First Sunday of Lent
February 25, 2007


What do you see when you look in the mirror?

I learned some interesting things about mirrors this weekend. It seems that the art of mirror making was a very inexact science for a long time. It wasn’t until about the 1600 that they learned the art of making flat glass. When they added the silver coating to it, for the first time in history, people could see EXACTLY what they looked like. Before then, the best they could hope for was a reflection in water or off of a polished steel plate or a rendition of them in a painting or drawing.

So when they first made flat glass, and people could see what they really looked like, it sent a shiver of fear down the culture. So much so that when artists depicted people looking into mirrors, they always sketched it an image of the devil peeking over the shoulder of the man or woman looking at the mirror. The artist’s insight in that period of culture was that the devil would use that ‘perfect’ kind of mirror to tempt humanity to a pride that would be their downfall. The artists had it right, but for the wrong sin, I think. They feared the sin of vanity. I wonder, though, if maybe there is something else at work

Most of us, if we are honest, have a part of ourselves that we don’t like. Our feet are too big. Or too small. We don’t like our knees or our hair or our complexion. Our curves are wrong – too small, or too big or some of both at the same time. We have a mole or a blemish or an issue with weight. Our hair is too curly or too straight or too grey or there’s not enough of it. So, when we look in the mirror, we loath what we see. We hate the image that is reflected so clearly back to us. One of the Campus Ministers at Washington University here in St. Louis estimates that between 1 of 3 and 1 of 4 women MINIMALLY has some kind of issue around body image. 1 of 3 women, when they look in the mirror, find the image there wanting. 1 of 3 judge the image they see EXACTLY, to be not good enough. And they then conclude that they are not good enough. It is not the sin of vanity that this generation struggles with, but the sin of despair.

Fortunately, there is an antidote to that sin. We see it in the gospel story. The devil holds a mirror up to Jesus in the desert, and invites him to see EXACTLY what he is able to do and be. Satan says: “SUFFIENCY. POWER. ENTITLEMENT. Those are the deepest truths about you, Jesus. You could have bread from stones and never go without. You could have legions gathering around and take over the world. You could have myriads of angels guarding your every step, watching over you so you’ll always be safe and okay. That is who you are Jesus. Look clearly in this mirror – because that is what is means for you to be the son of God.”

Jesus says in effect: I will look into the mirror, and I will see exactly what is there. And I will also see what is deeper than what is exactly there: that I am God’s son, his beloved and obedient son. There might be power within me. I won’t use it. There might be suffiency there – I won’t eat of it. There might be entitlement there – I won’t abuse it. The only mirror I will use to see myself is the one that reflects the truest, deepest self back to me – the mirror of being the beloved Son of God. Every time I look into the mirror of temptation – I will see exactly what is there,– blemishes, warts, fat or skinny – it doesn’t matter. Because I will also see what the Father sees. I know what I am and who I am – the beloved of God. That is how I will see myself.

And you, when you look into the mirror this week – will you love the you that you see there? Will you use that mirror to reflect CLEARLY to you the divine image that God has put in you. Or will you obsess about how you should be different, less greasy hair, more muscle mass, whatever… Because it is only when we are able to love the image we see – the divine image that is in the mirror – it is only then that we will ever have the ability to grow and change and be used by God. I had another conversation with a man who tried to diet and lose weight forever. He always failed. He always failed. “Until I learned to love myself fat. Then I lost 80 pounds and kept them off.” Until he could look into the mirror and love what he saw there, exactly as it was, he could never change, never be the instrument of grace that God called him to be. Until he could love himself fat – he always failed.

The devil loves mirrors. From the time of Jesus (and before) till now, he has been using them to tempt people from the deepest truth about who they are. Jesus was on to him. I’m on to him. You can be as well. This week, when you look into the mirror – what will you choose to see there? Will you let yourself see what God sees in that mirror – someone who is not perfect, but loved? Will you see the you that is always loved?