Eye Salve...Continued

Luke 7:36-50
This is the story of the woman who brought a flask into the Pharisee's house, and washed his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, then kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. Her actions riled up the religious men, and in verse 44 it says 'Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, 'Do you see this woman?' Whoa. That question gives me Holy Spirit bumps. She felt invisible all of those years because of her sin. The eyes of judgment were the only eyes which looked upon her. Yet in that moment, she was seen!! Love saw her, and noticed her act of love. Jesus said to those men....Do you see this woman? Look at her!! See her!! Then he told the woman her faith had saved her, to go in peace.
Sadly, we have walked in jealousy toward one another. We walk in judgments and insecurity. We want to be seen. No, we need to be seen. Yet when another is seen we feel threatened, 'She is stealing the limelight.' But once we know we have been seen by Jesus, we will never be the same.
'I once was blind, but now I see!' As we are seen, then we are given eyes to see. I remember praying, 'Lord, give me eyes to see!!' But I had to be seen first. And I had to come out of hiding.

Look at Luke 8:40-48. It is the story of the woman with the issue of blood. She was desperate for Him. She pressed through the crowd to touch Him, and managed to touch the border of His garment. And what happened? Verse 46 says 'But Jesus said, 'Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me. Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.' Jesus again told her that her faith had made her well and to 'Go in peace.'
Look at her.....after she knew she was 'seen' (not hidden) she became bold!! She testified before the crowd!!
He sees us! When we are seen by Him, noticed by Him, validated by Him....we are never the same!!
He told both women to now 'go in peace'. There is no peace until we have been seen by our bridegroom. We live our whole lives waiting to be seen.
The enemy does a number on us as children. Some of us fear being seen, because being seen means to us to be mocked, made fun of, abused, or maybe even used for somebody's perversion.
Sin comes into our lives and just as Eve tried to do in the garden, we go into hiding. I can remember just wanting to blend into the wallpaper. But then He looked upon me. He noticed me and He found me worthy of His gaze.....and all of my insecurities melted in His sight. There is healing in His gaze.

Luke 9:38 'Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, 'Teacher, I implore You, look on my son, for his is my only child.' Interesting that the man asked Jesus to look on his son. He knew that if Jesus noticed him, if he 'saw' him, the result would be his healing!
Again in Luke chapter 13 there is another woman who had a spirit of infirmity for 18 years, and in verse 12 it says 'But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, 'Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.'
Luke 17:11-14 is the story of the ten lepers, who stood afar off. Verse 14 says 'So when He saw them....' They were crying out to him, and He noticed!!

In Genesis 16:6-14 we find the story of Hagar. This poor woman! She did nothing wrong, she went to Abram at Sarai's request. But she found herself despised because of Sarai's jealousy, and she fled from the house. Verse 7 says that 'the Angel of the Lord found her'. He spoke to her to return, and gave her a powerful promise; after which she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, 'El Roi' meaning 'the God Who Sees' and she then says 'Have I also here seen Him who sees me?' She was seen by God, and then she could see God. Wow!
Now look at Gen. 21:14-20. Hagar was being sent away. She was not being very nice to Sarah, so Abraham gave her some bread and water and sent her away with her son. She wandered in the wilderness until she thought they would both die. She laid the baby down, and sat down and wept. But God heard the voice of her child, the child of promise that He had given her. And in verse 10 it says 'Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water.' Now, the way I read the story, that well was there all the time! But God had to open her eyes to see it! He had to open the eyes of despair, the eyes that were cast down. Bitterness, self pity and unforgiveness can blind our sight.

Religion can also keep us from seeing. In Luke 13:34-35 Jesus laments over Jerusalem. They could not see Him!
Revelation 3:14-22 talks about the lukewarm church, which makes God puke. What does He tell them to do? Verse 18 says ....'and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.' Any place where we are fat, comfortable and content, we are blind to Him.

Look more at the book of Revelation.....all through the book it says 'I looked' and 'I saw'!!!
John 3:3 says we must be born again to see the Kingdom of God. When I read of all that John got to see in Revelation, I am just blown away. There is so much 'seeing' in just this book alone.
Rev. 5:6 says 'And I looked, and I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.' I don't understand it all, but I know that there are seven eyes representing the seven Spirits of God. Eyes!!
Later on, chapter 11 talks about the witnesses being resurrected and when they ascended to heaven in a cloud their enemies saw them. I think back to the woman with the flask of oil. There she was, before her enemies who were the religious men of that day......but Jesus held her up before them as an example.....and as she was seen by Jesus, her enemies also saw her. They knew that Jesus looked upon her, and loved what He saw. I believe they saw her differently after that.

When we are seen by our Lord, when we dare to look into the eyes of Love, we too can go in peace....knowing that we have caught the gaze of the One for Whom we have waited our whole lives. And once we have been seen we realize that we have been found worthy of His gaze and lovely in His sight; and our whole countenance changes. Our eyes are opened! We are transformed into people who see. We can see His Kingdom, we can see His glory! We begin to see others as Jesus sees them. And our enemies tremble because they can see Him in us!!