through another eye
October 4, 2010 (Monday)
Eighty-five years before I was born, on September 23, 1846, Alexis Bouvard reasoned that there must be another planet, as yet unseen, in our solar system. He could not see it through his telescope, but his math told him something had to be out there. Neptune’s gravitational effect could be seen in the movements of Uranus.
The man who discovered Neptune had not actually seen it when he declared its existence. Now, here’s what I want to tell you: I have seen Neptune. Oh, not through my own eyes, but through the eyes of a spacecraft known as Voyager 2. Twelve years after leaving Earth, Voyager flew within 3000 miles of Neptune and sent back beautiful pictures. So, yes, I saw Neptune in 1989. Through the eye of Voyager 2.
In the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 6, there is the account of Jesus and His disciples arriving by boat at a location on the Eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, where they intended to get some rest. They were tired and needed some time away from the crowds. When they arrived, however, there were many people gathered there to meet them.
The twelve disciples saw people whose needs would interrupt their plans. They saw people who competed with them for the time of Jesus. Perhaps they asked themselves, “Will these crowds never stop coming? Why can’t these people leave us alone for a while?”
When Jesus saw the people, He saw something the disciples did not see. “When He saw the people, He had compassion on them, for they were as sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus saw through different eyes. The disciples needed to learn from Jesus. They eventually learned to see people through the eyes of Jesus.
I saw Neptune–through the eyes of Voyager 2. The disciples learned to see people as sheep in need of a shepherd. They learned to see through the eyes of Jesus.
You and I can also see what we would never have seen on our own: hurting people who need to know that God loves them. May we see the world through the eyes of Jesus.
I could never have seen Neptune through my own eyes alone. I can never see what Jesus wants me to see until I see through His eyes. I need to remember what the Bible says: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus…” (Philippians 2:5).