“Anyone Who Has Seen Me” 

If Jesus is the member of the Godhead people have looked upon with their own eyes, then His words in the Sermon on the Mount were more profound than His listeners could have realized.  God was in their midst, but they would not see Him if their hearts were darkened by selfish ambition or self-righteousness.

Jesus once healed a man who was blind since birth.  The healing caused a great stir among the spiritual guides of the day who refused to accept Jesus as being from God.  After an incredibly frustrating encounter with some Pharisees the man who was healed confessed His belief in Jesus and worshipped Him.  Within earshot of the Pharisees Jesus remarked, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” (John 9:39)  Jesus came to offer those who wanted to see God a pure heart, but His presence hardened the hearts of those who rejected Him.

The parables Jesus told were directed at blind guides with toxic thoughts.  Parables have a way of drawing people into a story and convicting them when their defenses are down.  Unfortunately, conviction can make hearts harder when people refuse to repent, which was the case with the Pharisees and teachers of the law.  Jesus said, “This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand” (Matthew 13:13).

If we have seen Jesus, we have seen God, but we can see neither if our hearts are polluted.  Now we rely on scripture to see Jesus, and the Holy Spirit to encounter His presence.  But just as in Jesus’ ministry on earth, we can only see what we are willing to see, which is why a pure heart is still critical if we hope to know and share the 100% Jesus.