Open My Eyes, Lord

Rebecca Sheridan
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Acts 26:4-18

    The majority of our American population are visual learners.  This means that most people learn by visualizing or seeing a concept, not just by listening or reading something in text form.  This is one very good reason why video and photo platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram are so popular. Many people, including adults, remember something better if they watch a video about it rather than just hear about it or read about it.  In early Christianity even through Martin Luther’s day, most people were not literate. They could not read and write.  So when you go into medieval churches, the stained glass pictures biblical scenes to teach people the faith visually.  Martin Luther used woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer and Luther Cranach to illustrate many of his writings for people who could not read very well, because these prints were cheap and accessible.  Much of our most valuable works of art are religious in nature, imagining what many of those biblical scenes were like and often placing those scenes in the time period of the day, whether it was the Renaissance or more modern, such as Marc Chagall, Dali, or Picasso.  
Now, I have a confession to make.  I am in the minority: I am not a visual learner.  In fact, I took some kind of psychological test on Gardner’s multiple learning intelligences back when I was preparing to be a teacher, and I scored so low on the “visual learner” assessment it was just a sliver in my pie chart of how I learn best.  So, I have to push myself in my own preaching and teaching to remember that most people learn differently from me – how can I include visuals in my teaching?  My family and my parishioners at Faith know that something major can happen – repainting a wall or moving a piece of furniture in the church sanctuary – and I will not notice it. I am dangerously oblivious to my surroundings sometimes because I am living life up in my head with the world of words.  “Open My Eyes, Lord” is a relevant prayer for me!    
Similarly, I am not a very good artist but I do appreciate going to art museums.  For me, looking at a painting or other visual artwork is as emotional experience as listening to an orchestra or musical concert.  Visual arts reaches a different part of my brain and can speak powerfully to my soul. So no matter whether you learn well through visuals or not, God gave us eyes to see, and using them can be a powerful way to grow in our relationship with God apart from other forms of learning.  I am grateful for the opportunity tonight to use a prayer practice called “visio divina” to use the gift of sight prayerfully.  What can we learn from God when we open our eyes?  How is God asking us to see something in a new way or in a different light?
    In our reading from Acts for today, Paul tells his conversion story for the third time, this time to King Agrippa of Judea.  Isn’t it fascinating, that in order for Paul to “see the light” so to speak, God has him become physically blind.  It isn’t until Paul loses his sense of sight temporarily that he sees how wrong he has been in rejecting Christ and persecuting the early Christian.  The Lord shows Paul he has been trying to live by his own efforts and righteousness rather than relying on the grace and mercy of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  Similarly, in the gospel of Mark, it is the bling man, Bartimaeus, who understands who Jesus even though he cannot physically see.  He has spiritual insight that others lack, even though they can see!
    So as we pray this prayer, “Open My Eyes, Lord,”  let’s think about that request and what we actually mean.  We can explore what it means to praise God and learn from God in visual formats – videos and pictures.  Asking God to open our eyes is really asking for spiritual insight.  Most of us hope that God will not have to strike us blind for us to get God’s point as happens to Paul.  Instead, we have an opportunity to be proactive in looking to God for guidance, vision, and light to illuminate our path.  In his state of being blind, the Lord gives Paul a mission to open the eyes of the people to turn from darkness to the light of Christ.  Similarly, we can think about what God wants us to notice that we may have overlooked, in our own life, or going around us in the world.  What situations or people does God want me to see and pay attention to, so I might respond faithfully?  What aspects of my life may need to change for me to live more fully in the light rather than in the darkness? What is God trying to show us?
    It may be comforting to confess that God is omniscient when we are not.  Omniscient literally means “all-knowing,” but it can also mean “all-seeing.”  Sight and insight, knowledge and vision, are related!  God sees us when we may feel like no one else does.  God sees what we can’t see – in terms of our hopes for the future, and whatever we may be missing in the here and now.  God saw the sinful state of the world and determined to do something about it – he sent Jesus, to die and be raised for us.  God knows, sees, and loves every one of us completely.  Open our eyes, Lord!  Amen.