Lifting Up His Eyes

 

 

“Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, ‘Father, the hour has come, glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You’” (John 17:1).

 

There are cultures in which eye contact is frowned upon. There are societies in which the socially inferior avert their gaze from their superiors. Even within the United States, there are some regions in which eye contact is more freely given and received than others, if not because of social convention, then because of wanting to avoid social contact.

 

When I am shopping I often see cashiers and other retail employees avoid eye contact, they are usually much younger than I am, and I suppose that this is a result of more screen time than people time, in other words they are more comfortable with blue light than natural light, with Facetime than actual faces.

 

There are two types of people who walk for exercise in our community, those who acknowledge others and those who don’t, I guess they pretend not to see you, kind of like a toddler’s game of “peek-a-boo.” People of all ages make up these two groups, the young, middle aged, and the old. This reminds me of the office building in which I worked before retirement. I made it a point to greet everyone I saw in the halls and lobbies, and it amused me how many simply ignored me.

 

We have a neighbor who is about to go into the 4^th grade who doesn’t know a stranger. He is good at making eye contact. This is likely due to his parents and grandparents and aunts and others spending time with him, talking to him, doing a range of activities with him. If we are spending our days with the Father, ought we not to lift up our eyes to the heavens and speak with Him? Ought we not to look into the Face of Jesus, who is the Face of God, and engage in conversation, koinonia, and friendship?

 

Does not Jesus model relationship with the Father for us, so that we in turn may model relationship with Him and the Father to others?

 

Early in the earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus, He taught us to pray, and in doing so the very first words He taught us were, “Our Father” (Mt. 6:9). Throughout His time on earth Jesus spoke to us of our Father, and since His ascension He continues to do so through His apostles and other servants, through His Word, and through the Holy Spirit. Jesus has sent the Spirit of sonship to us, “By which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Rom. 8:15).

 

Do we see Jesus lifting His eyes to the heavens?

 

Perhaps it would do us well to walk outside and gaze into the sky, to lift our eyes, and to speak to our Father, the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Most of us are indoors people, we seldom look beyond the roofs of our homes and workplaces and the tops of our cars and trucks. We go from building to car to building to car to building in our society. Our spatial perspectives tend to be confined, and I think that contributes to our moral and spiritual perspectives being constrained; we live in aquariums and hamster and bird cages.

 

As an Easterner, I am awed when I visit the vast expanses and soaring vistas of the American West, and the older I get the longer it takes me to become acclimated to high roads and switchbacks, often without guardrails. Perhaps it also takes us awhile to accept the idea that God is truly our Father and that He wants to have an intimate relationship with us. Perhaps we struggle to believe that when Jesus teaches us to pray, “Our Father,” that He means what He teaches.

 

As we will see as we move into John 17, the love our Father has for us is without measure, we simply cannot measure it, it is beyond our comprehension, but it is not beyond our experience in Jesus Christ.

 

As we meditate on John 17:1, can we see Jesus lifting His eyes to heaven?

 

Since Jesus is always with us, He is with you right now, wherever you are. You may be in an office, a living room, a physician’s waiting room, on a train or plane, on a porch, or in a break room in a factory. Wherever you are, Jesus is with you.

 

Now then, since He is with you, can you see Him lifting His eyes to heaven to speak to His Father? Can you see Him doing this right where you are?

 

Can you see Him inviting you to know the Father as He knows the Father? (Yes, yes, this is admittedly beyond our understanding, but it is His invitation nonetheless).

 

Can we lift our eyes to the heavens and speak just one word, just one word and allow God to take the conversation from there?

 

Can we simply say, “Father”?