| Mark 4:12 – “so that they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven.” |
How well do you see?
As we get older, it grows more difficult. Most of us develop what the ancient Greek term describes as “old eyes” — that feeling that your arms need to be twelve feet long to read anything. And then there are the cataracts.
But vision is one of those gifts that brings in so much. The motion of clouds against an azure sky. A child’s smile that reminds you the world still holds something good.
One character from English literature is familiar to nearly everyone. His name is Sherlock Holmes.
Holmes was created by Arthur Conan Doyle, though he actually appears in only four of Doyle’s forty-five novels — far fewer than most people assume. His companion, Dr. John Watson, was present for all of it.
On one unexpected visit to Watson’s home, Holmes remarked without preamble that Watson had been getting very wet lately and that his servant girl was clumsy and careless. Watson was dumbfounded. Holmes explained: he had noticed Watson’s shoe drying by the fire, with fresh scrapes on the leather where someone had hurriedly scraped off mud.
“I think my eyes are as good as yours,” Watson protested. Holmes agreed. Then he asked Watson how many steps were in the staircase leading up to his rooms. Watson could not answer. He had climbed those stairs a hundred times and never counted.
“You see,” said Holmes, “but you do not observe.”
Many times it is not what the mind sees that matters, but what the heart observes.
In Mark 4, after a series of parables about seeds and soil and harvest, the disciples pressed Jesus: why do you speak in parables? His answer cut deeper than they expected:
“so that they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven.” (Mark 4:12, NIV)
Spiritual truth requires a different kind of vision — the ability to see past the physical to what lies behind it. Without that, you can look directly at God’s work and never recognize it.
So today, ask yourself honestly: how well do I see?
–Robert G. Taylor
robertgtaylor.com
