See with Christ's eyes and follow his heart.

Most of us probably assume that we go through life seeing what we see and responding to it. Our eyes do have the capacity to take in light like a camera lens. But that is not how our sight works at all.  It not how our brains work at all.

You know what it’s like to buy a car and suddenly you become more aware of that particular make and model. Or maybe you played the punch buggy game with your family or friends. Our eyes tune in.

Those are just little examples. But for all of life, our brains have to hone in on what is important. When you go into your bathroom to brush your teeth, your eyes look to the light switch, the toothpaste, the toothbrush, the mirror, the sink, the faucet, the water. Did you notice the sock on the floor? I didn’t. Until Meg pointed it out to me.

Think how detailed and complex everything is in your bathroom. Your toothbrush was engineered by a team of scientists who thought through every detail about it. The shape and curve of the handle, the composition of the plastic, little ridges and maybe rubber pads to help your grip. There are a precise number of bristles of a particular length, probably a variety of lengths arranged in a pattern, and a particular diameter and stiffness, all of which is designed to clean your teeth well, and even just below the gum line.

And there is a factory where it was made by complicated machines and a conveyor process that had to hold it just right every moment of its creation, all of which were designed by more engineers. Then it was put it in a safe and clean package designed to look attractive and give you every scrap of information they are required by law and regulation to tell you lest they get sued. It was then packaged into a shipping box, loaded with hundreds of other boxes and eventually delivered to the store where you or someone else bought it.

That’s very interesting to think about, in a way, occasionally. And I really just skimmed the surface. It’s way more complicated than I described. But you don’t have time for all that. You need to brush your teeth and we haven’t even gotten to the toothpaste yet. Or the faucet. Or the water.

And when you went into the bathroom you didn’t just show up. You had a purpose that guided you to flip on the switch, grab the toothbrush, grab the toothpaste, turn on the water, and miss the sock. Why did you miss the sock? Well, you wouldn’t brush your teeth with a dirty sock, ever. Your eye surely picked it up as a camera would, but that’s not what it means to see something.

Our sight is entirely conditioned by our plans and expectations.  That’s why people and organizations with any sense spend time regularly working on their vision. It’s a natural and necessary part of life. Any teenagers and young adults listening, you should be giving some thought and prayer to where you hope and expect to be in your work, your other interests, and relationships in 5, 10 or 20 years.

All of our readings this morning hammer a particular point. They hammer others too, but the particular point I am focusing in on (see how I did that?) is the absolute necessity to let God shape our vision.

We see it with Samuel going to Jesse and making him parade his sons like a livestock show. All of Israel’s history, and as it carries on to Jesus, the world’s history pivots on a single sentence. “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for The Lord does not see as mortals see; they look upon outward appearance, but The Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

Samuel, a great prophet needed to stop, listen to God even more carefully than normal and follow God’s vision instead of his own assessment. If that is true for him, and we have remembered for 3,000 years, then maybe we should take the hint. You have tremendous potential to change the world, your world anyway.

That’s worth remembering, and it makes sense. Listen to God. Our Christian witness carries it a step further.

Note that Paul didn’t say we were in darkness. He said we were darkness, but now in The Lord we are light (Ephesians 5:8). We’ve been brought into the Body of Christ. We are his presence in this world. We still have to listen carefully, Jesus always stayed in full step with His Father’s will. When we do, we bear his grace and his witness.

The key to understanding today’s Gospel (John 9:1-41) is not to evaluate the example of Jesus healing the blind man and his arguments with the Pharisees.  Those points are important, but the main thing is to remember that you are the blind man, or at least you were.

When Jesus healed him, the blind man became a sign of the Kingdom of God and a witness to Jesus as the Messiah.

 Jesus asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The blind man answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking to you is he. He said, “Lord I believe.” (John 9:35-38)

What we do, listening to and guided by The Lord, is important. It has great meaning on many levels. But the key is that when we act in alignment with God’s will and in Christ’s name, we become the sign. And that is reason #1 that we are here, here in the church, here online wherever you may be, here as a people consecrated to Jesus.

We’ve all got to adjust our sight. That would be a good sermon point anytime, but it is particularly important now as we face this COVID-19 crisis. On one level, we have to respond to the threat of an invisible virus that poses severe health risks to either ourselves or certainly people we love. What can we do for ourselves and others? What should we do? Then there is the catastrophic effect of closing so many businesses for who knows how long.  What can we do? What should we do? Some of this may be complicated for a time by our restricted activity, but we’ll be back to active soon and we will have lots to do.

Everything is turned upside down, but Jesus is not. Before we run down a path of our own vision, let’s listen for God’s vision and be the light of Christ in this difficult moment. In the short term, let Him guide your mind and comfort your spirit through all the challenges we are facing right now. In the long run, let Him show us how to represent Him in acts of love and charity so that others will see Him in us, and believe.

AMEN