Christ, Be Our Light
Reflections on spiritual vision, vagueness, and distinctions based on today's readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021925.cfm
A few years ago I was reading a book to my son about the human body and was fascinated by something I learned about the eye. Apparently, when we are born we see the world upside down and it takes us a period of time to flip things right side up.
This was interesting enough on its own, but it immediately seemed to be a perfect analogy for faith. Before one has the eyes of faith, it seems that the whole world is seen upside down.
It is no wonder so much of Christ’s ministry had to do with healing the blind and it is no wonder that we use the image of light to discuss faith. It is by light that we are able to physically see, and it is by the light of faith that we are able to spiritually see.
This distinction between how eyesight differs when the physical is separated from the spiritual is on full display today. In a rather strange exchange, Christ asks the blind man prior to healing him if he sees anything.
Does Christ not already know what this man sees? Is he asking to make some sort of demonstration for the crowd? Or maybe to bring something to the forefront of this man’s consciousness?
I am inclined to believe it is the latter. So often we may experience a great change in our lives but if we are not brought to conscious awareness of such a change we may fail to realize its significance. We may not only fail to be grateful for the change, but also fail to be fruitful with it.
It is often remarked that “the devil is in the detail”, and though this is often a great way for expressing the need for vigilance, it can be misleading as to where the devil actually resides. The devil operates in vagueness and obscurity, he is revealed when examining the details because Christ, the light, is in the details and reveals the tricks that were hidden at the surface.
In other words, the devil is not in the details. The devil is exposed by the details. Christ is in the details, and part of the gift of faith is to penetrate into the depths of things (examine the details) and bring clarity rather than operating in the world of vagueness and remaining in a state of perpetual confusion. As a business coach of mine used to say, “what happens in vagueness stays in vagueness.”
Now, this blind man seems to be living in a world of vagueness and is very confused. When Christ asks what he sees, he responds that he can tell there are vague shapes around him moving.
How many of us operate so often in a world like this? We have enough physical light to see that things are happening around us but we do not have enough spiritual light to make sense of these movements?
But when his sight is restored it says not only that he sees clearly but that he can see everything distinctly. These two are important elements to spiritual vision. It is not only being able to have vision that is clear-sighted, unobscured by the vagueness of the devil or the illusions of the ego, but it is also able to make distinctions.
Prior to his sight being healed everything looked the same. Afterwards, he can not only see all of the subtle differences that emerge to the clear-sighted but he can interpret these through the pattern recognition that belongs to those with spiritual eyesight.
And it is precisely because he has this clear-sighted vision paired with the ability to make distinctions that Christ urges him not to enter the village. For a man who had lived his whole life up to this point living in vagueness, he would be totally overwhelmed to see the village soberly.
Though the Lord has given Him the ability to see with the spirit, the spirit has not yet been strengthened enough to handle what it might see. And I think this is the part that is most helpful for us.
Many of us might have had experiences with the Lord where we have left the world of vagueness behind and gifted with spiritual vision, to whatever degree the Lord deemed appropriate. We may see much now, yet we may not know what to do about what we see.
This is why it is so important to stay continually close to the Lord. He gave us this vision when He saw fit and He will strengthen as He sees fit. If we are constantly asking for His guidance in prayer, He will send us into situations when He knows we have been adequately strengthened to handle what we may encounter and He will have us wait when we are not.
As most things are with faith and trusting the Lord, it is a win-win: either we are prepared for further mission or we are trained in the all too important virtue of patience. But all of this relies on the recognition that the Lord knows much better than we do.
If we are still struggling to see this most basic truth, then it might be our eyesight that needs to be adjusted. If we are still struggling to see this most basic truth, then it is a great grace the Lord has not sent us on mission.
How could we possibly go out into a world of such complexity while we still only perceive vagueness around us? How could we possibly bring people to Christ and help them see Him if we do not see Him yet ourselves?
It is not uncommon to see someone pushing their own agenda but suggesting that it is the will of the Lord. They are trying to conform others to their will and insisting that this is their way of surrendering to the Lord’s will.
These are often not bad people. In fact, many times these are very good people. They are just spiritually blind people. They still only see vagueness and are unable to make distinctions, so they are guessing at the Lord’s will rather than seeing it clearly and having the grace to discern how to follow it in different situations.
The insistence upon one’s own way is rather indicative that we have not yet seen the light. Surrender is much easier when one knows the one to whom they are surrendering.
We often discuss it as being a matter of pride, but we often forget there is a pride that is a product of being too puffed up and a pride that is a product of being too beaten down. It is not so much a matter of how highly one thinks of themselves as of how often they think of themselves.
It is an important discernment for those called to help deliver spiritual vision to the spiritually blind that we make this distinction. The pride of the downtrodden needs to encounter the comfort of the Lord, the pride of the conceited needs His affliction.
We all desire to be the light but this can not happen until we come to fully rely on seeing by the light. This dependence grows with prayer. It grows the more we come to not just know about Christ, but know Him personally.