Jesus Eyes

In tomorrow's Gospel reading, Jesus heals a man born blind. Jesus sees the man, heals him and then gets in a contraversy with those who wish it hadn't happened on the Sabbath. The Rev. Sister Judith Schenck is a retired priest and a Franciscan Poor Clare Solitary in the Diocese of Montana, who preached on this passage saying,

The Pharisees, who were like our clean white Sunday church-going, hymn-singing, altar-guild-serving, chairman of the vestry, committee leaders were not the ones Jesus loved most. He hung around with the outsiders. He loved the drunks, the sinners, the tax collectors, and prostitutes – those on the edges of society. The only ones Jesus ever expressed anger toward were those who thought they were good and had all the answers

The first step toward movement from blindness to sight is to realize we are blind. All of us are blind to one thing or another. Jesus wants us to see. Jesus wants us to pause, to stop, to notice what is right in front of us every day that we so blithely pass by on our way to work, to church, to home.

The blind man was given Jesus Eyes. When we truly see, we are given new eyes, new insight, new vision, new under- standing. Jesus Eyes are not like the flat-seeing, self-centered world around us. Jesus Eyes are world shattering and paradigm changing. Jesus Eyes are often unwelcome and threatening. It can be lonely and frightening to have Jesus Eyes. There is a cost to Jesus Eyes. It always brings the cross, and with the cross comes transfiguration. God’s love is the laser light that cuts away our cataract blindness.

What needs to be turned upside down in your world? Where do you pass by when you need to stop and see Jesus? Where in your own brokenness can God’s glory be made manifest? How can you use your own weaknesses to become holy? And how can you see what is holy in what is broken around you, in yourself, and in others?

Let us pray for Jesus Eyes. Let us pray to see Jesus in each face we meet, each life we pass in this life. Let us pray to see God. Let us worship with our lives and make God manifest, as it says in the hymn: “God in man made manifest.”

The full text of her sermon is online here: Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year A

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
—the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.