True Sight
Readings:
- Old
Testament: Amos 5:21-24
- Epistle:
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ.
There is a profound tension in today’s readings—a tension
between seeing and not seeing, between knowing and not understanding, between
empty religion and genuine faith. In this tension, the Holy Spirit reveals to
us the heart of God and the nature of true discipleship.
I. The Blindness of the Seeing (Luke 18:31-34)
Our Gospel text begins with Jesus taking the twelve aside
and telling them plainly what awaits in Jerusalem: “Everything that is written
about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.” He details the
betrayal, mocking, spitting, flogging, killing, and resurrection. This is the
third such prediction in Luke’s Gospel.
Yet we read: “But they understood none of these things. This
saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.”
Here is the irony: The disciples—who have walked with Jesus,
witnessed miracles, heard His teachings—are spiritually blind to His central
mission. They have eyes but do not see. They have heard but do not comprehend.
Their expectations of a triumphant Messiah cloud their understanding of a
suffering Servant.
II. The Insight of the Blind (Luke 18:35-43)
Immediately following, Luke presents a contrasting scene. As
Jesus approaches Jericho, a blind beggar hears the crowd and asks what’s
happening. He’s told, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”
This man, physically blind, sees what the disciples miss. He
cries out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Even when others try to
silence him, he cries out all the more. He recognizes Jesus as the Messiah
(“Son of David”) and understands his own need for mercy.
Jesus asks him, “What do you want me to do for you?” A
simple, profound question. The blind man replies, “Lord, let me recover my
sight.”
Jesus responds, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you
well.” Immediately he receives his sight and follows Jesus, glorifying God.
The physically blind man sees spiritually what the seeing
disciples miss: Jesus’ true identity and his own need. His faith—persistent,
humble, focused on mercy—receives healing.
III. The Religion God Rejects (Amos 5:21-24)
This contrast between true and false sight is echoed in our
reading from Amos. God speaks through the prophet against Israel’s empty
worship:
“I hate, I despise your feasts… Even though you offer me
your burnt offerings… I will not accept them.”
Why? Because their worship was disconnected from justice and
righteousness. They had the form of religion without its substance. They went
through the motions of seeing God while being blind to their oppression of the
poor and vulnerable.
God declares: “Let justice roll down like waters, and
righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
True sight—true knowledge of God—always flows into right
relationship with others. Worship disconnected from justice is blindness.
IV. The Love That Gives True Sight (1 Corinthians
13:1-13)
This brings us to Paul’s magnificent description of love. He
begins by showing that even spectacular spiritual gifts—speaking in tongues,
prophetic powers, mountain-moving faith—are nothing without love.
Then he describes what love looks like: patient, kind, not
envious or boastful, not arrogant or rude, not insisting on its own way, not
irritable or resentful, not rejoicing at wrongdoing but rejoicing with the
truth.
Finally, Paul contrasts our present partial knowledge with
the perfect knowledge to come: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face
to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully
known.”
Love is the lens through which we see truly. Without love,
our theology is blurry, our worship is hollow, and our service is noisy gongs.
V. Receiving and Following
So what does this mean for us today?
- We
must acknowledge our blindness. Like the disciples, we often
don’t understand Jesus’ way of suffering love. Like Israel in Amos’ day,
we can perform religious rituals while remaining blind to injustice. Like
the Corinthians, we can pursue spiritual gifts while lacking love.
- We
must cry out for mercy. The blind beggar shows us the way:
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” True sight begins with
recognizing our need and Christ’s sufficiency.
- We
must let Jesus define our sight. When Jesus asks, “What do you
want me to do for you?”—what is our answer? Do we seek comfort, success,
validation? Or do we seek to see as Jesus sees: to see the marginalized,
to love the unlovely, to serve rather than be served?
- True
sight leads to following and glorifying. The healed man didn’t go
back to his old life. He followed Jesus and glorified God. True spiritual
sight always leads to discipleship and worship that overflows in love and
justice.
Conclusion
In a world filled with information but often lacking wisdom,
with vision but often lacking insight, Jesus comes to us today as He came to
Jericho long ago.
He asks each of us: “What do you want me to do for you?”
May we have the humility of the blind beggar to cry out:
“Lord, let me recover my sight! Help me to see You truly, to see myself
honestly, and to see others through Your eyes of love.”
For when we see by the light of Christ’s love—when justice
and righteousness flow from our worship—then we move from blindness to sight,
from noise to meaning, from religion to relationship.
Then we begin to see dimly what one day we shall see face to
face: the unfathomable depth of the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
May the Holy Spirit open the eyes of our hearts today.
Amen.
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