Thought For The Week 19 March 2023

Be thou my vision

As part of our weekly Lent Reflection over the last three weeks, we take a few minutes to reflect on a piece of art that depicts the gospel reading for the week. Each week is a new reflection, so please feel free to join us at 11 am on Wednesdays at St Stephen’s.

This week’s image was titled “Man born blind” by Ronald Raab (the image on the front page), which depicts part of the narrative of John 9. There were so many things I didn’t see on my own. Like the fact, the picture is painted so we are looking at the man through Jesus’ eyes. It seems almost too obvious to miss. But I didn’t connect the dots. It’s a reminder of the challenge it can be to see others as Christ sees them. We see the here and now, but God sees the restored masterpiece.

But that’s not the only way of seeing it. Someone in the group shared that instead of seeing through Jesus’ eyes, perhaps Jesus was standing behind the man. Thought about that way, the painting acts as a mirror, as if we are the blind person and Christ is giving us our sight. Can we see a little of ourselves in the blind person? Seeing is an   important theme in John’s Gospel, there are multiple invitations for people to “come and see” Jesus, to experience his good news in community with others.

We all have things we are blind to. Sometimes that’s because our experience hasn’t taught us to look for certain things. Jesus can open our eyes too. Sometimes he  chooses to do that through others who help us see something differently. The reflection on the painting was a small example of this. It was as we shared our insights with each other that we all saw the deep richness the artist had crafted, a vision of God, of others and of ourselves.

Luke Blackbeard