The Face Of G-D

What do you see when you look in the mirror? Have you ever REALLY looked at your own face ? If I asked you to describe yourself what would you say? I know for myself that I wouldn't be very nice in the process of describing myself, I would point out all my flaws and scars and my thinning graying hair. I wouldn't be very kind in my own description and I would imagine neither would you. But what if I asked you to describe a small child or a baby? I would be willing to bet that the compliments would be flowing. Even the ugliest of babies are beautiful in our eyes, yet as that baby grows up the descriptions get a bit less kind.

Here is the real question though; If I asked you to describe a homeless person sleeping on a park bench what would you say, or a prostitute or your worst enemy, How would you describe them? It's easy for us to make judgement calls on people who are different from us or who don't fit in with what we perceive to be right and wrong, but
what if I told you that you were looking at the face of G-D?

In Genesis 33 we have a story of reconciliation between Jacob and Esau. G-D tells Jacob that it is time for him to go home and he packs his bags and family and he leaves. When he finally sees Esau, after much prayer and literal wrestling with G-D, the brothers meet and fall on each other weeping. Here is the real kicker though, while Jacob is urging his brother to accept the gifts that were being given to him he says to him "...inasmuch as I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of G-D and you were pleased with me..."(Gen.33:10) He said that seeing Esau was like seeing the face of G-D! This was the man that Jacob had spent the last 20 years being afraid of. What should that say to us?

What would happen if instead of labeling everyone, we simply saw G-D's face on everyone we see?

As a friend of mine once put it, our faces are a reflection of what G-D saw on His own face when were born, in other words we are a reflection of G-D in that moment that he created us.

In the beginning of Genesis we are told that we have been made in the image and likeness of G-D. We can argue the semantics of whether or not that was a physical or spiritual thing, but what I would humbly submit to you that no matter which way you look at it , when you are looking at someone else you are looking at G-D's image reflecting back at you and as such we should be treating others that we see as if we were indeed in the presence of G-D. What a difference that would make in this world.If Jacob could do it when faced by the man who had threatened to kill him 20 years earlier, there is no reason that we can't.

G-D's commandments can be broken down to two very simple commands the first is to love Him with all our being, with every ounce of strength that He has given us and the other is to love our neighbors as ourselves. G-d never said our neighbors would be our friends or that they would be pretty, but He makes it easier for us to do by reminding us that His image is seen in the face of that neighbor.

Jacob did it and through the grace of G-D who lives with in us as well, we can say to our neighbor, or whoever,....I have seen you face as though I had seen the face of G-D!

Shalom,
Ignacio