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Today's scriptures are about
light and sight. The light comes from Christ and the sight is God's gift
to those who believe. In the reading from the First Book of Samuel we
are told, "Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance
but the Lord looks into the heart."
God saw something very special in David, son of Jesse. There was
something about David's heart that endeared him to God. He was the one
who would shepherd the people of Israel. Here was God's chosen one.
In the gospel we hear the story of a man blind from birth. Jesus'
disciples ask whose sin caused the man to be born blind. Jesus responds
that sin had nothing to do with it. Very often we look for sin in the
wrong places. We see the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.
Based on the way people look, dress, and speak, or behave, it is easy
for us to recognize sin in others.
Though not the worst of sinners, the blind man was still in need of
healing, and he knew it. How different he was from the Pharisees who
insisted that they had all the answers. In many ways we can be like
them. We can become so focused on safety and security that we don't
really see what is going on around us. Each day can become so routine
that anything new and exciting is seen as a threat. Christ our shepherd
always challenges us to see all things in new ways. He asks us to give
up the tedious and familiar so that we may experience the joy of
following him.
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