Seeing is Believing, Right?
Commentary
We like to say “seeing is believing” as if the evidence of our eyes will automatically convince us of something, but the interpretation of what we see matters as well.
Samuel, for instance, when he comes to Jesse’s home to anoint a new king to replace Saul, sees a perfectly good specimen in Jesse’s first son, and then his second and third. Samuel does not at first see as God sees, who warns Samuel, “…for the Lord does not see as mortals see….” (1 Samuel 16:7)
It’s a little complicated (we say more in the commentary below) but according to the apostle it’s not so much a matter of walking in the light so we can see clearly – we are to see clearly so we can walk in the light as children of light, because the light shines from us, not just on us.
And finally, in the story of the healing of the man born blind, the irony is that all of those in authority, who supposedly see just fine, are all blind to the sign Jesus performs. Their blindness is deliberate. To accept the evidence of their eyes would require a transformation in their attitudes.
1 Samuel 16:1-13
This passage really begins with the poignant remark in the last verse of the preceding chapter that the prophet Samuel grieved over the rejected King Saul, whom he would never see again until his death, while the Lord “. . . was sorry that he had made Saul king over Israel.” Part of the awesome mystery of the universe is that God’s best plans can go awry because of the introduction of free will into the equation.
As was the case with the world after the flood, Plan B goes into operation. God directs Samuel to seek out Jesse from Bethlehem, to anoint one of his sons as king. The prophet’s fear of political implications (“Saul will kill me!”) lead God to be complicit in what is, if not a deception, is at the least misdirection, because Samuel does not want Saul to see him.
Seeing is an important factor in this story. When the elders of Bethlehem see Samuel approaching the only thing they really see is trouble! They tremble when they see the prophet, fearing that he has come to do precisely what he has come to do, anoint a new king, but Samuel repeats what God told him to say – “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord….”
When Samuel anointed Saul, all were impressed by what they saw – someone young, tall, and strong. Samuel tries to make the same mistake by intending to anoint the oldest son of Jesse as king. As it turns out, none of the seven sons present at the sacrifice, though they looked just fine, were who God intended to call to the crown. It was the one they don’t see, the musician who was out working, who would be shepherd of his people. He is handsome, like Saul, small in contrast to Saul’s height, a musician, which was associated with ecstatic prophecy, and he will soon prove himself a warrior when he goes mano a mano with Goliath!
David is now the anointed king of Israel, but it doesn’t look like it, does it? Before all of Israel will see him as their king there will be years of guerilla warfare, political intrigue, a marriage of convenience, and his questionable sojourn when he fights on the side of the Philistines. But for now, the inconvenient truth is that it is no longer Saul who is king, despite all appearances, but David, in the sight of the Lord and the prophet.
Ephesians 5:8-14
In the ancient world the eye was the source of light. Light came out of the eye and illuminated what we looked on. Regardless of the scientific truth (and science matters), the theological truth is that we are light, so the apostle urges us to act like children off the light.
In the ancient world people were defined by their clothing – whether they were slave or free, rich or poor, commoner or noble, warrior, potter, cook, cleaner, all the stations of life were defined by clothing. So when the apostle talks about taking off the old, he is referring to the baptismal practice of shedding the old clothes, becoming immersed in the waters, and putting on new clothes, a new appearance, a new way of looking and of being looked upon.
We not only walk in the light, we are the light, so when people look on us, they should see the light of Christ in the way we act. There are the fruits of light and the fruits of darkness. Live like the light.
If we do not participate with Christ, we have not really changed. We are a part of the darkness that we have supposedly rejected.
This passage closes with a baptismal hymn. We are no longer sleeping in darkness – in rising from the death of our old life – and looking ahead to when we rise in Christ – Christ is revealed because Christ will shine upon us. It’s not clear if Paul wrote these words or is quoting from a popular Christ hymn, and it doesn’t matter. What matters, as the prophet Isaiah puts it, is that “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined.” (Isaiah 9:2) We see Christ, and Christ is seen in us. And that’s who seeing becomes believing.
