We are blinded by the obvious. Our eyes are immediately drawn to the most basic things so that we miss the divine.
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day had developed extensive rules about what people could and could not do on the Sabbath. Since God had commanded that His people rest on that day, religious leaders had gone to great lengths to define “rest” and “work.” Now they policed everyone on the Sabbath to ensure that they did not break their rules.
Incredibly, when these self-proclaimed moral watch dogs spied a man who had been lame for 38 years, walking and carrying his mat, they did not focus on the miracle but on the rule infraction. They were so tied to their own priorities and practices that they failed to acknowledge a miracle. It seems amazing to us that people could be so chained to their rules that they could condemn a lame man for carrying his beggar’s mat to the nearest dumpster, but we can be guilty of that too.
When we look at people, do we zero in on their questionable practices or language or beliefs, or, do we look for God’s activity in their life? If we knew where these people had come from, we might be inclined to praise God for how far He had brought them, rather than condemning them for how far they still had to go.
When you look at people, what do you see?