By Pastor Don Schatz

Look and See

“So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
John 20:25.  New English Version

Are “look” and “see ” the same?  Synonyms?  Perhaps, in some contexts.  The Scripture often captures a distinction between the two.  For example, “All her people groan as they search for bread; they trade their treasures for food to revive their strength. “Look, O Lord, and see, for I am despised” (Lamentations 1:11).  One can look, but not see.  I recall a time when I was hiking with a group of youth in the Arizona desert.  One of the girls said, “Look, there is a rattlesnake.”  She had to almost hit it with a rock so that I could finally see it, though I assure you I had been looking!

Take today’s picture.  Did you look at it?  Did you see the goats?  There are ten of them, perched on little shelves of rock on that sheer cliff face.  We can look but not see.  Seeing involves paying attention.  Seeing involves intention.  Sometimes we need to look closer in order to see.  Thomas could have ‘seen’ the truth of Christ’s resurrection in the testimony of his friends.  Grief, disappointment, confusion and who knows what else prevented him from seeing.  Is seeing believing?  Perhaps.  Believing is always seeing, in spiritual terms.  “So we do not lose heart….For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (II Corinthians 4:16-18).  Faith sees the “things that are unseen and eternal.”  Faith sees through the eyes of hope.

Look with hope today, and see the Lord.  “God understands the way to it, and he knows its place.  For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens” (Job 28:23-24).

Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado