek implants. Lip injections. Multiple body piercings. Massive, complex tattoos. Tanning to look darker skinned. Makeup and chemical bleaching to look fairer skinned.
Some of us spend our way into debt in order to drive the right car, in order to wear designer clothes, in order to dine in exclusive restaurants, in order to have the right vacation “experience”, and in order to compensate ourselves for how “hard” we work.
We sometimes do all this because from a very young age we learn that our happiness is all about looking the right way, owning the right toys, living in the right houses and neighborhoods, hanging out in the right clubs, living the right level above our means, and financing all those things we MUST have now but can’t actually afford.
We are also taught from a very early age how to treat others who do not wear the right clothes, or drive the right cars, or live in the right houses and neighborhoods, or whiten their teeth, or keep their appearance up to the level society demands.
One of the most impressive things about Jesus was his ability to look beyond appearances. Jesus looked at people. When Jesus looked at you he saw just… you. He didn’t see shortcomings or failures; he didn’t see disability and disease. He also didn’t see society’s view of whether or not you belonged. He didn’t see the government’s view of whether or not you deserved help. He didn’t see whether or not you belonged to a “traditional family”. He didn’t notice your hair color, or your white teeth, or your designer clothes, or what kind of car you drive. When Jesus looked at you he just saw you.
Which is why after reading the scripture passages for today, especially the Gospel of Matthew, one could initially be confused at the importance placed on being “seen” by others, by our appearance to others.
Isaiah has God reading the Judeans returning from exile the riot act for their misguided attempts at fasting. The Judeans have continued their tradition of fasting in order to show repentance for their actions, and in the process hopefully to show God that they are suffering in order to make amends. Unfortunately they just gave the appearance of suffering to God. God saw them and saw that there was no substance to their sacrifice.
Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, speaks of the attempts by some to know God and to do God’s will through their use of human wisdom. Some of the Corinthians seem to believe that human intellect and logical debate are sufficient methods to know God and to earn salvation for themselves. Unfortunately some of these Corinthians are seduced by the apparent importance of human wisdom in order to find God.
Matthew has Jesus trying to build up his disciples by telling them that through their appearance as Christians, others will come to know God and to give God his due. Jesus is teaching his disciples that the visible good works they do will point to God’s glory in their actions. It sounds like Jesus is elevating visible works over invisible grace.
And so, shockingly, our appearance to others DOES matter to God, but not in the way we think about “appearance”. Isaiah, Paul, and Jesus are not praising the superficial appearance our society seeks to impose on us. All three are pointing us to the reality that God is concerned with our “spiritual” appearance to others, God is concerned that our faith results in visible acts that teach others about his love for everyone and all of creation.
Jesus is concerned about how you appear to others, how people see you, but to Jesus your appearance has nothing to do with your wealth or your clothes or your physical appearance, or your physical health. Especially as people of faith, Jesus is concerned about how people see you live out your faith. Jesus is concerned about how you show others that you have faith in God. Jesus is concerned about how you show others that you trust God. Jesus is concerned about whether people see you as incorrectly obeying the superficial letter of the Law or whether people see you correctly obeying the deeper and more difficult intent of the Law. Jesus is concerned about whether your fasting is superficially about making you look pained and suffering, or whether your fasting is about you deeply giving of yourself to feed and to clothe and to free others from all the ways this world binds and enslaves them.
Appearances do matter to God. Listen again to Isaiah’s words: “If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, 10if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. 11The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.”
The substance of your faith does matter to Jesus. Jesus said: “You are the salt of the earth.” Be a faithful minister of God and use your faith to make the world tasty; fill the world with spiritual flavor.
Jesus said: “You are the light of the world.” Proclaim the love of Jesus Christ to the world and through you others will “see” and avoid the rocky shoals of death and destruction.
Jesus said: “You are a city on a hill.” When God’s light shines through you, you will be seen – it does no good to try to hide yourself. Welcome every traveler who comes to your gates, and share the power of hope the Holy Spirit has gifted you with.
One of my goals as a pastor is to make Zion a safe place for you to shine your light, to be the salt of the earth, to be a city on a hill. It doesn’t matter where you’ve come from or where you’re going, if you’re here for a Sunday or for a lifetime. With God’s help we will make this a place where everyone who enters these doors is free to discover God’s plan for their lives, and God does have a plan for all our lives; when we follow Jesus our lives become a beautiful, joyful symphony of light that can heal a broken world.
The Good News today is that you as a follower of Jesus are a powerful light to enlighten the world – not the pale and sterile drone of a fluorescent bulb but the warm and healing glow of the Son. Because of the light of God that shines through you, even though you may not “see” them, many will come to you to bask in that heavenly light. And when they come to you to bring some spice to their lives, or to have their pathway lighted by you, or simply to admire your God-given beauty of spirit, give God the glory and say, “Let me tell you what God in Jesus Christ has done for me, and what He will do for you too!”