Sight for sore eyes

by Jonathan Krause

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… and then you will see clearly … (Matthew 7:5b).

Read Matthew 7:1–5

When I turned 50, I gave myself a gift. I’d saved for three years to afford to have my eyes lasered. In what seemed like moments, I could toss away the glasses I’d worn ever since I was 13. Glasses that needed to get thicker and more complex (and expensive) the older I got. I don’t remember the lasering hurting (apart from the hip-pocket), but it felt like a miracle.

Part of my working life was with an aid agency restoring sight in Africa through simple cataract operations. It was fascinating to watch the operations, often in remote villages in the poorest parts of the world, sometimes powered only by a car battery. I remember the joy as we peeled back the bandage, the patient slowly opened their eyes, and we saw the look of joy on their face as they realised they could see.

(Except for one old gentleman who hadn’t seen for 20 years. Through all that time, he had been cared for by his devoted wife. When his bandage was taken off, and he saw his wife for the first time in 20 years, he asked out loud, ‘Who’s this ugly old woman?’ Oh dear. It’s a wonder she didn’t give him two black eyes.)

It’s so easy for us to see the fault in others. To look at them and wonder why they did this, why they didn’t do that, and how could they?!

Too often, though, we fail to consider what might lie behind other people’s actions and the stories that have led them to do things we are quick to judge.

And how often do we fail to turn that mirror back on ourselves, to see how what we do may be hurting others?

There is an amazing liberation in having your sight restored. To see the world in all its true beauty. It’s not so lovely when you look at yourself, warts and all.

Yet, while that’s what God sees in looking at us – all the bits we try to hide away, cover up, ignore, defend and justify – somehow, God sees beyond that and loves us anyway. He sees a beauty in us that maybe we don’t when we hold ourselves in judgement.

Knowing God does that for us encourages us to do the same for others, no matter how tough that can sometimes be.

Let’s never lose sight of that.

Father God, thank you for letting me see you in Jesus. Help me be the person who helps other people see you, too. Amen.

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