Services | Sunday at FPC | Sermons | Podcasts | Home

At First Sight

Sermon by Rev. Doug Pratt — August 10, 2008
 

Download: At First Sight as an MP3 file
(right click and save as)

 

Introduction
In the 1998 film At First Sight, actor Val Kilmer plays a man who has been blind nearly since birth, from a rare condition of thick cataracts and retinitis pigmentosa. A woman he meets and falls in love with, played by actress Mira Sorvino, discovers information on the internet about an experimental new surgical procedure that offers some hope for Virgil’s condition. With her encouragement, and in spite of his deep anxieties, Virgil decides to undergo the operation. The story is based on fact; the Hollywood screenwriter adapted an article in a medical journal written by a noted neurologist about one of his own patients.

In a dramatic scene, the surgeon removes the bandages from Virgil’s eyes for the first time. Sight has been restored. Images are coming through the lenses and striking the retinas, but Virgil is unable to make sense of them. Because he has never before been able to see, his mind can’t process all the new data that his newly-opened eyes are sending to it. This is a condition called “visual agnosia”: seeing but not understanding. It’s also been called “mental blindness,” and it has repeatedly been reported in cases like Virgil’s when sight is given to those born blind, or restored to those who have learned to live completely as a blind person.

A Similar Case
The following fascinating account of a similar case is taken not from a current medical journal, but from an ancient document called “The Gospel of Mark.” Though these events occurred nearly 2000 years ago, they have a striking similarity to the film At First Sight. We will witness the greatest eye surgeon of all perform the first recorded operation of restoring sight:

      They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When He had spit on the man’s eyes and put His hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”
      He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”
      Once more Jesus put His hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were restored, and he saw everything clearly.

Mark 8:22-25

The man whose sightless eyes Jesus touched has the same initial reaction as Virgil. He, too, experiences “visual agnosia.” He can see forms, but he can’t understand them or make sense of them. His mind is unable to initially process the data it’s receiving. It takes a second touch of the Great Physician, apparently healing or transforming his brain, to now understand what his eyes are seeing.

“Spiritual Blindness”
I believe this story from Mark 8 is included in the pages of scripture not only to inform us about the supernatural power to work miraculous healings that Jesus possessed, but also to teach us about the spiritual life. In several places throughout the New Testament we are warned about the moral and spiritual counterpart to “visual agnosia” or mental blindness. We could label it “spiritual blindness.” Jesus cautioned us about people who see but do not understand. He alerted His disciples to be on their guard about the religious authorities of their day, who were functioning as blind guides leading their followers over a cliff. The Apostle Paul, likewise, warns us about those who may have 20/20 vision but are blind to the true and ultimate realities of life.

Like Virgil and the man in Mark 8, who saw “trees walking,” we are all prone to having difficulty seeing and interpreting things accurately. Though none of us can remember it, our lives began in this condition. A healthy newborn’s eyes absorb all the visual data and images of the surrounding environment, but that child has no way at first to understand what the eyes are seeing. He or she has to learn how to make sense of the visual stimuli—the sights and shapes and colors—so that they can recognize people and objects. What actually is happening is that the mind is trying to catch up to the eyes.

This is true for all of us in the moral and spiritual dimension as well. Life comes at us in random and unexplained ways. Things happen around us or to us, and then we have to process the data we receive and form experiences into patterns and structures that make sense to us. Author Michael Frost puts it this way:

Our beliefs teach our eyes how to see. They help us come to terms with the question, “Does the world make sense, or is it all a matter of chance?” The raw facts won’t prove the case either way. It has to come down to the way we see the facts. Is order the rule and chaos the exception, or vice versa?

Frost is right.

Different Ways of “Seeing” Our World
Is this world created by God, or is it one big accident? Is there a purpose and meaning to our existence, or is everything ultimately meaningless? Will good prevail in the end, or will evil? Do our moral and ethical choices matter, or don’t they? There are actually many crucial decisions we have to make about how we’re going to understand our lives. How our minds process the data and draw conclusions from it makes all the difference.

