Seeing with Jesus' eyes

In our Gospel for Sunday, Jesus heals a man who was born blind and has lived his entire life in darkness; the blind man makes his way by begging for money. Jesus rubs mud on the man's eyes and tells him to wash in the Pool of Siloam in the Temple, and the man receives his sight. Imagine his joy! I have seen little videos of people, young and old, who are colorblind. They see the world, but not in color, not as most people do. Their reaction, when they put on a special kind of sunglasses that allow them to see color for the first time, their reaction is always moving, going from joy to tears, back to joy again! They are seeing the world in a new way! Imagine, then, the man born blind as his sight is given to him for the very first time.

But quickly, the man becomes a pawn, as the religious authorities inexplicably seem to discount the wonder of what Christ has done in the life of the man who was previously blind. The miracle of sight is lost on those who ultimately refuse to see the world through the newly opened eyes of the man born blind; with Christ's eyes. During this current time of uncertainty, there will be plenty of people who seemingly wish to bring you (maybe everyone) down with their blind view of the world, a pessimistic vision of where we are going, who we are as a people, and so much more. Imagine that you were seeing the world with the eyes of Christ for the very first time. What would you see? A world where everyone is not treated equally? A world that seems to value wealth and power over humanity and peace? The world would have us see it through jaded eyes and its own sets of rules and measures of "success." Yet Jesus healed lepers, blind beggars, a woman with incurable illnesses, and rose Lazarus from the dead. We don't understand, perhaps, Jesus' power in the world in the same way as when he walked the earth, but we should know that Jesus has given us the gift of incredible love and hope, and offers us new eyes with which to see the world that He has made; a world of promise. Joy is something in very low and rare supply. See with the eyes of Christ and be healed, made new for a world in need of renewal.