Sermon Illustrations on Sight
Background
Made to See
In her engaging treatment, Teach us to Want, Jen Pollock Michel describes both the beauty and pain of seeing our own sinful nature:
It is often true that once we are made to see, we don’t like what we apprehend. Spiritually seeing, we learn who we are. We recognize our heart’s attachments. We see into our own heart of darkness. It should be of no surprise that when Jesus teaches about corollary health of eye and body, he does so in the context of teaching about money.
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other” (v. 24). Spiritual sight gives us the frightening capacity for recognizing what we have loved and desired more than God.
Taken from Teach us to Want: Longing, Ambition, and the Life of Faith by Jen Pollock Michel Copyright (c) 2014 by Jen Pollock Michel. Published by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. www.ivpress.com
The Secret of Seeing
The secret of seeing is, then, the pearl of great price. If I thought he could teach me to find it and keep it forever I would stagger barefoot across a hundred deserts after any lunatic at all. But although the pearl may be found, it may not be sought. The literature of illumination reveals this above all: although it comes to those who wait for it, it is always, even to the most practiced and adept, a gift and a total surprise…
I cannot cause light; the most I can do is try to put myself in the path of its beam. It is possible, in deep space, to sail on solar wind. Light, be it particle or wave, has force: you rig a giant sail and go. The secret of seeing is to sail on solar wind. Hone and spread your spirit till you yourself are a sail, whetted, translucent, broadside to the merest puff.
Seeing Not A Passive Act
Seeing is not a passive act: the grid that was formed in the past plays an active role in shaping what we see in the present and how we see it. We see what our grid has predisposed us to see. For example, a middle-aged male staying at a nice hotel gets on an elevator at the eighth floor to go to the lobby. He doesn’t “see” the same thing that a young woman sees when she enters the elevator at the seventh floor. He may barely notice who is on the elevator, she invariably will notice, and she will find a space that feels the safest from prying eyes or groping hands. The man never gives a thought to his personal safety; the woman sees safety as foremost.
Stories
Seeing Not A Passive Act
Seeing is not a passive act: the grid that was formed in the past plays an active role in shaping what we see in the present and how we see it. We see what our grid has predisposed us to see. For example, a middle-aged male staying at a nice hotel gets on an elevator at the eighth floor to go to the lobby. He doesn’t “see” the same thing that a young woman sees when she enters the elevator at the seventh floor. He may barely notice who is on the elevator, she invariably will notice, and she will find a space that feels the safest from prying eyes or groping hands. The man never gives a thought to his personal safety; the woman sees safety as foremost.
Regaining Sight
In Annie Dillard’s Pulitzer Prize winning book, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, she mentioned the work of Marius Von Senden who became curious about the effect it had on people who had been born blind to receive their sight later in life. These were usually people who had been born with blinding cataracts. When cataract surgery came along, the surgery gave them sight for the first time. Contrary to what you might expect, for many, the experience was terrifying. Nothing made sense. Their entire visual field was filled what they described as random floating patches of color that made no sense. Many of them reported returning home to put on blindfolds. The world of blindness made more sense to them than the world of sight.
Dave Peterson
Analogies
Seeing Not A Passive Act
Seeing is not a passive act: the grid that was formed in the past plays an active role in shaping what we see in the present and how we see it. We see what our grid has predisposed us to see. For example, a middle-aged male staying at a nice hotel gets on an elevator at the eighth floor to go to the lobby. He doesn’t “see” the same thing that a young woman sees when she enters the elevator at the seventh floor. He may barely notice who is on the elevator, she invariably will notice, and she will find a space that feels the safest from prying eyes or groping hands. The man never gives a thought to his personal safety; the woman sees safety as foremost.
More Resources
Still Looking for Inspiration?
Related Themes
Click a topic below to explore more sermon illustrations!