If we do not come, we will never see. But it is not enough to come. We also must see.
There were many on the earth when Jesus came, but they did not see Him as the Son of God and Savior of the world. And there are many who come to the Church and still do not see. The words apply to them as to those about whom Jesus spoke when He taught them in parables: “because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand” (Mt 13:13).
If we ask the question, “Why is it that some can come and still not see?” the answer is given by Jesus Himself, quoting His prophet Isaiah. He says quite simply that it is a matter of will. Those who do not see remain blind because they will not see.
With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says: “You shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes they have dosed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn for Me to heal them.” (Mt 13: 14-15; Is 6:9-10)
The apostle Paul refers to these same lines of the prophet when he reflects in his house of arrest in Rome about the failure of God’s people to receive Jesus as the promised Messiah.
When they had appointed a day for him, they [the local leaders of the Jews] came to him at his lodging in great numbers. And he expounded the matter to them from morning till evening, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the prophets. And some were convinced by what he said, while others disbelieved. So, as they disagreed among themselves, they departed, after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet: (Go to this people, and say, You shall indeed hear but never perceive.”’ (Act 28:23-26)
Jesus also teaches why people generally do not wish to see. The reason, He says, is that they love darkness rather than light because their actions are wicked (see Jn 3: 19). The light exposes the truth. It allows the reality of things to be seen. The wicked flee reality. They despise the light. They prefer their own blindness, and the delusions that they themselves create. They want to make up their own version of things. They want, most specifically, to fashion their own images of themselves. They want to see themselves not as they really are, but as they wish themselves to be. And, together with this, they want a version of others which confirms their own opinions of themselves. And, most especially, they want an image of God that they can handle and manipulate to serve their deluded and illusory purposes for their own profit and pleasure. The lovers of darkness, therefore, are fundamentally liars and idolaters. They are liars about themselves and about God. They make their own gods and then fashion themselves in the images and likenesses of the gods they have made.
The question addressed to all of us as we make our way through the Winter Pascha is the one which Jesus put to the two blind men who called out to Him for mercy. “What do you want Me to do for you?” He asks. And they respond: “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” And according to the gospels, “Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they received their sight and followed Him” (Mt 20:29-34). We too must say: Lord, let the eyes of our minds and hearts be opened. Lord, let us see. For You Yourself have said that God Your Father has sent You into the world to make this judgment, namely “that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind” (Jn 9: 39).
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God” (Jn 3: 16-21).
These are the words of Jesus.
~Adapted from Thomas Hopko, The Winter Pascha: Readings for the Christmas-Epiphany Season
