"A pile of rocks ceases to be a pile a rocks when someone has a cathedral in mind." (Antoine de Saint-Exupery, as quoted by Donna Schaper in "These Days," September-October, 1999, Volume 30 - No. 5, Tuesday, September 21.)
When you look in the mirror what do you see?
What do you see when you look around this sanctuary at all of these people? Go on look at them! Have you ever really looked at the faces of those sit in front of you or behind you or on the far left side or the far right side?
What do you see when you look out at the world through the newspapers you read and the television you watch?
Do you see a world filled with piles and piles of rocks or do you see cathedrals?
When Jesus first laid eyes on his would-be disciples he didn't see a pile of rocks, he saw the beginnings of a cathedral, a church...the church. Jesus looked at the likes of Andrew, Simon, Philip, and Nathaniel and saw great potential, great God-given potential. He didn't see rocks, he saw diamonds in the rough. Jesus didn't see a bunch of uneducated, salty, low-income fishermen, he didn't focus on the "what appeared to be," he saw the "what could be."