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Are You Blind?

Daily Reflection / Produced by The High Calling
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But they didn’t understand any of this. The significance of his words was hidden from them, and they failed to grasp what he was talking about.

Luke 18:34

I first learned about blindness from my Uncle Frank. Technically, he was my great uncle as my grandfather’s brother. Uncle Frank was blind. He was also a delightful man. To impress me, he’d sometimes pop out his glass eyes. Now that caught the interest of a five-year-old boy, let me tell you.

Our passage from Luke today focuses on blindness, both literal and metaphorical. We see physical blindness in the story of the beggar who calls out to Jesus for mercy. When Jesus stops to ask him what he wants, the man cries out: “I want to see!” (18:41). So Jesus heals him, and he follows Jesus.

The twelve disciples of Jesus could see with their eyes, but they were blind in their discernment. When Jesus spoke of going to Jerusalem in order to be mistreated and killed and then to be raised from the dead, his disciples heard the words but couldn’t “see” what they meant. I find it fascinating that the Gospels do not show us the disciples as crying out to Jesus, “I want to see! Help me to understand what you mean.”

So, are you blind? I know that a few people who receive these reflections have failing eyesight. But I’m thinking here of metaphorical blindness. Are you blind to what God is doing in your life? Are you blind to the needs of people around you? Are you blind to that to which God is calling you right now? Are you blind to a world in desperate need of the Savior?

I expect that, if we’re really honest with ourselves, we have to say “yes” to some of these questions. As I reflected on this passage, I became aware of a relationship in which there is some tension. I failed to see what’s really going on in the heart of a Christian brother. As God helped to make my eyes of discernment clear, I realized what was needed and reached out to this brother in a new way.

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: In what ways are you “blind” or at least “partially blind”? Are you willing to call out to the Lord for mercy, so that you might see more clearly? What helps you to see with God’s vision?

PRAYER: Dear Lord, even as you once healed the blind beggar, so I ask you to heal me. My physical eyes are fine, thank you, given the farsightedness that comes with age. But I’m quite sure I am blind in many ways when it comes to seeing what you’re doing and what you’d want me to do in your service.

So, have mercy on me! Help me to see! May I see with clear eyes the people around me: my family, my colleagues, my neighbors, my friends. May I see their needs and hopes. May I see how I can minister to them with your grace.

Give me eyes to see the world as you see it. Then help me to know how I might participate in some small way in your kingdom work in this world.

To you be all the glory! Amen.

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