Sunday Gospel Reflection, March 22, 2020: Not as man sees does God see...

Not as man sees does God see…

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

Sunday Gospel Reflection, March 26, 2017: I was blind and now I see...

 I was blind and now I see… 

Do you share God’s vision? 

   We generally see what we want to see -- how often do we see with God’s eyes?  In the First Book of Samuel, God sends the prophet to anoint a new king from among the sons of Jesse of Bethlehem.  Naturally, everyone expects the eldest son to be chosen; instead, Samuel anoints David, the youngest, who is tending the sheep as future king of Israel.  Not as man sees does God see, the Lord tells Samuel, because man sees the appearance, but the Lord looks into the heart.  David will see with the heart, as is made clear in Psalm 23, for he knows that it is God who guides him, who leads him.  David understands his relationship with the Lord, and makes every effort to share God’s vision as God’s shepherd-king on earth.

   In John’s Gospel, the Pharisees have a twisted point of view; they are caught up in their own vision of how things should be.  In contrast to the blind man whom Jesus heals, the Pharisees suffer from vision that is becoming dimmer and dimmer until eventually they will be blind – spiritually blind.  The blind man himself sees with the heart, is able to see, because he believes; he has faith in Jesus even before Jesus has died and risen.  His physical blindness is incidental to his spiritual vision; he sees what the Pharisees do not, that Jesus is a prophet, the Son of Man – I was blind and now I see.

   Paul, in his Letter to the Ephesians, equates clear vision with faith and blindness with unbelief.  If you enter into life with Christ, Paul tells the Ephesians, you come to see clearly, to see as God sees, to share God’s vision, for everything exposed by the light becomes visible.  For us today, Jesus remains that light; through faith, we too can be light in the Lord, sharing clearer vision, sharing God’s vision, knowing that, if we are open, we who were once blind may now see.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  Wordle