No doubt you, like me, can recall the curiosity of childhood. When I was a young child I can remember being amazed at nearly everything. I was a very inquisitive boy; always looking under rocks for buried treasure and inside of bushes hoping to discover a new species of insect life. To me at least, it seemed that the world of was alive with beautiful things to discover. The older I got and the more rocks I turned over, it soon became apparent, however, that hiding under some rocks were things better left undiscovered. You see, hiding beneath many of the rocks of this life are less beautiful things; ugly things that are easier to ignore than to look at. We live in a world which is chalked full of injustice. Everything from domestic violence, unwanted pregnancies, abused ignored neglected children, and the horrific violence of war cry out to our eyes, longing to be given audience with our vision. These are not easy things to view though.
Once our eyes have been opened to the more detestable things hiding deep inside the bushes of the world, they can never go back to the blissful innocence of youth. Once our eyes have been opened to the realities of injustice in this life we have only two choices in response. We can pretend that our eyes were not privy to such things and in so doing, ignore the plight of injustice where it is found. This will allow injustice to continue elsewhere and equally damaging is what indifference does to us. Having seen the injustice and turning away does remove the stain of what we have seen. Injustice ignored is a poison which creeps into our minds by way of our eyes and eventually contaminates our very souls, even as the stain of what we have seen sears our eyes with blinding fury.
Before you think me a painter of bleak portraits and my observation overly dismal, however, allow me to offer you a better option to blinding indifference. In the Gospel of Matthew the story is recounted of two blind men who asked Jesus to have mercy on them. “Lord,’ they answered, ‘we want our sight.’ Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.” (Matthew 20:33-34 NIV) Have your eyes been damaged by the sight of injustice? Has your soul been touched by the blight of indifference? My dear friend, may I suggest to you that our only recourse is to bring our wounded eyes to Jesus that He may bring healing to the vision of our souls, that in so doing, He might restore unto us the clear vision necessary to no longer turn away from injustice, but to act; to no longer be tainted by the stains of indifference, but to embrace injustice, as did our savior, with sacrificial love. In so doing, may we restore the wonder of our youth and the hope of our innocence!
Read more articles by Chris Surber or search for articles on the same topic or others.
