Get New Outlook With Divine Vision Exam

I did it!

I asked the question that has been on the silent lips of everyone who has had an eye exam.

My exam was last week. And as that awkward but magical instrument was brought up to my eyes, I finally asked the doctor, “What is this contraption called, anyway?”

“It’s a Phoropter,” he said. “Why do you want to know?”

So I confessed my fascination with how easily this device can clear up or fuzz up my sight, just by a quick flip of a lens or click of a tiny lever.

It is the centerpiece of an eye doctor’s tool kit for helping us see more clearly and more comfortably.

If only Jesus had been as hospitable as the eye doctor! But according to most of what I read in the Gospels, Jesus was the radical host of God.

He invited people into a deeper, more radical relationship with God, into a spiritual place where people could see life in new, clearer ways.

And he didn’t make that new sight very comfortable. Those who were comforted by him weren’t necessarily comfortable once they got a clear glimpse into his real mission.

That mission had, and still has, everything to do with seeing life in ways ever new to us.

The more we see through Jesus’ own kind of inner Phoropter, the more there is to see that is new in God’s world. And the more we see that is new, the sharper that good-news Phoropter makes our insights into what God really wants of us and through us.

(It’s a bit convoluted at first, I know, but click the Phoropter lens for another look.)

As God’s radical host, Jesus was always inviting people into a spirit-space where they could see old things in new ways. You can find him doing this anywhere in any of the four Gospels.

But for the sake of illustration, look at Luke 6. The whole chapter. (Go ahead and read it now if you like. I’ll wait.)

Finished? Allow me to tell you what I see today in those 49 verses. (Ask me in another two weeks, and I might see a few different things. Part of the greatness of the Gospels is they always help open the eyes of our souls to new insights.)

Jesus twice challenges the religious leaders to look at the Sabbath differently. (They didn’t, but I hope you can.) He calls 12 men to be his students, then begins to teach them and a great many other people some spiritual insights that promise to turn their inner worlds inside out.

Luke’s version of the Beatitudes are found here, aphorisms that seem contradictory at first reading to some.

But at second, third and fourth readings, you might see them differently. They become more radical, rooted in the deepest desires of God for all people.

“Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. … Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.” What kind of host says this to his guests? Jesus did, and does, to help us all see that hunger is far more than tummy-filling.

The radical host of God asks us to see how much better life will be if we: Love our enemies; do good to those who hate us; turn the other cheek to our tormentor; be generous even to those who take something from us; give without expecting anything in return; be merciful to everyone as God is merciful.

Even “do unto others as you expect them to do to you” can be seen in a new light when we see Jesus isn’t really saying “do unto others the same as they did to you.” Or when was the last time your host invited you into his home, then called you a hypocrite because you judged your neighbor for a minor infraction when your own behavior was a major problem in comparison?

Jesus’ task as God’s radical host was not to make people feel comfortable. His real task was to help disciples and enemies alike see in new ways how God creates us to treat one another in genuinely merciful, compassionate, just ways.

He did it then. He continues to do it today.

He challenges each of us to sit down with the “good news Phoropter” in front of our eyes. Then he flips the lens or clicks the lever until we see how our attitudes and actions affect other people and how they really affect us inside.

These periodic eye exams usually cost a great deal more than a physical eye exam. But the more we see of God working in the world through others and ourselves, the more willing we are to pay the price.

At least that’s what I see! What do you see?

xxxx