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Seeing With Eyes Of The Heart
Lent 4A – March 26, 2017
The Hans Christian Andersen tale of the Emperor’s New
Clothes is really a parable about how people see and
how they respond to what they see. Remember the story:
the emperor had been swindled into thinking he was
wearing a set of very fine clothes, and that those
folks who were unfit for their jobs would not be able
to see such finery.
Off the emperor went naked, in a parade in all his
invisible finery; the crowd, fearing the loss of
their jobs, cheered and told him how magnificent
his clothes looked. But finally a little boy who
saw with clear eyes and an unafraid heart spoke out
loudly the truth: “the emperor has no clothes.”
Today’s readings are also all about what people
see, and how they respond to what they see.
First there is the story from the Book of Samuel. The
Lord said to Samuel, wait! Don’t choose Eliab, he may
seem to you to the obvious choice – he is the eldest
son and quite handsome.
But, the Lord said, but: “The Lord does not see as
mortals see; they look on the outward appearance,
but the Lord looks on the heart.”
The Lord looks on the heart – the Lord sees with
the eyes of the heart.
It is clear from the story about Samuel and the
choosing of David to be King of Israel that the
Lord sees with eyes that do not see just the
surface, the expected or the accepted.
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The Lord looks beyond the patterns of
traditional thinking and the patterns of
traditional power structures.
Instead, the eyes of the Lord go deeper – to the heart
of each person, to the very essence of a person or a
situation.
It is not always a comfortable way to see, but it
is the essence of God’s way, I think.
Jesus, we know, always sees with the eyes of the heart;
he penetrates beyond the status quo, beyond the
traditional rules of purity and power, to see the worth
and importance of each soul.
When he chose the man born blind from birth – he
chose an outcast of society, one believed to sinful
somehow just because he was blind.
But Jesus saw possibilities for God’s grace
and power in him that others could not or would
not see.
And, after Jesus restored his physical eyesight, the
man born blind began to grow into spiritual sightedness
too; ultimately he too began to see with the eyes of
his heart:
At first, perhaps still dazed by Jesus’ touch and
the gift of sight, all he knew was that the man who
had given him his sight was named Jesus; that is
all he could tell his puzzled neighbors about the
great physician.
By the time the Pharisees called him for
questioning the first time, he was seeing
things more fully. He had grown in an
understanding of Jesus and his power, so he
identified Jesus as a prophet.
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Later, when the Pharisees called him the
second time, he was seeing even more clearly,
more fully. He spoke fearlessly to the
Pharisees, making it clear that he thought they
were the ones who were blind or deliberately
obtuse. When they challenged him, saying, that
Jesus could not be from God, he answered:
“Never since the world began has it been
heard that anyone opened the eyes of a
person born blind. If this man were not
from God, he could do nothing.”
And finally, when Jesus returned to him, after the
Pharisees had driven him out, the man born blind saw
fully who it was that had cured his blindness – He saw
not just a man, but saw the Lord, saw him with the eyes
of his heart and he worshiped him.
Jesus then made clear the mission that
God had given him: he had come so that
those who do not see, may see. May see
with the eyes of the heart, may truly see
what the Lord loves and desires.
Like the blind man, at our baptism we are graced us
with eyes that have the capacity to really see.
Paul describes this gift when he says that we are
light. “Once you were darkness, but now in the
Lord you are light.” That is who we are, who we can
be.
But…Paul goes on to say: “Live as children of
light – for the fruit of the light is found in
all that is good and right and true. Try to
find out what is pleasing to the Lord. And, he
cautions, take no part in the unfruitful works
of darkness, but instead expose them.
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In other words look at the world with the eyes of your
heart; see what God sees, see what God intends for us.
And if you see things that are not fruitful, that don’t
reflect God’s intention, then speak out – expose them
so they can be changed.
And you and I have been taught how to live as light
– it is summarized in our baptismal covenant –
We are to proclaim the good news; to seek and
serve all people, loving our neighbor as
ourselves, and to strive for justice and peace
among all people, respecting the dignity of
every human being.
I have to acknowledge that it is easier to recite our
baptismal promises than to live them out fully every
day. And anyone who has read a newspaper or listened
to the nightly news recently, knows that we are far
from a place of light; knows that many of us are not
looking at the world with the eyes of our hearts.
For many of us I think the constant barrage of news
and social media over the last two years has left
us with fear in our hearts.
We have been told repeatedly and loudly that we
are in danger from Muslim terrorists and
immigrants of all kinds; and we have been told
repeatedly that our country is in an economic
downward spiral because of the unfair trade
balances with other countries across the globe.
And while we earnestly try to sort through what
is real and needs serious attention, what is
just political hyperbole, and what is a lie
with a hidden agenda -
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in the end, many now look at our world
through eyes that are fearful, that are
worried.
And instead of looking at God’s world and its needs
through the eyes of our hearts, some of us have
permitted that fear to narrow our focus - to
narrow our concerns to just our own personal or our
country’s self-interest.
Thus there is the push to build walls, to keep
out refugees, to forget the needs those
desperate folks who are at the margin here and
abroad, to forget the needs of the environment
all in the name of protecting us and
making things economically better just for
us.
But this insular, fearful response to our world really
closes off the eyes of our hearts and we end up seeing
the world and its needs with spiritually blind eyes.
Greg Pope, the pastor at First Baptist here in
Jasper, wrote an open letter to Christians in the
Pickens Progress two weeks ago and addressed some
of these concerns when he said:
Whatever fear of danger, real or imagined, we may
face, our commitment to Christ is the dedication of
our lives to a love that casts our fear. Christians
do not live their lives driven by fear.
This call to love neighbor and enemy, stranger
and immigrant, springs from the biblical
exhortation to see every person as created in
the image of God.
Race, ethnicity, or nationality does not
shape our love or actions because it does
not shape God’s love or actions.
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Of course our personal concerns are important –the
safety and wellbeing of our own families and of our
country must be a priority.
But, as followers of the Lord, these concerns must
not be allowed to crowd out concern for others.
And the concern for our families and our
country is not an excuse to demonize the
stranger or immigrant, or an excuse to focus
solely on economic growth at the expense of
care for God’s creation and his people.
Living with eyes of the heart open is not always easy
or comfortable, especially now.
But as those who are marked as Christ’s own
forever in baptism, we must try live as light, as
Paul tells us;
we must not be stopped by fear as we try to
seek and serve God’s people, and we must try
shine with God’s light of integrity and fierce
honesty, as we help to expose and to mend the
dark, broken places in our world.
And if the emperor is wearing no
clothes, then those who see with the
eyes of the heart need to say so. AMEN
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