Being Seen

This Sunday I’m preaching on Peter healing the cripple outside the temple soon after Pentecost (Acts 3::1-16). I’ve been intentional in this year of 2020 in choosing scriptures that highlight vision, seeing and discernment. Before Covid-19 hit this was because the congregation where I’m serving is seeking a new minister. We need to be looking carefully, paying attention to God’s direction and willing to see things in new ways and from different perspectives.

Now with Covid-19, that all remained true, but how we do church itself has required immense re-visioning. And with the stoking of anti-racism protests around the globe we are being challenged to see our neighbour differently - to not segregate or dismiss or be blind to our own prejudices and biases. We are being called to look at history through a different lens, to turn the kaleidoscope, to try to see from the perspective of someone else.

Suddenly this story of a lame man who is carried to the temple each day to beg for coins that people will toss in his direction out of pity seems more about an established system, an expectation that this is the only option for this unvalued member of society. Perhaps it made others feel good and powerful to give their alms knowing that they were supporting this charity case. Many probably just let his presence fade into the background over time, not even noticing he was there like so many homeless and oppressed in our day.

But Peter and John see him that day and they go up to him. Something has changed for them about this ritual of going to temple at 3 in the afternoon. They had no doubt seen this man before but this day they really make the effort to see him as a human being. Peter tells him to look at them. Probably out of shame he was used to looking sideways at people, expecting to be dismissed or insulted. Peter wants to look in his eyes, the windows to his soul, and to acknowledge his humanity. He doesn’t offer cash that would soon be used to buy food and gone. He offers healing.

Healing this man completely turns his life upside down. He can now be self-sufficient, he can have dignity, he can go and do what he pleases. The hopeless future ahead of him is now bright with promise. And he hears that this is because of the power of Jesus. Peter won’t take the credit for the utter transformation of this man’s existence. He continues lifting up Jesus to the crowd who are staring as the man dances and leaps, gripping tightly onto Peter and John, the ones who truly saw him and saved him.

I’m challenged to see differently these days and to notice things I’ve taken for granted or that have faded into the background because I think they don’t impact me. Because this man was freed from what held him back he was transformed and likely transformed his community. If we truly see our First Nations siblings and our siblings of colour then we can’t help but be transformed by their stories. If we invite them to look at us and to be safe in our gaze then we just may transform them by offering Jesus, or at very least by treating them as Jesus would.

At a downtown church where I used to preach there was a constant stream of students and homeless people going by outside. But when did I ever see them? When did the congregation see them? Jesus is in the business of transforming lives, not glad-handing church-goers and the comfortable. Particularly in this time when so much feels so precarious and our economy and systems seem in jeopardy, we may not have silver or gold to offer. But no matter our personal financial situation, we have Jesus to offer, the One with the power to heal on a variety of levels, whether physical, emotional, spiritual, relational or mental.

Perhaps there are times when we are the lame man, doing the same old every day and expecting nothing to change. Perhaps we are forgetting that God’s plans for us are not about stagnation but about renewal and change, Life and abundance. Perhaps we have had a Peter come up to us at some point and say, “I’m not giving you what you expect, I’m giving you what you need to be set free and to live a life bringing glory to God.”

May we be ready to respond to those who truly see us as we are and who invite us to fuller life. And may we be ready to see those around us who need the love of Jesus to be transformed and lifted to freedom.