People Like Trees
Have you ever had trouble seeing clearly?
When I was young, I had no idea that I was near-sighted. Objects had to be close for me to see them the way others saw them at a distance, but I didn't know what I was missing.
'Can you see anything?' And the man looked up and said, 'I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.' Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. - Mark 8:22-25
In today's reading, Jesus restores sight to the man and then asks him to describe what he can see.
The man could have been happy with the ability to see, even though the images were not clear, but he went on to describe what the people he saw looked like. It was then that Jesus looked at him intently. He focused more attention on him, and he continued to heal him.
I wonder if there is a lesson here.
The blond man had a sense of what he was missing. He knew the people looked like trees, so at one point he had seen both, probably more clearly. He was not a man blind from birth.
I believe our spiritual journey is like that. We know there is something more than we experience in this world, but we may be reluctant at times to seek it.
When we receive the Holy Spirit in baptism, we receive many gifts that we may not realize we have. But somewhere deep inside, we have a sense that there is more to see, more to know, that people don't have to look like trees.
On my journey, I have discovered that the Spirit guides me to a closer relationship with God, and also with others who, like me, seek to know God more deeply.
It is that old near-sightedness that comes into play again. The closer I get to people, the clearer they appear. The more we get to know each other and love each other, the less like trees we all become.
By showing us that he wants our full sight restored, Jesus is telling us to work at it, to stick with the program and get all that this life has to offer. We need to work in the Spirit to see more clearly than we thought possible.
Maybe then we will overcome our differences, break down the walls of our prejudices and truly find we can live in peace.
If not, we will see nothing but trees.
More to come...