Why is it so
difficult to embrace God’s vision?
Try as we might,
it is hard to see the world as God sees it.
When, in the First Book of Samuel, God sends Samuel to anoint one of the sons of Jesse of Bethlehem as king to replace Saul, Jesse presents seven sons before Samuel,
omitting his youngest son David, who is
tending the sheep. When David
finally appears, the Lord orders Samuel to anoint
him on the spot. Where the family
sees only an insignificant shepherd, an outward appearance, God looks into
the heart and chooses David as king over all of Israel.
Jesus will
likewise address the Pharisees inability to see clearly when he heals the man blind from birth in John's Gospel. The man’s blindness is an opportunity for the
Pharisees’ own eye-opening conversion experience: the blind man must be healed, Jesus says, so that the works of God might be made
visible through him. But the
Pharisees remain blind: This man is not from God, because he does
not keep the sabbath, they say of Jesus.
Whereas the blind man is healed not only physically but spiritually, ultimately
recognizing Jesus and worshiping him,
the Pharisees’ hearts remain closed. Because
they believe that they see, yet do
not see with God’s vision, their sin
remains; they are unable to turn toward the light.
For Jesus is, as he
tells the disciples, the light of the
world; he came as light so that people might see clearly, might see as God
sees. You were once darkness, Paul tells the Ephesians, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of the light. Baptism is meant to bring us to see as God
sees, to see with the heart, through the eyes and understanding of the one who
created all things. We need only awaken and arise, that Christ might give us light. For Jesus is the shepherd
described in Psalm 23 who guides us in
right paths if our hearts are open. And
when Jesus is leading us, we can always see clearly, always see with God’s
vision, and there is nothing
thereafter that we shall want.
This post is based
on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
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