It has always seemed remarkable to me that Jesus only appeared after his resurrection to simple people and people who had already believed in him. If I had been designing the post-resurrection program, I would probably have arranged for the risen Lord to appear to the High Priest, to Herod and Pilate, and probably also to the Roman emperor. Surely this would be the way to ensure the widest and quickest possible spread and acceptance of the Good News.
When Samuel was impressed by the appearance of David's brothers, God told him that he does not give any importance to how a person looks on the outside. Evidently there are other things that do not impress God very much either, things like family line or social standing or education. Things, in fact, that have a very high place in how the world judges people's worth.
When I began to be interested in girls, my mother sometimes would point out a girl she thought would be nice for me. If I replied that the girl was not very pretty or not very clever, my mother would say, "But she has a beautiful soul." At the time I thought that was a very silly thing to say. Now I know that Mom was looking at those girls with God's eyes.
Unfortunately, even in our churches we too often allow the world's standards to influence how we relate to people. Do we pray more for our leaders than for the simple sister who sits in the back? Do we give as much attention to the children at the weekly service as we do to their parents, and especially those parents from whom we might be able to derive some benefit? Do we speak more respectfully to wealthy members than we do to poor people in the church who probably cannot contribute much financially?
Even our evangelism can be colored by these wrong standards. Unlike Jesus' post-resurrection appearances, we tend to think that if only a certain celebrity would get saved, what a great asset that would be to the Kingdom of God.
May God forgive us for our partiality and give us his eyes to see the souls of those around us.
- 22 MARCH -