There’s a classic movie called The Elephant Man.

In this movie the man, John Merrick, is used as a side show freak in the circus due to his deformed face.

The people who owned him were brutal to him.

However there was a doctor who became his friend and began to care for him.

John is deeply ashamed of himself and wears a covering over his face to mask his deformities.

One day he is chased by a group of men who mock at him and laugh at him and corner him.

He decides to yell back at them:

“I am not an animal! I am a human being!”

Then he collapses with exhaustion and they thankfully leave him alone.

But the doctor who cares for him one day takes him to the theatre. There at the theatre is a beautiful woman who the doctor convinces to come and talk with John.

John is stunned that she is so beautiful and that she’d come and see him. They talk and start reading from Romeo and Juliet.

John reveals another side of himself as he reads out his part.

The woman says “Oh Mr Merrick, you’re not an elephant man at all – you are Romeo.”

And she leans in to kiss his heavily scarred face.

He can hardly believe it. 

In reflection on the doctor’s care for him and the people he’d introduced him to, John says to his friend:

“My life is full because I know I am loved. I need nothing else. I could not have said that if it were not for you.”  

And in all sorts of ways this story relates to us.

We are quite healthy and happy on the most part.

We all look pretty normal on the outside.

But there are many of us who struggle to believe we are worthwhile.

We struggle with low self-esteem and think we are unlovable – or not as valuable as someone else.

We feel a bit like The Elephant Man sometimes.

But the fact is, we are loved.

And the kiss from that woman is nothing compared to the beauty of God stooping down to show us how much he loves us.

In the middle of our sin, God says I love you.

God says you are precious and honoured, and I love you.

The one sermon the cross gives us is that God loves you.

This love transforms us.

This love sets our hearts free. And in 2 Corinthians 5:16 we see this love gives us new eyes.

¹⁶ 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. 

This ties back to the great transformation that happens when God’s love takes a hold of us.

It does something to the way we see others.

The way we view other people.

Everywhere we go we see people who judge others on how they look or speak or dress, or what job they have or where they live.

We can all be superficial.

But we need to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and see people with different eyes.

We need a new perspective.

The person next to you is so valuable that Christ died for them.

The blood of Jesus was shed for that person.

Let’s learn to see others as people who Christ died for.

And find a new level of compassion for them.

When we draw near to God we realise everyone matters because they are made by God.

And we are people who Christ died for.

You are important enough for Christ to come and die.

She is important enough for Christ to come and die.

This truth changes the way we see people.

The way we treat them.

The person we are angry with.

Hurt by.

Fed up by.

The person across the room from you is a blood-bought, beloved child of God.

We should think before criticising people.

Because they matter.

They might be lost. But so are we.

And that’s why he had to die for us all.

Our sin cost Christ his life.

Will you allow his forgiveness of your sin transform the way you see the flaws of others?