Fixing our Eyes on Jesus

In the fourth chapter of St. Luke when Jesus went to the synagogue in His own hometown, scripture makes a wonderful statement when it says this:

“And when he had folded the book, he restored it to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.” (Luke 4:20)

In the Gospel of Matthew, we find the story of the transfiguration. “And they lifting up their eyes saw no one but only Jesus.” (Matthew 17:8). What a great text that is: They looked up and saw no man, save Jesus only.

The Gentile people came one time looking for Jesus. They simply said these words, “Sir, we would see Jesus.”

These are beautiful texts. “The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him” That is the way it always should be. “They lifting up their eyes saw no one but only Jesus.” That is the way it always should be. “Sirs, we would see Jesus,” that is the way it always should be.

No matter what Country you are in that country needs to see Jesus.

No matter what State you are in that State needs to fix there eyes on Jesus. No matter what town you live in that town needs to see nothing else but Jesus.

When you’re on the job who do your co workers see? When you are with your children who do they see? Does your wife see you or does she see Jesus?

If people are seeing only us or our Church or our ministry we have failed them.

If all they see is the wonderful works we have done we have failed them. If people only see us we will fail them sooner or later. The only person out side of Christ who, never failed people was our dear Holy Mother, Mary. She was perfect, without sin. She is a great example of what we should be. She is the Queen of heaven! And yet she is barely mentioned in the New Testament. Why? Because she wanted to point everyone to Jesus!

Why do we brag about not being a part of the Novus Ordo. Why are we so “thankful” that we are not as “the rest of men” who are still in the Novus Ordo or Pius V and Pius X Society, or Sedevacantist or Independent (Luke 18:11). Guess what? They say the same thing about you! Want to know why? It is because everyone of them and everyone of us tend to want people to see us instead of Jesus. “Fix your eyes on me”, We say. The problem is that if their eyes are fixed on us too long they start seeing our flaws!

(Colossians 1:18-20)
And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he may hold the primacy: Because in him, it hath well pleased the Father, that all fullness should dwell; And through him to reconcile all things unto himself, making peace through the blood of his cross, both as to the things that are on earth, and the things that are in heaven.

In Conclusion:

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night’s dinner.

In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen accidentally kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding. All But One!

He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain he was taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor. He was glad he did.

The 16 year old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no one to care for her plight.

The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket. When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, “Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?” She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, “I hope we didn’t spoil your day too badly.”

As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, “Mister…” He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued… “Are you Jesus?”
He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul.

Some things to ponder this week:

Who do people see when they see you?
Are your eyes fixed on Jesus or somebody else? Or maybe your eyes are fixed on your circumstances.

You just might want to have your eyes checked!