There are plenty of modern-day examples of people who have chosen to see and organize life according to very different conclusions than we find in the Bible. Tip O’Neill, for example—the long-time Speaker of the House and prototype of the tough old politician—very early in his career developed the conclusion that the best way to get and keep power was to use any means necessary. It led him to cheat and steal elections in order to get into office, to take bribes and kickbacks, and to do “favors” of questionable moral and legal character. Whatever it took to get his wishes accomplished—that’s how Tip O’Neill chose to organize the data of the world; and so have lots of other people like him in every profession.

Another common conclusion about life is demonstrated in the philosophy of Hugh Hefner. His narcissistic, self-absorbed approach to life is that people—especially young women—exist for the sake of his pleasure.

Some people see the world through eyes that tell them money is the ticket to happiness. This is the Madonna syndrome: the Material Girl chasing after all the goodies in the Material World. It’s the “Gordon Gekko” syndrome, from the movie Wall Street, so succinctly stated in his famous line: “Greed is good.”

Some today believe that suffering and pain are ultimately meaningless and have no redeeming power or beneficial effect in us. If you’re sick or injured or handicapped, that’s just bad luck, a real raw deal.

And some have even concluded that human life itself is, in the end, a tragedy without hope: Death comes to us all, with no possibility of life beyond it, and all the pleasures we enjoy this side of the grave turn to ashes when we die.

But those aren’t the only conclusions we can draw from the data of life. We can see the exact same events and experiences from a completely different perspective. Our minds can be trained, even changed, to allow us to see and organize the experiences of our lives in the way Jesus did.

Re-Training Our Spiritual Eyes
Let’s go back to the film At First Sight. Following the operation, the surgeon sent Virgil to a neurologist, a specialist in visual therapy. This character in the film was actually modeled on the doctor who wrote the article about the real-life Virgil. The neurologist begins to help Virgil train his mind to properly understand the data it’s receiving from his eyes. He gives him exercises to do, and helps him to develop the proper framework for organizing his external reality.

In the same way, Christians also must undergo training to properly understand life and its experiences through God’s perspective. And that training takes place in weekly worship services, through Sunday school classes and Bible studies, reading Christian books, and sharing together as friends what is happening in our lives. It is the process to which the Apostle Paul refers when he challenges believers: Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2).

The First Century secular world in which Paul lived was very much like our own secular world of the 21st century. Without the training and renewing stimulus of God’s Word, without the Lord being our “therapist” to help us re-program our minds to see things as they really are, we naturally tend to be conformed to the thinking of the unbelieving, evil and hopeless world around us. Many of us have spent a healthy chunk of our lifetimes holding to those very values so opposite of the Christian faith—as had the people of Rome Paul addressed. When one’s mind becomes conformed to wrong ways of understanding the data of existence, it has to be renewed and changed—gradually, but thoroughly—to see and interpret things in the right way.

When Jesus healed the blind man’s “visual agnosia,” He did it instantly. For most of us, however, the process of changing our spiritual and moral vision takes more time. While there may be experiences of sudden realization—those “Aha!” moments when we instantly recognize we’ve been seeing something in the wrong way—we still have to work at the mental re-training. Those of us who grew up in Christian homes—attending Sunday school and youth groups, developing a Christian worldview and learning about life through the lens of God’s Word—obviously have to do less renewing and re-training of our minds than those of us who grew up outside a Christian environment. But all of us need to keep ourselves mentally and spiritually vigilant. Even the best of homes and backgrounds can’t always protect us from the influences of this unbelieving, materialistic, money-craving, sex-obsessed, death-denying, power-seeking, celebrity-worshipping and morally-challenged society in which we live.

Not What Happens, but How We See It
Consider these hypothetical, but not uncommon, situations. The key issue is not what happens (i.e., the raw data), but rather how it is seen or understood by the individual. For it is our conclusions, based on the patterns we see in life, that determine how we will respond to our circumstances. And, ultimately, the way we see the world will determine the kind of person you and I become.

