Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus

This past Sunday our lectionary assigned Luke 4:14-21 as the gospel lesson at the celebration of the Holy Eucharist.

The reading can be found here: www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%204:14-21&version=ESV

The verse that really grabbed my attention, and that I want to comment on briefly here is this verse 20, where Saint Luke writes

"The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him"

It is a critical and often overlooked part of the story. Jesus has captivated his audience. He has come into their midst and become the center of their attention. They wait expectantly to see what he will do or say next. They certainly have some ideas about what they would like that to be. Their eyes are fixed on Jesus.

First comment: Beloved in Christ, on what are your eyes fixed?

Too often we fix our eyes on people and programs that will pass away, that are far less beautiful, far less honorable, far less truthful than our Lord and Savior, who is himself Beauty, Truth and Honor. Jesus has come into the world and he presents himself to us daily and yet we frequently do not have eyes to see him, and even when we glimpse him we are so distracted, so undisciplined that we barely give him a moment before we are gazing upon another, yet all in the synagogue fixed their eyes on him. Beloved, we must fix our eyes upon Jesus, gazing upon him with eyes of faith and trust, watching to see what he is doing in the world so that we might join with him in it.

So far in the story the people in the synagogue have served as a good example to us - they have been a people who were captivated by Jesus. Luke continues the narrative however by showing us that though their eyes were fixed on him, they were unable to receive his message and ministry because their own expectations of Jesus clouded their ability to see rightly.

In that regard they serve not as an example to be emulated, but as a warning to us. The salvation that Jesus brought was not the salvation the Jewish nation had been waiting for or desired (at least from their perspective).

Second Comment: Beloved in Christ, what is it you desire from Christ?

If we are a distracted people, if we are a people of wandering eyes and unfocused faith, then we will desire those things that seem best from our personal vantage point, but may actually be far less than or different from God's desires for us. We are the ones settling for less than God wants to give. We must fix our eyes on Jesus, but we must see him rightly, as he is, offering what he is offering: himself, his life for ours.

The Jewish nation desires a political overthrow and Gentile servitude. Jesus announced that he was inaugurating a new era and that his love and mercy extended beyond national and ethnic borders. He was up to far more than people expected, yet their inability to see Jesus rightly was because of their unordered affections and priorities.

Beloved, we must see that our Savior comes to share his life with us, and that frequently he does this in ways that may confuse or disturb us. He desires that we enter into his life, that we abide in him and through this union our hearts and our minds will be transformed and we will have a vision of him as he truly is.

Grace & Peace to You,

Micah+