Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. – Psalm 135:18

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 11, 2016): Psalm 135

As the Olympics get under way, I was reminded of a post written by Max Lucado a few years ago. In the post, Lucado was reminiscing about the first time he saw the “Christ the Redeemer” statue just outside of Rio back in the days when he was a student. He had his camera with his telephoto lens and he began to take pictures of the statue. He went for an up-close look at the face of Jesus and noticed that the eyes were blind eyes. He realizes that all statue eyes are blind, but these didn’t even hint at sight. There was no circle in them attempting to give the illusion of a pupil and of sight. The eyes were simply blank as they looked out over the city of Rio de Janeiro and off toward the horizon and the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. 

But Lucado discovered something else as he examined the statue with his camera. He dared to look down past the nose, mouth and strong chin of the statue to where the robe began and there he found the image of a heart. It was a stony, valentine heart. The statue that resides at the top of the Corcovado Mountain, overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro, is blind and it possesses a stony heart. And as the Olympics continue there are probably countless numbers of people, both worshippers and the curious, who are making the trek up the side of that mountain to see the statue that stands at the top.

But it was Lucado’s next question, and answer, that really bothered me. What kind of people would worship at the feet of a blind God with a stony heart? His answer, us. For most of us, this seems to be the image we have of our God. He is not a passionate God moved by the joy and sorrow of our lives. He is a lucky charm God, an Aladdin God that we get to rub once in a while whenever we need a parking spot close to our next meeting, or help on a test. This is our God - one who blindly looks out over our heads and off into the distance. Welcome to the Christianity of this century.

The words of this Psalm are written to people who trust in exactly this kind of a God. In other words, it was written for us. He has eyes, but cannot see, a mouth but cannot speak. He has ears, yet he does not hear us and there is no breath in his chest. And those who trust in him will become just like him. We will, and have, become the image of this Christ.

But this blind and stony-hearted Christ is not the one that was supposed to be replicated inside of us and in whose image we are becoming. That Christ was the one who partied with the prostitutes and wept with the woman who washed his feet with her tears. Our Christ was supposed to be the one who saw the woman caught in adultery and dared the man who had never made a mistake to throw the first stone. Our God really saw her, and his heart had compassion on her.

This is the God who we are supposed to reflect in our lives – and he is the only path to healing that can cure what ills us and what ills the world in which we live.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 136