Eyes and Ears
8 In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10 and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
11 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: 15 “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. 16 In the past, he let all nations go their own way. 17 Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” 18 Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.
Acts 14:8-18
In the Gospel of Matthew, when Jesus was asked why he spoke in parables, he quoted from Isaiah: “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.” (Matthew 13:14) Paul and Barnabas experienced this when a man crippled from birth was healed in the city of Lystra.
The Greeks saw the event through pagan eyes. They knew the myth about the Greek gods Zeus and Hermes once coming in human form. Everyone rejected the two gods, except a married couple named Baucis and Philemon who invited them into their simple home. Zeus and Hermes later destroyed all the people in that area, except for Baucis and Philemon whose home they turned into a temple. The Greeks in Lystra were determined to avoid such destruction. They tried to worship to Barnabas and Paul thinking that Zeus and Hermes had come again. However, Paul and Barnabas rejected their sacrifices and called them to “turn from these worthless things” (Acts 14:15), so their Greek ears listened to Jews who caused them to stone Paul and leave him for dead.
Paul saw with different eyes. He knew there was only one true and living God, whose name wasn’t Paul. He knew that the crippled man who now stood before him was healed by the same God who had brought the Israelites out of Egypt and parted the Red Sea. Moreover, his eyes had seen the light on the road to Damascus and his ears had heard the words, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” With those eyes, he could see the faith of the crippled man and another life that could be healed and changed forever.
What did the crippled man see? The Bible doesn’t tell us. But it seems that God blessed him with ears that understood. The words he heard spoke to his heart and gave him faith so that feet crippled from birth could be healed.
What do we hear and see? It doesn’t have to be miraculous. When the Greeks attempted to worship Paul and Barnabas, they didn’t point to miracles. Instead, they pointed to the ordinary, to “heaven and earth and sea and everything in them”. Acts (14:15) Do we see the world as God’s creation? When we listen to a hymn, do we hear simply music, or do we hear worship? Do we see a person, even one we don’t like, as someone Jesus loved and died for?
Prayer:
• Do you see God in the ordinary things of this world? Do you see God’s hand in your life? Pray that God will give you ears that understand and eyes that truly see.