John 9:1-41
There’s a lot going on in this passage when Jesus heals the man blind from birth, but the thing I want to focus on is something called information cascade. An information cascade occurs when people made decisions based not on their own knowledge, by what they see for instance, but based on what other people decide they ought to see. It can be something as simple as saying you like Chinese food and going out to eat Chinese food even though you don’t like Chinese food (I love it) because everyone you’re with wants to eat Chinese, or someone you want to impress wants to have Chinese, or someone you’re afraid of insists Chinese is the best.
People may change their political opinions, go along with things they know they’re wrong, or even take part in actions they would normally find despicable (such as getting caught up with the mob) because everyone else is doing it.
This passage begins with a pervasive but wrong belief – that the reason bad things happen to people is they are bad. This is the attitude Job combats with regards to his so-called friends who keep insisting that his misfortunes are the result of God’s justice and his deserved punishment. “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (9:2). Jesus responds neither is the case, but that God’s glory is now going to be revealed. Jesus declares, “I am the light of the world” and then shares that light with the man born blind, instructing him to wash out the mud Jesus spread on his eyes.
Neighbors who see the man argue about whether they can believe the evidence of their eyes, and when the religious authorities object that he could not have been healed on a Sabbath (though a donkey could be rescued from a pit on that day) they insist people reject the evidence of their eyes. They are asking them to make themselves blind for someone else’s religious principles. Even the man’s parents avoid answering questions directly.
The religious authorities instruct the formerly blind man to see Jesus as a sinner, which he refuses to do. He had formerly identified Jesus as a prophet! The formerly blind man refuses to go along with the information cascade, testifying, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” I love these words. Remember, he has not seen Jesus yet. He was still blind when he walked, presumably with help, to the pool of Siloam. When he finally sees Jesus, he responds “Lord, I believe.”
Meanwhile the dialogue of Jesus with the religious leaders continues to deteriorate. “Surely we are not blind, are we?” they insist.
Seeing is believing? So often people would rather hide what they truly see and go along with the powerful, the persuasive, the aggressive. We have the book of life. We have Jesus. Look. See!
Samuel, for instance, when he comes to Jesse’s home to anoint a new king to replace Saul, sees a perfectly good specimen in Jesse’s first son, and then his second and third. Samuel does not at first see as God sees, who warns Samuel, “…for the Lord does not see as mortals see….” (1 Samuel 16:7)
It’s a little complicated (we say more in the commentary below) but according to the apostle it’s not so much a matter of walking in the light so we can see clearly – we are to see clearly so we can walk in the light as children of light, because the light shines from us, not just on us.
And finally, in the story of the healing of the man born blind, the irony is that all of those in authority, who supposedly see just fine, are all blind to the sign Jesus performs. Their blindness is deliberate. To accept the evidence of their eyes would require a transformation in their attitudes.
1 Samuel 16:1-13
This passage really begins with the poignant remark in the last verse of the preceding chapter that the prophet Samuel grieved over the rejected King Saul, whom he would never see again until his death, while the Lord “. . . was sorry that he had made Saul king over Israel.” Part of the awesome mystery of the universe is that God’s best plans can go awry because of the introduction of free will into the equation.
As was the case with the world after the flood, Plan B goes into operation. God directs Samuel to seek out Jesse from Bethlehem, to anoint one of his sons as king. The prophet’s fear of political implications (“Saul will kill me!”) lead God to be complicit in what is, if not a deception, is at the least misdirection, because Samuel does not want Saul to see him.
Seeing is an important factor in this story. When the elders of Bethlehem see Samuel approaching the only thing they really see is trouble! They tremble when they see the prophet, fearing that he has come to do precisely what he has come to do, anoint a new king, but Samuel repeats what God told him to say – “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord….”
When Samuel anointed Saul, all were impressed by what they saw – someone young, tall, and strong. Samuel tries to make the same mistake by intending to anoint the oldest son of Jesse as king. As it turns out, none of the seven sons present at the sacrifice, though they looked just fine, were who God intended to call to the crown. It was the one they don’t see, the musician who was out working, who would be shepherd of his people. He is handsome, like Saul, small in contrast to Saul’s height, a musician, which was associated with ecstatic prophecy, and he will soon prove himself a warrior when he goes mano a mano with Goliath!
