John 9:40 "Some of the Pharisees near him hear this and said to him, 'Surely we are not blind, are we?'"
For the last few days I've been mulling over the idea of spiritual blindness present in our text for this week. Our preacher for Sunday, Melanie, commented on it as she shared themes for her sermon and my friend Cathy wrote her Lenten blog on the topic yesterday. Their thoughts have caused me to ponder my own feelings of spiritual blindness these days... actually they are feelings of spiritual blindness that I have been having for a few decades now, ever since the unshakable faith of my conversion was shattered by one too many unanswered prayers and a disillusionment that comes with the realization that the church is far from perfect.
It feels sometimes as if I can't see Jesus for all the pain and suffering in the world... not just in my own life, but now that my eyes have been opened to the depth of racism and sexism in the world, now that I am grappling with global poverty and my inherent role in it, now that I realize that God's blessing does not equal money, relationships and security... it feels at times that it is harder to see Jesus. That faith I had when I was a new Christian that everything would work out in the end, that it would all turn out just right, is gone and it feels at times as if my faith in Jesus is a bit tenuous because of it.
It feels like spiritual blindness, but I wonder now if before I was actually acting on blind faith. I wonder if before I had faith but I failed to see the world as God sees it. I wonder if my eyes were really closed to all the things that God cares about, the poor and the weak, the least and the lost, those suffering from injustice. Perhaps what I am experiencing is not spiritual blindness, but rather learning to see through God's glasses. My eyes and my heart are still adjusting a bit... because of course seeing with God's eyes is not easy for us mere human beings. And yet is what God desires of us, what God gifts us with... to see the world as God sees it that we might understand more of this God that we love and follow.
3 comments:
Good post Jo Ann.
Very good... and great photo, too. Love it. Love the reflection. (and not just because my name is in it--I promise!)
"I wonder if...I failed to see the world as God sees it."
"...But now that my eyes have been opened...."
Total rabbit trail of thoughts here, on reading this blog entry. Your words above send my mind to thinking about how one of the readers of my ordination paper cautioned me against saying too much about how a particular formation experience had altered my perspective. He told me, "it may appear that you think you have arrived".
i wonder how many times, when we have had an "aha!" moment, do we consciously or unconsciously assume that we "finally understand". It's easy for me to give the Pharisees a bad rap for all their posturing and hot air. But is it possible that when Jesus said "but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains", he wasn't just talking to the Pharisees, but to all of us.
When and how do we dare say "this is God's perspective?" Its such a humbling question for me.
Post a Comment