I was explaining to one of my daughters recently the difference between an urgent care clinic and the emergency department at a hospital. I told her that the very broad rule is if you are concerned about the loss of life, limb, or eyesight, go to the emergency department. I don’t honestly know if this is old advice, perhaps there has been an update, but it’s what I went with. She thought about it for a minute, and then asked, “What about loss of hearing?”
What is it about eyesight that we are so very concerned about, even over and above another critical sense like hearing? I believe today’s Gospel may hold one clue about the importance of sight.
Jesus challenges his disciples to discover a new way of seeing. Rather than starting from their own perspective, they should adopt God’s perspective. What does this mean? Jesus offers some examples. To start with, stop judging other people based on preconceived notions, biases, understanding, and desires. What one person believes to be the truth of a particular situation may be incorrect because they don’t have all the facts. It can be very easy to point out all the ways someone else’s behavior is problematic, but how much harder is it to consider how our own behavior affects others.
To see the world as God sees the world. God sees each of us as beloved children, cherished and uniquely created with mission and purpose on this earth. No one is expendable, no one is unwanted. Everyone is loved. There is something of critical importance in these statements to understand. It is not just that everyone else is loved, cherished, unique, etc. It means that you too, dear reader, are loved, cherished, unique, wanted, created with mission and purpose. When each of us wake up in the morning, can we honestly claim these adjectives about ourselves? Do we really see ourselves the way that God sees us?
Jesus is trying to show us something about ourselves. We have disordered sight. We would rather not look at our faults and we often overplay any good qualities we have received, forgetting who gave them to us in the first place. At the same time, the faults of others are highlighted while their good qualities are undervalued. We don’t see others clearly, but we also don’t see ourselves clearly. Jesus tells us to remove the beam from our own eye before we can help someone with a splinter. Jesus is saying that if we wish to see others clearly, we first have to see ourselves clearly. And the way to see with clarity is to allow God to transform our sight so that we can see as He sees.
Daily Reading
Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Reading I Genesis 32:23-33 In the course of the night, Jacob arose, took his two wives, with the two maidservants and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the…
Saint of the Day
