Cracked Rocks and Broken Images: Embracing Our Imperfections

Mirrors don’t lie.

When going for a suit, the salesman stands me in front of a three-way mirror. It’s a terrible view because you get to see what you don’t want to see. A bald spot becomes visible (as well as other things I choose not to say!).

Our challenge is to see us as we are, not as we think we are.

Hans Christian Anderson hid a barb inside of a child’s tale. It is about a king so vain he allowed nothing but praise.

One day, two swindlers come to town, knowing the state will pay a fortune for the clothes. They did not know how to sew, but they knew how to sell. The king ordered looms installed, but every time his underlings went, they were empty. Yet, not wanting to appear foolish, they say nothing.

Finally, the two con men come and tell him they have finished his robes. With an elaborate mime, they appear to dress him, sweeping off dust and tying imaginary sashes. They stand back, elated. Doesn’t the king look dashing?

But the king has no clothes but believes he wears the finest garments in the world.

As he parades through the streets, people know that any hint of criticism or reality will send the king into a rage. With oohs and aahs, they praise the king for his elegant new clothes.

All is well until he comes to a small boy. The boy looks at the king and shouts, “He has no clothes!”

No one wanted to see what was real, only what they wanted to see.

When people throw around the word “hypocrite,” it always refers to another. No one claims to live behind a mask of faked virtue. Each is pure in his own eyes, while others play a part.

We convince ourselves we cannot play the hypocrite. We never see the whole picture.

Take Peter, the disciple of Jesus. He liked his nickname, “The Rock.” It was an image he had of himself. He was steady and unmovable in his devotion to Jesus.

Jesus told his disciples that the day would soon dawn when they would all scatter like sheep spooked by a wolf. Peter protested. In no way ever would he ever fall away, even if the other cowards ran.

He would always be the Rock.

Boasts are easy to make in private but vanish under pressure.

Authorities arrested Jesus in Gethsemane and took him to the palace of the high priest. There, he would face unjust accusations as questions. The night chill settled over the courtyard as a group of faceless people huddled around a warming charcoal fire.

A voice pierced the silence. A girl looked at him and asked, “Aren’t you one of his?” The Rock moved. “I don’t know him.” Others joined in the chorus of accusations. Peter felt threatened and swore an oath that he was not a disciple or even knew him. In the distance, the rooster trumpeted the moment.

Peter, the Rock, was not who he thought he was.

Yet, the unwillingness to see who you are haunts all of us. It never left Peter.

Many years later, after Pentecost, the gospel extended its tendrils to distant cities. The most Gentile of the churches grew in Antioch of Syria. Paul and Barnabas shepherded that church and preached that all could be children of God. It included the Gentiles.

This was something that even Peter could agree with. He had broken the Gentile barrier when he crossed into the home of the centurion Cornelius.

There, in Antioch, Peter sat at a table with Gentiles, enjoying both food and fellowship. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted people from Jerusalem entering the room. They would not be so magnanimous, and Peter feared losing status. So he left the Gentile table for the Jewish one.

Paul faced him and became his current rooster, showing his old hypocrisy come back to life.

What is Peter’s problem? It’s ours.

Walt Kelly drew a comic strip featuring a swamp possum named Pogo. The answer to our problem is simple. As Pogo says, “We have seen the enemy, and he is us.”

We don’t want to face who we are, people with Achilles’ heels. We see ourselves as stronger and more spiritual than we are. Instead of realizing that we might be the hypocrite in the room, we, like Peter, ignore it.

The only way to live for God in purity is not to play pretend. It is to stand in front of the three-way mirror of truth and see we too have no clothes. We must confront the cracked rock in all our hearts and ask the Lord, “Help us and forgive us.”

The strongest man is the one who knows his weakness.

So, what do you see in your mirror?