There are so many things happening in this passage. Today I am going to focus on the first few verses of this text because it is just too relevant not to talk about. With Jesus there are always multiple meanings and understandings and this story is no different.
We can take this literally and imagine what its like to be half-blind- to see but nothing be in focus-Maybe we can see something well enough not to bump into it or you can recognize an object but you cant see the details, the beauty of what makes that thing what it is. This is many of us without our contacts in or our glasses on. Like when I call my roommate into my room to look for my glasses because they fell on the floor and I can’t for the life of me find them. Or like my brothers girlfriend Rachel who tells a story about when she was in 2nd grade and it was around Christmas. She had went to the eye doctors to get glasses and when she came home her Mom found her staring at the christmas tree. Her mom says she was staring in awe, closely examining the pine needles and lights and ornaments and she told her mom she never knew how pretty a Christmas tree was and how the lights looked so different and sharp. Her mom felt so bad that she had never really seen a christmas tree until now. The man said I see people but they look like trees, Rachel said I see a tree but it looks like a green blob with colors all over it.
We can also take this metaphorically and talk about how difficult, slow and complicated it is to see something as it actually is with no assumptions, no bias, no influence. In my class in San Francisco last week if we wanted to refute what someone was saying ( and with a class full of pastors we had a lot of arguments we wanted to make), we first had to recount the other persons argument in a way they would agree with- we had to make their argument as best we could- and then only could we counter what they said. And it can be painful- trying to argue why we should only use male pronouns for God-painful and so slow- it would be so much faster if I could just tell that person they are wrong. Makes you wonder if we all listened to this advice and actually did this when we have an argument with our SO- but then it would be less like an argument and more like a conversation and that just seems too reasonable…
Elsewhere in scripture we hear some words that hold a similar sentiment- “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 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. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
The passage I just read and the one earlier are about what it means to truly understand. I think I like this story so much because it emphasizes how complicated it really is to see a thing clearly, a situation clearly, a person clearly. As I get older it feels as though most of our problems today come from failing to come to a mutual understanding- which mind you is different than agreement. I resonate with this passage because having an air of self righteousness and the need for control I was sure I understood at 16 what life was about and then again at 20 I was really sure- after all I had corrected my previous views so I did all the fixing that needed fixing. But then it happened again at 21 and 22 and 23 and 24 and 25 and 26 and 27 and since yesterday 28. The only thing I understand now is that I don’t understand anything at all.
The man says people look like trees. Sounds ridiculous but I think there is more truth here than we know. Maybe when we look at a person we don’t see a tree as much as someone who resembles a person but that doesn’t mean we treat them as a person. This seems to be our country’s biggest misunderstanding- we’ve forgotten to see people as people and treat people as people. Mind as well we all be looking like trees.
Trying to understand someone else’s perspective and uphold their dignity as a person can be painful as we have pointed out and just this week we had another example of this- The most recent viral social media clip- a group of catholic school boys wear MAGA hats and protesting abortion at the same place where Native Americans were protesting their lack of rights in this country and where a small group of black hebrew Israelites were protesting as well. I watched videos and read fb threads and read articles and the hate is palpable. I can feel it, I can taste it. And it is contagious. So much hate has been spread that didn’t need to be. So much arguing and division has occurred that didn’t need to.
If you haven’t seen it- In the video- without having any context- At the protest there is a high school kid who carries with him an air of entitlement has a look as if he is smirking and is blocking the path of a native american man. It is enough to make a whole slew of people enraged. But that is only what we see in part- we do not know the whole context- we read into the boys expression what we assume or what we want to think. I don’t want to talk about what is right and wrong here- not that truth doesn’t matter but I want to talk about the way forward- and the only way to get there is is to get a full understanding. Seeing clearly is not about agreement but about understanding. I don’t justify this boys actions or what this school represents but I know that hate only begets hate. No matter what your view is or where you stand, I think we owe it to each other and to God to try and see clearly and to understand- to understand for the sake of seeing each other as people- not as trees.
