“Mom was right: You are what you eat.” Could it also be true that we become what we view? Here I’m reminded of the short story, The Great Stone Face, published by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850. The story is based on an old legend claiming that someone would arise in their midst that would look like the Great Stone Face—a rock formation on a nearby mountainside that had the air of a living human countenance from the right distance and lighting. The person who would emerge with the striking resemblance to the Great Stone Face would be “the noblest person of his time.”
A boy named Ernest thought constantly of the ancient tale, from his youth to his elderly years:
And Ernest never forgot the story that his mother told him. It was always in his mind, whenever he looked upon the Great Stone Face. He spent his childhood in the log-cottage where he was born, and was dutiful to his mother, and helpful to her in many things, assisting her much with his little hands, and more with his loving heart. In this manner, from a happy yet often pensive child, he grew up to be a mild, quiet, unobtrusive boy, and sun-browned with labor in the fields, but with more intelligence brightening his aspect than is seen in many lads who have been taught at famous schools. Yet Ernest had had no teacher, save only that the Great Stone Face became one to him. When the toil of the day was over, he would gaze at it for hours, until he began to imagine that those vast features recognized him, and gave him a smile of kindness and encouragement, responsive to his own look of veneration. We must not take upon us to affirm that this was a mistake, although the Face may have looked no more kindly at Ernest than at all the world besides. But the secret was, that the boy’s tender and confiding simplicity discerned what other people could not see; and thus the love, which was meant for all, became his peculiar portion (Refer here for the source of the quotations from this story).
One by one people arose who claimed to be the Great Stone Face. Each time, Ernest was left disappointed by flaws in their character and visage. As was stated on one occasion regarding a noted politician,
Something had been originally left out, or had departed. And therefore the marvelously gifted statesman had always a weary gloom in the deep caverns of his eyes, as of a child that has outgrown its playthings, or a man of mighty faculties and little aims, whose life, with all its high performances, was vague and empty, because no high purpose had endowed it with reality.
Then it came to pass one evening that someone gazed upon Ernest as he was speaking (delivering a sermon in the open air against the backdrop of the Great Stone Face, as Ernest was a lay preacher); the person realized the striking similarity between the Great Stone Face and this good, humble and unassuming man! The people joined in unison in celebrating the prophecy’s fulfilment in the face and character of Ernest.
Ernest had never imagined the “Great Stone Face” could be embodied in him. He simply gazed upon it, and longed to see the prophecy fulfilled in one of his contemporaries. Even now, he hoped that someone better and wiser than he would arise, bearing the likeness of the Great Stone Face.
This is not simply some old legend. This story resonates with the biblical story. The person who would grow into the likeness of Jesus Christ must gaze upon him through God’s Word, longing for the day when he will appear in our midst. According to Christian Scripture, we become what we view. Here’s what 1st Peter 1 and 1st John 3 say about the matter:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:8-9; ESV).
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure (1 John 3:1-3; ESV).
As in the case of Ernest who was transformed into the likeness of the Great Stone Face on the mountain side, those who love Jesus and gaze upon him through God’s Word are transformed into his likeness and reflect his character. This ongoing transformation is life-long, and is consummated when we see him face to face at the end of the Age.
As I said at the beginning of the post, Mom was right. You are what you eat. My Mom is also right in what she views. Unlike many in our Moralistic-Therapeutic-Deistic Age in which we often neglect to gaze upon God unless we need his assistance in some manner, Mom gazes upon Jesus through God’s Word. She may be old and bears the marks of many years, but her countenance and vocal cords often radiate with an inexpressible joy that is filled with the glory of Christ. My hope is that as I age, the worries of this world will not mark my countenance, like the person in Hawthorne’s tale who “had always a weary gloom in the deep caverns of his eyes,” who had “little aims” with “no high purpose.” Instead of feasting on junk food and beholding the spiritual equivalent of kitsch art, let’s feast upon Jesus and gaze upon his beauty through God’s word, thereby being transformed from glory unto glory through the Spirit: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18; ESV).
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In