Open My Eyes That I May See

The sermon preached by Fr. Ernie on March 19, 2023.

Open My Eyes that I may See

by Ernest Boyer

For a long time I’ve had a strange fantasy. I imagined a blind man coming up to me and shouting in anger, “You’ve been lying to me. All of you — all of you so-called sighted people. It’s all a lie. Color, light ­— all the things you tell me you see. It’s all a lie. You’re all making it up to fool people like me. Either that, or else you’re just completely deluded. But I’m on to you now. Admit it, there’s no such thing as light or color is there? If there is such a thing, prove it to me.”

I know.…I know. It seems so hard to believe that anything like this would ever happen, and yet, given all the truly crazy conspiracy theories out there right now, is this one really so strange? Is this any weirder than most of the others — this idea that all so-called sighted people are actually part of a complex plot to make blind people believe that there are things like light and color when there are not? The thing is, though, the reason I came up with this strange fantasy is that it reminds me so much of some of the conversations I’ve had had atheists.  

“All you religious people are basically liars,” one unbeliever said to me once. “Deep down all of you religious folks know that there is no God, but you keep up the lie because it makes you feel good. Either that, or you’re all just kidding yourself. You make it up and convince yourself that it’s true, then you tell me that I should believe it too. Well, I’m not buying it, because you know what? You can’t prove a thing. Go ahead and try. I already know you’ll fail.”

And he was right. I did fail. I could come up with nothing that would convince him that there was a God. I couldn’t do that any more than I could have proven to a blind person that there really was color. I mean, think about it. What would I say to such a blind person? Would I say, “Well, there really is such a thing as color. I know this because I experience it every time I open my eyes, but for some reason you happened to have been born unable to see it. I’m sorry about that, but I can try to describe color to you if you want.”… The thing is, I’d feel so bad saying something like this. 

Could I actually say something of the sort to an atheist? Could I say: “Well, actually there really is a God. I know this because I experience that God whenever I open my heart to him. For some reason you seem to have been born unable to do this, though. I’m very sorry about that, but I can try to describe how Iexperience God, and then maybe you’ll be able experience it too, after all.” I’d find this just as hard to say to that poor unbeliever as I would making the similar statement to the blind person.

The trouble is, I’ve come to the conclusion that this really is what’s going on with many unbelievers. Just as there are people who are born physically blind — unable to see light and color — there are also people who truly are born spiritually blind, and so unable to perceive God. To be born missing either one of these is a terrible loss, but to be deprived of the second is far, far worse than the first. We can only feel sorrow for such a person. The only thing you can feel is sorrow. They were born with a terrible curse, the worst curse there is, the inability to perceive God. As a result, they’re missing so much in life. They’re missing the very reason we are here. They’re missing the basis of all love, all meaning, all hope. They’re missing the very core of existence. Still, this can change. And whenever we meet such a person we need to pray that it does. We need to pray that God sends them the grace to reverse the damage.

Take today’s gospel, for example. The man Jesus healed might have been physically blind, and yet he was at the same time deeply primed to receive Jesus’ spiritual gift in addition to Jesus’ bodily healing. It required only a word from Jesus and he opened his heart to him fully. What a contrast this was to the response of the Pharisees. They were so blinded by their own beliefs about God that they refused to see that God was actually standing before them and working in their midst. Now that’s spiritual blindness. Nothing either the man, or his parents or even Jesus himself could say to these Pharisees was enough to open their eyes to the truth.

We often use blindness as a metaphor for what is in fact an inability to grasp the reality of a wider world, but as a metaphor this link between lack of sight and lack of spirituality goes only so far. Personally, I think spirituality is often better compared to hearing than to sight. I wrote my dissertation in part about a theologian by the name of Friedrich Schleiermacher. One of his famous sayings is that religion at its core is really best expressed through music, especially music without words. I think that’s true, and for good reason. Music gives us access to our emotions, and, according to Schleiermacher, religion is all about emotions.

Have you ever had a time when you were feeling down, then all at once you began to notice some music playing in the background so that you stopped everything you were doing and listened, and as you listened your heart began to swell with a spreading joy and warmth? Then, suddenly in that moment, all felt right in the world. Suddenly you were at peace. Suddenly you were happy. Suddenly you felt close to God. That’s what Jesus gives us. That’s what religion is all about. 

To be spiritual is to be able to hear the music of universe, the music of God. The more we open our hearts to it that music, the more we hear it and the more meaning and joy and peace there is to fill our lives. Who would not want to hear this music of God? Who would not want to see the light of God?

You know, there’s a hymn that Sondra grew up with and loves deeply. As a child she used to play it often on the piano. She says that she played it hundreds and hundreds of times. I don’t know the hymn myself, but Sondra read me the words and those words expresses this longing perfectly. So, let me close by reading the words of this old hymn and if any of you happen to know it, feel free to sing or hum along. It goes like this: 

1 Open my eyes that I may see
glimpses of truth thou hast for me.
Place in my hands the wonderful key
that shall unclasp and set me free.

Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my eyes, illumine me,
Spirit divine!

2 Open my ears that I may hear
voices of truth thou sendest clear,
and while the wave notes fall on my ear,
ev’rything false will disappear.

Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my ears, illumine me,
Spirit divine!

3 Open my mouth and let me bear
gladly the warm truth ev’rywhere.
Open my heart and let me prepare
love with thy children thus to share.

Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my mouth, illumine me,
Spirit divine!

AMEN

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