Jesus Glasses

There is a strange miracle found in the Gospel of Mark.

"So He (Jesus) took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then He spit on the man’s eyes and placed His hands on him. “Can you see anything?” He asked. 24The man looked up and said, “I can see the people, but they look like trees walking around.” 25Once again Jesus placed His hands on the man’s eyes, and when he opened them his sight was restored, and he could see everything clearly."


What a strange little story. 

Why Spit?

Some scholars actually believe that people of the 1st Century held a belief that healing could happen through spit. Weird? So Jesus plays along. He takes this blind man by the hand and leads him away from the crowd. Jesus often did this. He was not doing a miracle for self-promotion. 

Yet when he prayed it only worked 50% of the way.... C'mon Jesus!

Have you ever wondered why? Did Jesus do something wrong? Did this man lack faith?

No.

I think Jesus is trying to teach us something about spiritual blindness. We like to talk about transformation with Jesus but the truth is it is a long slow process. We think about believing, we start to believe, and then we go even deeper. And to be honest growth is far from linear. Work with kids for more than a week and you learn that lesson. 

As Jesus heals this man, imagine what might be going through his mind. One question he might ask..... "What do people look like?"


Like Trees, right?

How did he even know what trees looked like if he was blind?


So what can we learn from this story?

I wonder if Jesus wants to heal your/our eyes today. I wonder if he wants to take us to a remote location for a touch from his spirit? You see, we like to have a tribe mentality. This person is in MY GROUP and that person IS NOT! This person is on MY TEAM and that person is NOT! This person is a GOOD PERSON and that person is NOT!

I wonder if people are more complicated than that. Anne Frank said/wrote it like this: 

"In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart." 


The problem the Christian must encounter daily is to love everyone. Yes, sounds easy. But it is a problem because we cannot claim to know God and not love. Because as ST John says, "God is love."

I believe God wants to heal our eyes. To look at those that we think are our enemies and welcome them into our presence.

St Paul said it this way: "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus."

So today, put on your "Jesus glasses." Try to see people the way He saw them. Because when we see people how He saw them we will treat people the way he treated them. 

Do It Again

Have you ever noticed, kids can watch the same movie, read the same book, or play the same game every day and not get tired of it? We say: "Ugh, baby shark, again????!???"

They rejoice: "Do it again!"

I wonder if God is "child-like."

Each morning he declares to the sun, "Do it again!"

And when the sun sets he declares, "Do it AGAIN!" Oh, I just love the sunset.

Jesus told Nicodemus we must be "Born again" to enter the Kingdom of God. In other words we must learn to let go of control. We must give up our right to have everything figured out and trust in God.

Yet, we worry about so many things. Meanwhile God is smiling. As He speaks the wind and waves obey. Chaos is a result of us thinking control is necessary.

Jesus said it this way: "If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it."

May you have the faith of a child today. May you find peace in the journey and freedom in the surrender.