Martin Buber says that most people live in “I-It” relationships. If I live in an “I-It” relationship with you, I do not see you; instead, I see “categories,” such as age, sex, skin color, class, and political party. It also means that I see you stereotypically as a parent, child, spouse, friend, enemy, employee, and boss. Simply put, I don’t see you as you; I see you as an object.
Buber says that we yearn for an “I-Thou” relationship, where the real me sees and honors the real you. When I value you as a sacred child of God (something we want for ourselves), I see beyond my eyes and mental categories. I see the real you!
Jesus saw people’s sacred holiness: the woman caught in adultery; Matthew, the tax collector; Paul, the persecutor of Christians; sinners, you and me.
Paul says, “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here!
So, how might we stop seeing people from a worldly point of view, the I-It relationship, the kind of relationship so many of Jesus’s day (and today) had with him?
Let me suggest something I’ve found helpful. I try to look at others as if they were Jesus. Doing so gives me a better chance of connecting with the real person, the real you. As a result, an amazing thing happens in my heart and mind. I experience you as a new creation in a fresh way, and God’s kingdom draws nearer.
QUESTIONS FOR THE FIELD
Who are some people with whom you will interact today?
Can you try looking upon the heart and soul of that person while relating to them?
Can you try looking at that person as if that person was Jesus?
FAMILY FIELD TALK
Dialogue about the different categories of people your family sees each day.
Dialogue about what categories others may put your family members in.
Dialogue about how it feels to be stereotyped into a category.
Ask how we want others to see us.
Dialogue about seeing others in the same way we want them to see us.
If that person was Jesus, how might you see and relate to her or him?
PRAYER GUIDE
Dear loving God, just as it was not right for people to see Jesus in his day from a human point of view, please help me to no longer see other people from a human point of view. Please give me your grace to love them as the sacred people you created. In this process, please help the other people and me become new creations in you. In your gracious name, I ask. Amen.
