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Jesus reminds us that what is true about a person’s physical eyes is also true about the eyes of her heart—her “spiritual eyes,” so to speak. Our Lord declares: “If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.”
Jesus’ next words, sad and chillingly grim, are: “If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6.23)
Spiritual blindness can take so many sinister and devious forms. Succumbing to it is an ever-present threat. It caused his disciples, overcome by sloth, drowsily to fail to minister to Jesus’ agony of spirit in the Olivet garden. It drove Judas, driven by base greed, to betray his Lord with a kiss. It led Peter, prompted by fear, adamantly to deny his Lord in the judgment hall. It led Caiaphas, insanely jealous, to pass cheap judgment on Jesus and, with a brush of his hand, to send him off to Pilate. It led Pilate, paralyzed by fear, to sentence the Son of God to death.
None of us—not a single one—ought foolishly to assume that he or she is immune to this crippling—no, lethal—spiritual disease. Reflecting on the man born blind whom Jesus healed (cf. John 9), Pope Benedict XVI adds this insightful comment:
“Jesus reveals to the blind man…that he had come into the world for judgment, to separate the blind who can be healed from those who do not allow themselves to be healed because they consider themselves to be healthy. Indeed, the temptation to build himself an ideological security system is strong in man; even religion can become an element of this system, as can atheism or secularism, but in letting this happen, one is blinded by one’s own selfishness.”
One virulent form of spiritual blindness nowadays is our human tendency blithely to disregard three, inter-related, incontrovertible facts which are true about every human being: 1. One’s life on earth is brief 2. One’s death is certain, final, and soon to come. 3. One’s destiny after death is everlasting.
Stratonicus once said about the ancient Rhodians: “They built houses as if they were immortal, but they feasted as if they were meant to live but a little while.” The spiritual sight of people nowadays, so it seems, is no keener than that of those near-sighted—foolishly blind—Rhodians. It’s not for nothing that Jesus preceded his stark statement about the danger of spiritual blindness with a bracing warning: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,….But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven….For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6.19ff)
But those who do pay careful attention to the above certitudes—who keep them clearly before the eyes of their soul—are wise. And the act of refocusing one’s spiritual eyes must happen again and again—certainly not less than every day. It is a way to stay “photo-sensitive to Jesus,” as a radio pastor put it recently— magnetically attracted, in love, to the One who is “the Light of the world.” Lent is an especially important season to do so, a necessary step to prepare for a rendezvous with our dying Savior at Calvary, and for meeting him again at the empty tomb in Joseph’s garden after his rising in triumph over death.
Healthy spiritual eyes take delight in seeing and beholding with wonder the Crucified and Risen One. Doing so, they’re doing what they were meant to do—to adore and worship him. Again Benedict:
“Contemplating the crucified One with the eyes of faith, we can understand in depth what sin is, how tragic is its gravity, and at the same time, how immense is the Lord’s power of forgiveness and mercy. ….Looking at Christ, we feel at the same time looked at by him. He whom we have pierced with our faults never tires of pouring out upon the world an inexhaustible torrent of merciful love.”
Thus, the Pope’s heartfelt plea to people of our generation upon whom the malaise of spiritual blindness hangs so frighteningly heavy and puts us in deep peril:
“Dear brothers and sisters, let us allow ourselves to be healed by Jesus, who can and wants to give us God’s light!”
“In nature, we see God, as it were, like the sun in a picture; …in Christ we see Him in His beams; He being ‘the brightness of His glory, and the exact image of His person.'"
(Stephen Charnock, 1628-1680)
O Jesus, ever with us stay;
make all our moments calm and bright.
Chase the dark night of sin away;
Shed o’er the world thy holy light.
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Explore the compelling beauty of the Bible's covenantal vision of the divine-human relationship and the transformative difference this makes for how we worship the triune God. This session will feature insights from the authors of two influential books: Esther Lightcap Meek's Loving to Know: A Covenantal Epistemology and Daniel Block's Covenant: The Framework of God's Grand Plan of Redemption.
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As inhabitants of the modern age, we are deeply marked by skewed ways of thinking that thwart our humanness, our involvement with the world, and our spirituality. This is a philosophical tune-up that directly challenges and dispels modernity’s implicit philosophy. My philosophical proposals in my 2023 book Doorway to Artistry target the creative process, but they positively affect and bring healing to all arenas of life and work and worship. I pose that we as human persons are meant to live out a joyous “yes” to the real, and our involvement with the real takes the form of intimate encounter and communion. My approach reflects especially on God’s creative act and God’s created things. It taps epiphany, the redemptive encounter, and the Eucharist as paradigms for our knowing, our artistry, and all our everyday involvement with the world, so it should make us better at our stewardly dominion and voicing creation’s praise in worship.
Explore the compelling beauty of the Bible's covenantal vision of the divine-human relationship and the transformative difference this makes for how we worship the triune God. This session will feature insights from the authors of two influential books: Esther Lightcap Meek's Loving to Know: A Covenantal Epistemology and Daniel Block's Covenant: The Framework of God's Grand Plan of Redemption.
While Christian baptism is predominantly a transcultural practice, distinct faith communities worldwide experience this initiation rite through unique contextualizing elements. Join us in a fascinating conversation with Christian leaders from five continents about the rich cultural diversity reflected in baptismal liturgies, imagery, and practices, and how they shape Christian life in their contexts.
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