Monday, January 21, 2008

Like trees walking

How do you see others? How do I see them? 
I was reading Monday's thought from a book of 365 thoughts through the year, you know the kind of thing I mean, and the central thought was about the man Jesus took two shots at healing. The story is in Mark's gospel and  the subject of many a learned paper I'm sure. But my little devotional book wasn't concerned about delving into the theological nuances of the text or trying to come up with a workable solution as to why the Son of God couldn't do in this instance what he does in every other story. No, the question was about how we see people.
When Jesus first asks him what he sees, the blind man says he can see people but they are like trees walking. After a second touch, his sight is fully restored. Very interesting. My question is this: Do we need another touch from Jesus in order to see people properly?
Is it possible that we've spent so long looking at trees walking around that we don't realise that's all we can see? We think our view of people, of this person here or that person there, is as it should be. But maybe it isn't. Maybe it's flawed, maybe our sight is not as restored as we think it is.
Perhaps today is a good day to ask Jesus to touch our eyes again so that we might see every person with whom we come into contact in the same way he sees them. Not just as fallen and lost but as worthy of rescue. 

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