As God Sees

 The gospel story of hungry disciples plucking grain to eat, to eat on the Sabbath, a day that they just happened to be out of food, and the parallel story of David seeking out the high priest to feed himself and companions is a reminder to put Christ, ultimate truth, goodness and beauty at the forefront of our lives and keep law in perspective.  

Christ, telling the story of David, reminds his legalistic detractors that they do not know their own tradition.  As happens time and again, Jesus is on the defensive from people who are scandalised by what they see. 

Why?  Because what they see is outside of their experience.  And simply, they do no see as God sees.  They lack appreciation for truth, goodness and beauty.

 Having grown up in Vancouver, I was 22 years old the first time I encountered a Catholic Priest in a T-Shirt.  And, because this was new to me, I presumed he was somehow hypocritical or unholy.    

I later realised it was wrong of me to judge Fr. Jim as I did, but hey I am merely a mortal.  As 1 Samuel says I/we only see as mortals see.

We tend to see what outwardly appears; we tend not to see the truth, goodness, and beauty of the heart.  Because of this tendency within us, our compulsion to assess by what we see, we risk getting caught up in a game. 

We may, for good reason or not, feel the need to keep up appearances.  And that may not be a bad thing, so long as we never lose sight of the fact that God sees through us. 

The source of what He sees, the light of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty that we reflect, God is concerned with what matters; God assesses the heart. 

So what does my heart look like?

 This question is problematic because we are, arguably, the worst judges of ourselves.  But if we believe that God is faithful to those God loves, and that the Lord truly loves His own, we can rest assured that before God, anyway, each and every heart is honest, good, and beautiful.