American Idol and its clones are not on my list of shows to watch for any number of reasons.  One of them being the way in which so much is based on preconceived ideas of what talent is, and more specifically, what talent looks like.  I had an advantage over the audience sitting there that night because the fact that it was posted on YouTube and Warnock’s brief comments changed my expectations.   I knew to expect a surprising and powerful performance.

It was fascinating to watch the video and to see the faces of the crowd and the judges as Susan began to share her story and her dreams.  There was a look of disdain, of disbelief, of denial.  The faces of those watching said, “Why is this woman up here wasting our time.”  What led them to these conclusions, what caused them to think that Susan Boyle had no talent.  Could it be that she is 47 years old, and does not look like most of the singing stars that the world knows and loves so much?  Could it be that she did not emanate stage presence, but in fact seemed a bit uncomfortable and maybe even odd?  Was it the little hip wiggle that she gave that made Simon fidget and want to write down a no before the first note passed her lips?

Then, she begins to sing.  And the crowd swings wildly the other direction.  The eyes that were rolling fill with tears.  The mouths that snickered shout with enthusiasm.  How fickle the crowds.  It is ironic, fitting maybe, that this performance took place on April 11th, the Saturday of Holy Week, a week in which Christians often remember the fickle crowds of Jerusalem which hailed Jesus on his entrance into Jerusalem on (Palm) Sunday and then called for his crucifixion or simply abandoned him by the end of the week.  Appearances and the way we think things should be shape us and prejudice in so many ways.

Susan Boyle sang and transformed an audience.  She sang and stunned three judges.  Simon jokes that he saw it coming.  Is his humor just an attempt to maintain himself at the center of attention, or is it an attempt to deflect the discomfort that he feels deep inside because he knows the wrong that he has done.  What wrong?  The wrong so many of us commit.  OK, let’s call it sin.  We look at people and we decide their value, their worth, their motives, their intents based on what we see.  The young woman in Wal-Mart with a child.  The African-American man driving the nice car in the suburban neighborhood.  The nervous looking Middle Eastern man at the airport.  The well-dressed woman sitting at the table in the restaurant.  We look and we think we know what is going on in their hearts.  We think we know them.  Like the audience thought it knew Susan Boyle.

Let us stop for a moment and give people the same chance that Susan Boyle was given.  Let them open their lives to us, to share their dreams, to see who they truly are, to see who God created them be, to see the imago dei inside each of them.   Amanda made the comment “I am so thrilled, because I knew that everybody was against you…”  Let us not be like that.  Let us, by the grace of God, by the power of the Spirit, be the Christ followers who are not against people.  Let us be for people.   May you see the face of Christ in everyone you meet, and may everyone you meet see the face of Christ in you.

Perhaps it is not unlike when Jesus spoke to a crowd and said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-39, NIV) Jesus offers the people rest, but it is not the rest of a nap. He offers them rest where they trade in one yoke for another. A yoke is a wooden frame fitted on an ox’s shoulders to assist in pulling a load. He does not say, “Come to me, and I will take your yoke off and you can run free.” Jesus says he will give us rest, but only as we trade in our old yoke for his which is easy. Why not no yoke at all?

The people Jesus was speaking to understood the reference to the yoke as being God’s commands. To please God, you kept the commands. And as anyone who has tried knows, that is a great burden – to be constantly trying to please God by doing the right thing. It’s a burden because we all fail. Yes, we want to please God, but relying on ourselves alone to please God and always do everything right is a burden none of us can bear. Jesus offers an alternative.

He invites us to follow him, to serve him, to learn from him. Jesus does not ask less of his followers. Read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) if you think Jesus has low standards for his disciples. We are invited to learn from him, not just say we want to follow him but to commit to learning from him. And because at the center of his being Jesus is “gentle and humble”, we find rest when we come to him. Not an absence of labor, but rest because it is not hopeless and meaningless labor. Nor is it a hopeless task to do what is right and pleasing to God. Jesus did it all the time, and he invites us to learn from him, how to live our total lives.

When we are tired of trying to please God on our own, of constantly failing, what we need is rest. And it comes not by taking a nap and giving up but by learning from the one who always pleased His Father. We will find rest, not only in this life but for eternity as we submit ourselves to be servants of Jesus.