How God sees us

Bishop Scott Bullock
Third Sunday of Advent
December 15, 2024

A well-known speaker started off a seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of about 200 people, he asked, “Who would like this $20 bill?” 

Hands started going up. He said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this,” and then he proceeded to crumple up the $20 bill. Then he asked, “Who still wants it?” 

Still the hands were up in the air. Then he said, “Well, what if I do this?” And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. “Now who still wants it?” Because it did not decrease in value, or course, it was still worth $20 and everyone still wanted it. 

Many times in our own lives we are in a certain sense dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by our decisions that we make and the circumstances that come our way across the course of our lives. We might even begin to feel worthless. In this conclusion, however, we are simply mistaken. For just as we can see the inherent value in a $20 bill no matter what its form — whether dirty, crumpled, or whatever — let’s visualize now as we’ve reached this halfway point of Advent, how our God sees us.

So I need you now, wherever you are, to enter into the silence of your heart, and silently consider your most serious fault. Your most painful sin, that thing about which you might feel shame. Then, because it is true, imagine this: this thing, this dirty, crumpled thing, this ugly thing on your soul, does not lessen your worth or value before your God. While you might not be able to see anything else except that thing, all our God’s mercy can see is what is deeper. That you were created in God’s image and you remain priceless.

How can it be that God sees only the deeper beauty in each of us, his beloved children? It’s because of this truth about who God is and what God does that we hear in the words of the prophet Zephaniah this promise, “The Lord has removed the judgment against you.” 

Because he does not see that mar, that wound, that dirty even painful thing because he, who is mercy, has already removed it.  Our sadness remains only because we refuse to accept his mercy and we want to remain with that thing, clinging to it. For me, the Sacrament of Confession and Reconciliation is nothing less than my finally accepting the mercy that our Lord desires for us. I pray that during this season you might know the freedom that comes from accepting God’s mercy in the sacrament, especially during these days before Christmas.

But let’s not forget, this is the deepest truth of our lives, which we sadly cannot always accept — despite our failures, we remain priceless in God’s eyes. We remain, however bruised, soiled, or even beaten-up, the apple of God’s eye.

Our only possible response to this truth: Gaudete. Rejoicing. May the words from St. Paul’s passage from Philippians, which we just heard, become our hymn of rejoicing at God’s mercy. St. Paul says, “Brothers and sisters: rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” 

How can we rejoice when we’re so imperfect? We can rejoice because God’s mercy is perfect so that our flaws do not lessen our value in God’s eyes, but rather inflame his love to draw nearer to us and to heal, forgive, and restore us. Can we accept this? If we can, then the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds from the mistake that we are no longer precious in God’s eyes. Indeed, no matter where we are at this time, we come here in some sense crumpled, soiled, and flawed, however hidden these may be.  Yet, even so, we are mistaken if we have decided that we are worthless and beyond God’s love. For, look, the Lord is coming near, drawing near to us in this season of Advent and drawing near to us in the Eucharist we are about to share. So, out of our crumpled, soiled lives, let us have no anxiety at all—for we have a Savior of perfect mercy. Let the peace of God that comes from understanding what is most true about each of us, that we remain priceless in God’s eyes, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus who is mercy itself.