Scenario 1
A woman is informed that she has an aggressive breast cancer and that her only hope is a radical mastectomy. She could conclude, based on that information, that life is cruel and unfair. She could become lost in depression and fear. She could assume she will no longer be acceptable or lovable to her husband, family and friends. She could curse God or Fate, and give up on life.

Or, she could see this crisis through completely different eyes. She could conclude that God, her loving Heavenly Father, has allowed this trial to come to her, and trust He will give her the grace and strength to go through it victoriously. She could see this as a reminder that not only is physical beauty far less important than the inner soul, but also that she is loved unconditionally by her Lord and the important people in her life.

The data of the event—the breast cancer—will not explain itself; she must decide how to interpret and respond to it.

Scenario 2
A man recovers his health, following a massive, life-threatening heart attack. How does he respond to this wonderful healing?

He can conclude that he’s simply been lucky—he’s had a narrow escape and should thank his rabbit’s foot or his astrological sign for that fortunate outcome.

Or, he can see his healing as an act of God, and a clear message from His Creator that he has a purpose to fulfill in the days on earth he’s been given as a pure bonus. He can offer praise and thanks to God, testify to others of the Lord’s mercy, and offer himself completely to the Lord to serve Him in this world.

Was it chance or God’s will that restored that man’s life? Medical science can’t answer the question. He has to choose which way he will understand it.

Scenario 3
A man is convinced he’s been cheated by an employer. He left a company where he’d worked for 12 years to take a new job, and six months later his new employer restructures the company, and he’s let go. His smooth upward career path has hit a concrete wall. He’s out of work, with minimal severance.

He could respond in bitterness, or become obsessed with getting revenge on those who have done him wrong. He could allow his self-confidence and motivation to be shattered.

Or, he can see this as a part of God’s plan for his life and career. Certainly it looks like a detour, from a human viewpoint. But perhaps God is intending this to redirect him, to lead him to a better place, the place where he’s supposed to be. Perhaps God is even using this setback to help the man realize that work and money are not the most important things in life, and to guide him towards developing the neglected areas of his life: his family and his soul.

When one experiences a disappointment like the loss of a job, it’s impossible to tell from that event by itself whether there’s a higher purpose or not. We simply have to choose which way to look at it.

Scenario 4
A person is disturbed by very upsetting events reported in the news: a natural disaster, a crime or act of violence, a corrupt government official. The world seems so messed up, so chaotic and out-of-control. We’ve all at times wondered about what is happening in our world.

From the data of seemingly random events, we could conclude there is no plan or purpose; it’s all a result of chance or accident.

Or, we can accept what God has promised in His Word: that He is working invisibly, behind the scenes—even in tragedies, even using human sin and evil—to bring about His final plan for this world and all within it.

We may not be able to see God on His throne or see His hand clearly as events happen, but we can decide whether to believe in that unseen spiritual world or not.

Conclusion
For the past couple years the lenses of my eyes have been deteriorating, with astigmatism and the beginnings of cataracts complicating the problem. Neither glasses nor contact lenses could correct my vision to an acceptable level. Finally, earlier this year, I decided to submit to the skilled treatment of my ophthalmologist. And what a difference!

My new intraocular lens implants have restored my vision in a remarkable way. Six months ago, as I spoke to you from this platform, I looked out at a sea of blurry faces. Now I can see and recognize people in the back row (and you’re all so much better-looking than I had imagined). The experience has been life-changing.

It’s easy for cataracts or distorted lenses to develop over time in the eyes of our mind, as well. Through the events of life and the constant messages of the secular world, our ability to see things clearly, through God’s point of view, begins to cloud. We get confused. Problems arise and we’re not sure how to respond to them. That’s why we need to continually ask God to peel back those cataracts, to give us 20/20 moral and spiritual vision, in order that we might see reality clearly—from His eternal perspective.