Perceiving Potential in People
When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is – that she is a sinner.”
Luke 7:36-39
Mark Batterson tells the story about a remarkable conversation between best-selling author Sir Ken Robinson and Sir Paul McCartney of the Beatles who both hailed from Liverpool, England. As Robinson was doing a bit of research on the famed musician, Sir Paul informed him that he had not performed very well in his musical studies. His high school teacher didn’t give him good marks and didn’t notice any innate talent.
Amazing, huh? But it gets even better! Paul’s bandmate, George Harrison, had the same teacher. And he didn’t fare any better than McCartney! “Let me get this straight,” Ken said to Paul. “This teacher had half of the Beatles in his classes and didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary?”
Whoa! Talk about missing the moment! Yet such things happen all the time.
The challenge we all face when perceiving potential in people is how they look in the present rather than envisioning what they could be in the future. As the old adage puts it, “Initial looks can be deceiving.”
Part of the genius of Jesus was His ability to see potential in unlikely people. Where others saw problems, Jesus spied possibilities.
Part of the genius of Jesus was where others saw problems, Jesus spied possibilities.
More Than Meets the Eye
In the text noted above, a prostitute crashes a dinner party in which Jesus is in attendance. The host was a Pharisee, a member of an elite religious group known for its exclusivity and judgmentalism.
After seeing the woman's lavish display of love, the Pharisee murmured to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is – that she is a sinner.”
Ironically, the man got it half-right. A prophet certainly perceives present realities. Jesus knew exactly what the woman was. However, a prophet can also perceive future possibilities. He saw what she could become. And He treated her accordingly.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, “If you treat an individual how he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.”
You will regularly come across individuals who might not appear to hold much potential. It may be the result of what they display or what they say… how they impress or how they dress.
Yet it might be that there’s more to them than meets the eye. And if treated with respect and compassion, they might well bloom. Especially if you have the opportunity to encourage them verbally that they have potential.
You will regularly come across individuals who might not appear to hold much potential. Yet if treated with respect and compassion, they might well bloom.
It might be a student in your classroom. It could be a young co-worker. It could be a stock boy in a grocery store or a woman at the check-out counter.
So many are hungry for someone to believe in them. And all it takes is a warm smile and a “prophetic” word to convey that.
I hope you’ll look for such people. They might not become the next Beatles – then again, who knows?
PRAYER
Lord, thank You for the example You set in seeing this woman not for what she was, but for what she could be. May I follow Your lead and perceive the potential in people.
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