You are judging by appearances. If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do. – 2 Corinthians 10:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 23, 2014): 2 Corinthians 10

I have to admit that the real Christmas story is a bit strange. In fact, the biblical story of a baby being born of a virgin and placed in a feeding trough is probably just as unbelievable as the story of the Jolly Old Elf making a trip around the world with his sleigh and eight – or nine including Rudolph – reindeer. The biblical Christmas story features the Messiah, born as a baby (we were expecting him to come as an adult); this baby was born to a working class family (we were expecting royalty); he was born in an obscure village – Bethlehem, the town of David (we were expecting Jerusalem, the city of David); the birth announcement was made to shepherds in the field (we were expecting the announcement to be delivered to religious officials in the temple), and in a real plot twist, Wise Men (read astrologers – not astronomers) or Magi (these men were worshippers of the god Zoroaster) found clues to this story in the stars and came running to greet the new king (this in spite of all the passages that condemn the practice of astrology within the pages of the Bible – and also condemn the worship of gods other than Yahweh). By all appearances, this could not be the way that God was choosing to enter into the world. And yet, this surprising story line is actually supported by the prophets – although it is unlikely that even the prophets imagined that the Messiah would come exactly in this way.

But Christianity has always violated appearances. And this is something that Paul wants to stress to the Corinthian church. Apparently, Paul felt that the Corinthian’s were making spiritual decisions based on appearances. They were ignoring the instructions of the apostles that stressed equality, not based on position or race, but rather based on the idea that we are all part of God’s creation – and that we are all the children of God. Specifically, some may have been unwilling to listen to Paul’s teaching solely because of the way he looked. And the description that we have of Paul is not a complementary one. Paul was an unimpressive man. He was a small man. Paul was bald and apparently had crooked legs, a hooked nose and eyebrows that met in the middle. But in Corinth Paul’s teachings were being ignored because of the way that Paul looked, and Paul’s Christianity was even questioned – to the point where Paul felt that he had to defend himself as well as those who had committed themselves to the task of advancing the gospel of Christ beside Paul.

Judging someone on the basis is as easy as it is foolhardy. I have known people who were unwilling to see past appearances. And I have known congregations that struggled with the same issue. Short people were overcompensating, larger people were lazy, and ugly people were stupid. Amazingly these people would probably been much like some of those in the Corinthian Church and would have ignored the apostle’s message. These churches would have never extended a call to Paul asking him to come to be their pastor. And both would have lost a great spiritual opportunity because of their preconceptions.

So maybe it is good that we don’t have a picture of Paul to go along with his letters. Without an image, we have the chance to hear the heart of this spiritual giant, without being influenced by what the apostle may have looked like.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 63