I found this article where the author, in his vulnerability goes from being clearly outraged to realizing this is more complicated than he realized because when looking closer at this situation some things emerged that he did not initially see. He talks about how at first the video made him cringe- has has high school boys and this is exactly what he doesn’t want them to be. But then he says he started reading more articles and watching different videos and found out that the kids were also being taunted and slurs were being yelled at them, that there is a part of the video where the main boy clearly tells his friend to cut it out, he starts to think about what he would have done in that situation as a high schooler and he starts to wonder if maybe it’s possible that entitled smirk didn’t mean to be a smirk but an expression of not knowing what to do. This author makes the argument for these boys as best he can. He tries to look at this kid as the high school kid he is instead of assuming who he is because of the school he attends. And it softens him, it allows for more understanding to take place. And again for the purpose of today it is not about whether they deserve empathy or understanding- it is about seeing a situation clearly so that maybe more love and less hate can come from it. Regardless of who was right and wrong- no one deserves death threats and possible danger to them as these kids have gotten.This is a prime example of us pushing our own agenda’s and calling it God’s. Yes God wants justice and freedom but that comes through love not hate, understanding not close-mindedness. This is a prime example of being half-blind thinking we can fully see. Lucky for us God has the patience and will to help us see clearly- through grace.
A friend and I were talking about our ability to be able to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes and try and understand them ( my ability to do this admittedly is quite low) and we were talking about how we are only able to do this at all with the recognition that we as individuals have changed so much so why can’t we give someone else the grace to change that was given to us- we are ashamed of the things we used to think and do but through God’s grace and people in our lives constantly challenging us we are hopefully becoming better more loving people.
And thats what this Jesus thing is all about- learning, growing, changing, having new perspectives, new understandings. All because of God’s grace and love and willingness not to give up on us.
We might not think this story has anything to do with us but we have all been this kid. We crucified the only one that truly loved us. We trick ourselves into thinking that we now understand, we now see clearly and we quickly become that smug, entitled person we thought we were better than. But we are still half blind- we still only see the outline, the shape- not the details.
We are all only as far as we are because of grace. Nothing can be said that is more true of my experience- If I have any understanding it is from grace and I hope to be able to give that grace to someone else and help them to know what that feels like.
What I see more clearly is the power of grace. Grace given to me has changed me but maybe what’s changed me even more is getting to give grace to others. I’ve worked at the Table in one context or another for 4 ½ years and its a prime spot for grace giving let me tell you. The Table gave me the gift of being able to give grace to people. I could not be more thankful for my experience there and the way my life has been changed forever for being a part of this ministry.
The most terrifying thing about grace? It feels like you are losing control and its because you are. Practicing grace and empathy is like saying okay I am going to allow myself to be changed right now. It’s funny though because our fear of changing is that we will change for the worse but how could we possibly change for the worse if it comes from grace and empathy? So I don’t actually think we are scared of changing for the worse but that we are scared of loving and being loved too much. Your life then becomes not your own- it becomes the peoples, the communities, the family that you surround yourself with. I can honestly say the Table ruined me- but it ruined me for the good and I am excited and yet terrified to see what grace has in store for me next.
As I wrap up my time here at Hot Metal I want to tell you all what you have taught me and challenge you to let others teach you. You have taught me to look at people as people. To give more than you think you have to give. You have taught me what resiliency in a community looks like. What perseverance looks like. And most importantly you have taught me grace. And not the cheap kind- the hard kind. The kind that when given to you almost becomes addicting and you want to share it with someone else. Grace as I said- changes you. It’s changed me. And my hope is that it will continue to change all of us. And it might take awhile- todays story was the only time it took Jesus 2 tries- to fully heal someone. Seeing clearly, fully understanding, while grace filled is enacted in human beings. God can give us all the grace God wants but we have to be open to receiving that grace. So i challenge you to be open to the grace God has for you because then will you be able to give that grace to others and maybe we can come to a place of understanding that has more to do with love than it does with hate.
Amen.
Floundering With A Purpose 