David is now the anointed king of Israel, but it doesn’t look like it, does it? Before all of Israel will see him as their king there will be years of guerilla warfare, political intrigue, a marriage of convenience, and his questionable sojourn when he fights on the side of the Philistines. But for now, the inconvenient truth is that it is no longer Saul who is king, despite all appearances, but David, in the sight of the Lord and the prophet.
Ephesians 5:8-14
In the ancient world the eye was the source of light. Light came out of the eye and illuminated what we looked on. Regardless of the scientific truth (and science matters), the theological truth is that we are light, so the apostle urges us to act like children off the light.
In the ancient world people were defined by their clothing – whether they were slave or free, rich or poor, commoner or noble, warrior, potter, cook, cleaner, all the stations of life were defined by clothing. So when the apostle talks about taking off the old, he is referring to the baptismal practice of shedding the old clothes, becoming immersed in the waters, and putting on new clothes, a new appearance, a new way of looking and of being looked upon.
We not only walk in the light, we are the light, so when people look on us, they should see the light of Christ in the way we act. There are the fruits of light and the fruits of darkness. Live like the light.
If we do not participate with Christ, we have not really changed. We are a part of the darkness that we have supposedly rejected.
This passage closes with a baptismal hymn. We are no longer sleeping in darkness – in rising from the death of our old life – and looking ahead to when we rise in Christ – Christ is revealed because Christ will shine upon us. It’s not clear if Paul wrote these words or is quoting from a popular Christ hymn, and it doesn’t matter. What matters, as the prophet Isaiah puts it, is that “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined.” (Isaiah 9:2) We see Christ, and Christ is seen in us. And that’s who seeing becomes believing.
John 9:1-41
There’s a lot going on in this passage when Jesus heals the man blind from birth, but the thing I want to focus on is something called information cascade. An information cascade occurs when people made decisions based not on their own knowledge, by what they see for instance, but based on what other people decide they ought to see. It can be something as simple as saying you like Chinese food and going out to eat Chinese food even though you don’t like Chinese food (I love it) because everyone you’re with wants to eat Chinese, or someone you want to impress wants to have Chinese, or someone you’re afraid of insists Chinese is the best.
People may change their political opinions, go along with things they know they’re wrong, or even take part in actions they would normally find despicable (such as getting caught up with the mob) because everyone else is doing it.
This passage begins with a pervasive but wrong belief – that the reason bad things happen to people is they are bad. This is the attitude Job combats with regards to his so-called friends who keep insisting that his misfortunes are the result of God’s justice and his deserved punishment. “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (9:2). Jesus responds neither is the case, but that God’s glory is now going to be revealed. Jesus declares, “I am the light of the world” and then shares that light with the man born blind, instructing him to wash out the mud Jesus spread on his eyes.
Neighbors who see the man argue about whether they can believe the evidence of their eyes, and when the religious authorities object that he could not have been healed on a Sabbath (though a donkey could be rescued from a pit on that day) they insist people reject the evidence of their eyes. They are asking them to make themselves blind for someone else’s religious principles. Even the man’s parents avoid answering questions directly.
The religious authorities instruct the formerly blind man to see Jesus as a sinner, which he refuses to do. He had formerly identified Jesus as a prophet! The formerly blind man refuses to go along with the information cascade, testifying, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” I love these words. Remember, he has not seen Jesus yet. He was still blind when he walked, presumably with help, to the pool of Siloam. When he finally sees Jesus, he responds “Lord, I believe.”
Meanwhile the dialogue of Jesus with the religious leaders continues to deteriorate. “Surely we are not blind, are we?” they insist.
Seeing is believing? So often people would rather hide what they truly see and go along with the powerful, the persuasive, the aggressive. We have the book of life. We have Jesus. Look. See!
