Looking at People
Encountering the Self-Righteous
What do you do when you encounter people who are self-righteous and arrogant? Roll your eyes? Make an excuse to walk away from them? Give them some self-righteousness of your own?
When Jesus encountered the rich young ruler in Mark 10, he had that opportunity. The man wanted to be sure that he had eternal life, which was good. He also believed that he had kept the law and deserved a place in heaven; in short, he was self-righteous and arrogant.
So how did Jesus respond to the young man’s blatant boasting and self-assurance? Verse 21 says, “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him…” Without getting into what Jesus said in order to expose the man’s idolatry and call him to repentance, let’s consider what Jesus did.
Looking and Loving
He looked at him. It’s interesting that the Bible includes this detail. The King James Version says “He beheld him,” which means to look at someone in order to learn about him. I think this look shows that Jesus cared. He gave the young man his attention. He didn’t become angry or impatient but showed concern for him.
This look was Jesus loving this proud man (thank God he loves proud men!). We see Jesus loving the proud throughout Scripture. He gives people his full, undivided attention whether it’s a tax collector in a tree, an immoral woman at a well, or a grieving widow in a crowd of mourners. This is what Jesus did. He looked at people and saw men and women made in the image of God, even if they were arrogant. He looked at people and loved them.
A Lesson for Us
I wonder if this is a lesson for us. We can be so busy looking at our phones that we don’t look at people or give them our attention – we don’t interact with others. Last summer I went to a baseball game and I was amazed at how many people were looking at their phones instead of looking at the game! They could have stayed home, cooked a Ballpark frank, and saved some money. It is staggering how impersonal our world is becoming. We don’t have to interact with people anymore. We can shop online, bank online, socialize online, and do whatever we want online. I wonder if part of the drive behind the social media obsession is the world saying, “Somebody look at me!”
God is calling us to be like Jesus and look at people—to reach out and connect. As Christians, we have the most amazing news in the world and it is news that we simply can’t keep to ourselves. We are called to love this lost world with the good news of the gospel.
That means that we reach out in friendship to people. It means we put the phone down and talk to the waitress. It means we care about what our neighbor or co-worker is going through and let them know we are praying for them. It means we greet people in public. It means we take a risk and invite someone to grab coffee or come to church.
Imagine someone accepting your invitation and grabbing coffee with you and then coming to church. Imagine them hearing the gospel for the first time and understanding that grace is for people who are messed up, not people who have their act together. Imagine them being transformed by the power of the gospel in the same way you were. Imagine them sitting next to you on Sundays worshipping God with joy in their hearts. Let’s look at the people that God has placed in our lives and love them. And let’s love them enough to reach out and invite them into our lives and into the community that God has placed us in.