Last week, in the United States, in the process of attempting to kill Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, a lone gunman managed to injure several people, and kill several - including a nine-year old child.
The press coverage has turned this young man into a social misfit, a person with anger issues, someone who acted outside the norm - an anomaly in society. What annoys me more than anything, is that if this man had been a Muslim, he would immediately have been branded a terrorist, not human - and once again the anti-Muslim and Islamophobic contingent would have come out of the woodwork. Yet because he is home-grown, he becomes a wacko, and ceases to be human.
But this time there has been widespread discussion about free speech, including hate speech - and that the strong anti-government rhetoric of the right wing has fueled such violence. There have been the usual evangelical and religious types who insist that this is punishment of a nation which has turned away from God.
Even more interesting is that the anger is directed at those people who are struggling to improve the lives of more than 45 million Americans who currently live in poverty - who have no health care, minimal employment, and are often hungry. All that violence and anger, over something which is generally accepted as one of the core Christian values, in a society which has more church-goers per capita than any other.
This week is also the anniversary of the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King. Although the names and faces are different, the issues are not so much. Blacks were looking to be treated like human beings, to be allowed to be free to live, not as segregated semi-slaves, but as children of God, just like others. King supported better rights and treatment of poor people, believed in peaceful resistance, and opposed the war in Viet Nam. He preached that all people were children of God. Yet there were those who did not wish to see that all people are children of God; the freedom movement was bitter and violent, and into that came another assassin, James Earl Ray.
For many of us, coming to church and worshipping God, or coming to Sunday School and learning about God, has similar dynamics. In a sense we are like John, who says he didn't recognize Jesus. The man who Luke identifies as a cousin of Jesus, doesn't recognize him. He doesn’t recognise him until his eyes are opened, the light shines, and he sees Jesus in a new way.
In fact, do we not "see" Jesus all around us -- in pictures, in words, in the lives of others -- yet we don't often recognise him. Sometimes we don't want to, but often we just haven't really had our eyes opened.
How well do we see? If I asked you, for instance, to tell me - without turning around - who is sitting behind you this morning and how the person is dressed, could you do it? Some can’t, others could probably do it with incredible detail.
When ministers write sermons, we do a number of things to help "see" what's in the text. We start with the assumption that God has something new to reveal in a text, although sometimes that’s easy to see, other times we wonder what on earth new we can wring out of this text. I often study the text using a commentary, I also discuss the text with other clergy online. I also subscribe to a sermon website, called the “Desperate Preacher”. I use that one a lot.
In John’s text, we find the Greek word - enblepo. It's only used 12 times in the whole New Testament, and only twice in John's gospel, both times in this very text. And John says twice - I myself did not know himIn the NRSV, the word is translated as “looked” in once instance, and “watched” in the other instance. But in the Jerusalem Bible, they are both translated as "looked hard at". I like this translation, because it indicates to me an intent look, a penetrating look which goes beyond just the cursory way we generally take things in. This means “really looked at.” Beyond the surface. When John "looked hard at" Jesus, he recognized him. When Jesus "looked hard at" Simon, he recognized in him a rock, a solid foundation. When we take a hard look at Jesus - really look - , I believe we begin to recognize him all around us.
We recognize Jesus in the face of our neighbour, in children who have no food on their tables. in the hands of people who work the soil, in voices that speak other languages, and people of other faith groups. We can only really see Jesus when we learn to “look hard “at another person.
Jesus "looked hard at" Simon. He saw what all of us would see, a fisherman. He probably smelled like the sea. He may have arrived in his work clothes. His skin had been darkened by the sun, and perhaps had a leathery appearance from the constant exposure to the weather. As a fisherman, Simon would have been considered “unclean” by the other Jews, someone who worked as a labourer, and was a lower social caste.
When Jesus he looked at Simon, he saw all those things, but he also saw a man of convictions, of compassion, of honor. Jesus decides to call him Peter, the rock.
None of these things had been seen by others. Simon may not have seen them himself. But as the story unfolds, first Jesus, then Simon, then the twelve, and then all of those around him begin to sense what Jesus had seen.
We can also take a hard look at God. And we begin to see God as if for the first time. We find a God of compassion, a God of justice, a God of love, a God of vengeance.
In their book Teaching Your Children Values (Simon & Schuster, 1993) Linda and Richard Eyre suggested, as an exercise, that children should be taught to look people in the eye. If you look around you, how many people actually make mutual eye contact in conversations. It's as if we are afraid to see the human being inside the other. If we don’t have to look people in the eye, then we can dehumanise them to the point where they become terrorists, or be convinced it is all right to kill them
Near the beginning of this sermon, I noted that John recognised Jesus when his eyes were opened and he saw the light. In the season of Epiphany, it is light which is the focus - light and a new way of seeing. Since September 11, 2001, the media have inundated us with a lot of coverage about terrorism and Muslims. Radical Islam has become a household concept. Our knowledge of Islam is limited to the fanatics who insist that the Qu’ran tells them that “jihad” - the holy war - is against those who hate Islam. Islamophobia is the new phrase of choice.
In fact, the majority of Muslims, just as the majority of Christians - will tell you that they are a peace-loving religion, and that the word “jihad” means the war with the dark side of one’s own internal self.
Jews, Christians and Muslims are known in religious circles as “people of the book” - or the Abrahamic faiths. That is because we use many common texts - the Qu’ran holds chapters on Abraham, Jonah, Mary, and Joseph, includes the story of the birth of Jesus - who is revered as a great prophet. Light is a concept which is important - seeing people in the light is important.
So I am going to read you a short passage from the Qu’ran. This is my favourite section, taken from the chapter called “Light”.
“God is the light of the heavens and the earth; God’s light is like a niche in a wall, in which is a lamp. The lamp is in a glass, the glass seems as if it is a glittering star; the lamp is lit from a blessed tree, an olive neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil will give light even though no fire has touched it. Light upon light! God guides to the light whoever God pleases”
In the world today, where human beings are dismissed so easily if they aren’t like us, living in the light, learning to look into the eyes of others and seeing God shining there is an imperative. Perhaps it’s a good way to start a new year - to “look hard” at others, to see the humanity there.
Perhaps we will begin to recognize God in our midst; the ordinary events of life take on divine qualities; the every day becomes sacred; the mundane becomes holy; people are seen in a new light, and are holy. Amen.
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Sources:
1. “Taking a Hard Look” a sermon based on John 1:29-42 by Rev. Randy Quinn
2. Teaching Your Children Values. Linda & Richard Eyre. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993.
3. Qu’ran Chapter 24: Light
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