What does it mean to keep our eyes on Jesus? It is not just a witty phrase to be used in certain communities. It is not a flippant comment used to get a particular reaction, positive or negative. If you really think about it, it may be the most important advice a Christian could be given. If our eyes are not on Jesus in all things, in all circumstances, in all places, and at all times, we are in certain danger of losing our way, indeed of losing our souls. If we focus our eyes on the ways of this world so cluttered with attractive distractions, we are in grave danger of losing our way.
We see this strange moment in the 11th chapter of Luke’s Gospel: “While he was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!’ But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!’” (Lk 11:27-28). With this response to the woman, he turns upside-down the common social conventions of his time and place. For the Jews of his day, family and tribe were everything. One understood one’s self in relation to one’s tribe and the cultural family obligations. We have our own ‘tribes’ and ‘tribal’ identities still today, don’t we? And, all too often, we make them the center of our focus and judge all others about that narrow perspective. And we have endless rationalizations to support those judgments.
What does Jesus mean here? He is introducing the kingdom of God and our duties to us and he is saying that this new community, that is, the kingdom of God, is more important than even the family or the tribe. He is saying that if we give the present social conventions of our times, i.e., our politics, any particular ideology, economic concerns, or even our families, disproportionate importance, concerning our allegiance to God, our faith lives become distorted. When we take our eyes off of the Way, the Truth, and the Life of Jesus we become lost and, as they say, ‘all hell breaks loose’.
The evidence of this worldly hell is everywhere today, just as it was in Jesus’ time. But Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life in all times and in all places and in all circumstances. So his admonition to the woman in the crowd is directed toward us today just as much as it was to the crowd of disciples that surrounded him there in that place. And the words that follow this little moment in time are equally challenging for they are as directly related to us as they were to the people of Jesus’ time: “This is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation” (Lk 11:29-30). Jesus is still our ‘sign.’ “Repent, then, turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” (Acts 3:19). Can we honestly say that we are keeping our eyes on Jesus and heeding his ways better than the generation that Jesus addressed directly when he was present in the flesh?
It seems embarrassingly clear that there are very few who shape their entire lives, their daily thoughts, words and deeds always keeping their eyes on Jesus. Such rare people are identified as ‘saints’ for a reason. As we see in this passage from Luke, this is not new. Just as in Jesus’ time, there are many today who rationalize their own daily, willful defiance of the most basic moral codes, much less the law of God, believing in their moral superiority. And far too many so-called Christians are among this majority. This is not just simple heresy. This is the workings of the evil one.
Who rules the world and all of its ideologies, perversions, distortions, and disorders? Who wants us to be divided and each other’s throats? The Devil. Why did Jesus come into the world and suffer and die for us? He did so to confront and to defeat the powers of sin and death, and to reclaim us for the kingdom of God. He came to show us the way out of the darkness through the light of his way, his truth, and his life. He commissions those who follow him to continue that mission. And he promised to be with us until the end of time in this mission. What would the world be like if the majority of Christians were always keeping their eyes on Jesus, making his way, his truth, and his life the center of all of their decisions and actions in every area of their daily lives? In reality, it seems quite clear that we are not there…yet. But there is an antidote. If we repent and turn our eyes back to him we can always count on God’s love and forgiveness. For God is infinitely patient, kind, and merciful. He is, and will always be, magnanimous with his gifts of grace.
Where do we go to learn the Word of God and how to follow it? We go to Scripture, tradition, and prayer; not to social media. “All scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). But we must remember, too, that it is one thing to hear, to read, and to memorize scripture; it is an entirely another thing to obey it, to live it openly, courageously, even joyfully, in all of the circumstances of our daily lives, willingly bearing all the suffering that might come to us for doing so in this world. What better way is there for us to give thanks to Jesus for all that he has done for us?
The guilt for the condition of our current world does not belong to one real or imagined bogeyman, alone. It does not belong to the ‘elite,’ to the news media, to the ‘woke,’ or to the poor, to immigrants, or to any particular identity group; to a particular political party, or the bureaucracy, or academia, alone. It belongs to all of them, and all of us, together. None of us are free from the delusions of sin. If we want to make the world a better place, we had better get our eyes back on Jesus. Abiding in and obeying Jesus’ way, truth, and life, is the only way that can bring about the just and peaceful world we all desire. It begins with each one of us turning our gaze back to Jesus, both inwardly and outwardly. Each of us must repent and pray for the grace to willingly submit our wills to the will of God. Let us not only hear but learn to obey the Word of God. Let each one of us, finally, be the persons who bring the light of Christ into the darkness by the way we live our daily lives. Let each of us be the face and hands of Jesus to the world here and now. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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