"Eye Not Found"

I saw a blue jay yesterday morning. It was so vibrantly blue in the morning sun and HUGE. He flew close enough to the window that I could see the crest on his head and where the white feathers on his body met the blue.

It was beautiful.

I don't see blue jays often and consider it a real treat that I caught a glimpse.

It reminded me of a sermon I heard earlier this week.

It was about when something becomes so familiar to us that we cease seeing the amazement of it.

My husband grew up in Ft. Lauderdale and wearing shorts and flip flops all year 

and seeing pretty flowers and THE OCEAN every day was no big deal.

It certainly has become a VERY BIG DEAL

now that he has been living in the Midwest for the past 19 years.

The sermon pointed out how we can do that to God.

We can become so comfortable with life and the things in it coming through for us that we don't stop, acknowledge where it all comes from and let the amazingness of it to sink in.


I used my study bible to look up all the verses that use the word amazing.

There aren't that many and they are all in the New Testament.

When I used my Greek dictionary I found that all of the translations are from different forms of the word, like astounding.

Only one verse, Acts. 2:7, used the word amazing. It comes from the Greek word existemi which, broken down, comes from ex meaning out and hitemi, meaning to stand.

Put together it means to stand out.  "To be removed out of its place or state." In the New Testament it refers to the mind so it means to be out of one's mind, to be beside oneself with astonishment.

Somewhere between the New Testament and now, we've lost our ability to "lose our minds" over all God is doing or has done for us.

He made the blue jay, for crying out loud.

He's bright blue in a green and brown habitat.

Talk about being a stand out.

I went to the eye doctor this week and as I was looking through a machine that could photograph behind my eyeball, the machine spoke in a loud robotic voice,

"Eye not found."

I don't care who you are, 

you check to see if you can find your eye

after hearing such a statement.

The cute assistant said in a frustrated voice, to the machine, not me,

"Hey! I turned you on this morning, I can turn you off!"

Clearly, this wasn't her first 

"Eye not found" of the day.

And she was having none of it.

This machine was created to do ONE THING.

Photograph behind my eye.

My eye was UP CLOSE and looking RIGHT INTO IT.

But it couldn't find my eye.

In Mark 6 we are told the story of Jesus taking his disciples back to his hometown to teach and perform miracles.

When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, 

and many who heard him were amazed.

Mark 6:2a

They were amazed until they started asking who Jesus was. 

When they realized this was the dude they had grown up with they questioned,

"Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given him that he even does miracles! Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us? 

And they took offense at him.

Mark 6:2b-3

This was no American Idol homecoming week with the parade, visit back to the old school and free concert at the end with everyone cheering and offering support.

No. They couldn't believe that one of their own, from rinky-dink small town Nazareth, could be anything more than a carpenter. 

In this context, carpenter was meant to be a slam such as, 

"Isn't he just as common as us?"

Read the verse above again. 

They didn't even say his name.

They mentioned his mother, Mary, 

and all his brothers 

and referenced his sisters

 but DID. NOT. SAY. JESUS.

They were right there with an up-close view.

"EYE NOT FOUND."

I'm not sure why, but they could not see or believe that Jesus was any different from them

 so how could he be something special, a stand-out anointed by God?

Maybe they were just too familiar with him as a carpenter

to ever see the amazingness that was him as our Messiah.

Jesus said to them,

"Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house 

is a prophet without honor."

Mark 6:4

The sermon I listened to pointed out that Jesus used this rejection from his own family and hometown friends as a lesson for the disciples.

They couldn't stop their ministry and performing miracles because some people early on failed to see it.

They became stronger and more humble because of it.

I did a little research on the blue jay.

Because of their vibrant color, they are easy prey.

Maybe that's why I don't see them often.

Or maybe I haven't been looking.