My Father’s Eyes

Every day my friend, Greg, in memory care asks me, “Where’d you get such pretty eyes?” And every day I respond, “These are my grandpa’s eyes. God gave them to me.” The very next question he asks is, “What color are they really?” And I say, “I don’t know, Greg, you tell me” and then we do that thing that Steve Martin and Tina Fey do in the movie Baby Mama,  we maintain uninterrupted eye contact for a significant amount of time. Then he announces that my eyes have blue AND green AND grey AND yellow, although one time he said, red and I freaked out just a bit. Yesterday, when we had this exchange, the rest of my memory care people asked if they could play our game and so I went around the circle and did uninterrupted eye contact with 20 of my closest friends and as they looked deeply into my eyes to find the colors, I looked deeply into theirs and found their soul. By the fourth or fifth person, I was a puddle because I knew whose eyes were looking back at me. Jesus’s words from today’s gospel came to me, “’I am the Son of God’. If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may realize and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” The Father is recognizable in our works and my memory care folks might not think they have any “works” left, but them wanting to find the colors in my eyes is a work that shows their loving hearts, their need for deep connection, and their tender-hearted affection. If these things don’t resemble the Father, then I don’t know what does. 

I think of people wanting to stone Jesus to death for declaring that he has his Father’s eyes, and I think of how those same people might even throw stones at my precious memory care friends for not being vital to society or something nonsensical like that. Jesus has claimed his oneness with the Father in several gospels as of late, and it is this very claim that has challenged those that still can’t see. However, for those of us that do have the eyes of our hearts open, it is a message of great hope to know that we too are one with our Father. This resemblance might make others uncomfortable, or jealous, or question our realness, but all we need to do is let the one we resemble step in front and shield us from those flying stones of not knowing. I think we could all use some uninterrupted eye contact with the One we are trying to resemble in this life. When we sit in the presence of the Father, we begin to reflect Him, and perhaps people will ask us, “Where did you get those eyes (of love, of mercy, of peace, of kindness, of tenderness, of compassion, of forgiveness, of patience)?” Then we can say, “You tell me,” and hopefully their answer is, “You have your Father’s eyes.” Let God pull the colors out of your eyes today in such a way that all will see whose you are. It is well with my soul. 

Reading 1 JER 20:10-13

I hear the whisperings of many:
"Terror on every side!
Denounce! let us denounce him!"
All those who were my friends
are on the watch for any misstep of mine.
"Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail,
and take our vengeance on him."
But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion:
my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.
In their failure they will be put to utter shame,
to lasting, unforgettable confusion.
O LORD of hosts, you who test the just,
who probe mind and heart,
Let me witness the vengeance you take on them,
for to you I have entrusted my cause.
Sing to the LORD,
praise the LORD,
For he has rescued the life of the poor
from the power of the wicked!

Responsorial Psalm PS 18:2-3A, 3BC-4, 5-6, 7

R. (see 7)  In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
The breakers of death surged round about me,
the destroying floods overwhelmed me;
The cords of the nether world enmeshed me,
the snares of death overtook me.
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
In my distress I called upon the LORD
and cried out to my God;
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears. 
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.

Verse Before The Gospel SEE JN 6:63C, 68C

Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life;
you have the words of everlasting life.

Gospel JN 10:31-42

The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus.
Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from my Father.
For which of these are you trying to stone me?"
The Jews answered him,
"We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy.
You, a man, are making yourself God."
Jesus answered them,
"Is it not written in your law, 'I said, 'You are gods"'? 
If it calls them gods to whom the word of God came,
and Scripture cannot be set aside,
can you say that the one
whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world
blasphemes because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? 
If I do not perform my Father's works, do not believe me;
but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me,
believe the works, so that you may realize and understand
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."
Then they tried again to arrest him;
but he escaped from their power.

He went back across the Jordan
to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained. 
Many came to him and said,
"John performed no sign,
but everything John said about this man was true."
And many there began to believe in him.