And having turned to the disciples privately he said, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see.
Jesus has met rejection. Now He turns away from the crowd and speaks to His disciples alone. What were they seeing that made their eyes blessed — and do we, who never walked beside Him, have less than they had, or more?
The Lord does not announce this blessing to the nation or to its leaders. He says it privately, and who He says it to is part of the point.
He then turned to His disciples privately (v. 23). He spoke not to the great and noble men of the earth, but to those who were little more than "babes." He told them that their eyes were blessed in seeing what they were seeing... How little the disciples realised and valued the wonder of it! The great Creator had come down among them in gracious Manhood, the One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead lived in bodily form.
These words come at a moment when people have refused Christ. He does not leave His followers to feel only that sting. He turns them back to what they have.
Turning to His disciples privately He said, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!" — that is, the understanding perception of Messiah's power now revealed, for it took in everything else He had just been looking ahead to. But He brings them back in joy to the present object of their faith (whatever the outcome in His mind). For this real showing of the Messiah had been the longing desire of many a prophet and king. They passed from the scene below without ever gaining their deep wish — blessed and honoured as they were, but not as these were. Such is the effect on the soul of a well-understood rejection!
Many saw Jesus with their own eyes and still did not understand Him. So the blessing does not rest on eyesight.
No one would say that the Lord tied this blessedness to mere outward seeing and hearing. Elsewhere He describes that outward seeing in another way, and He contrasts it with the real understanding of the disciples: "because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand... But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear."
The next verse sets this privilege against long ages of waiting. God had spoken to His people before and had appeared to them. What these disciples had was still greater.
We can look back at the privileges of the fathers of Israel, of the prophets and the kings of Old Testament times — how the Lord appeared to them and spoke to them. Great as these things were, they could not compare with the presence of the Son of God come in flesh, with the words He spoke and the works He did.
It is easy to read this verse with envy, as though the best moment in history has already gone. One writer draws the opposite conclusion. What the disciples had was only a beginning.
We must admit something about the words before us. However much the men of old loved the coming Messiah, their love could not have the drive and strength that the power of His infinite grace gave to renewed hearts. Those hearts followed His steps, hung on His words, and delighted in His ways here below. The Lord could say, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!" Yet even that wonderful privilege was clearly less than the mighty gain brought in by His death, resurrection and ascension. This is even more true once God gave the Holy Spirit, to grasp it all fully and to bear witness to it.
The Lord called these men blessed. He also rebuked them. Being close to Christ does not by itself give understanding of Him.
Day by day a display of heavenly deeds like no other moved before the eyes of these privileged men. Yet none of the apostles truly saw the wonder of the Messiah and His ways. The Lord Himself said to His disciples privately, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!" But to the very men He called blessed He also said, in reproof, "Having eyes, do you not see? Having ears, do you not hear?"
- Private. The Lord speaks this blessing aside to His disciples — not to the great and noble, but to those who were little more than babes.
- Timing. It comes after rejection. He turns His followers from the refusal around them back to the object of their faith.
- Sight. The blessing is not in outward seeing and hearing. It is in the understanding that the unbelieving crowd lacked.
- Reach. Prophets and kings longed for this and died without it. God's earlier appearings could not match the presence of the Son come in flesh.
- More. Their privilege was still less than what came with His death, resurrection, ascension and the gift of the Spirit. So the warning "having eyes, do you not see?" lands on us hardest of all.
For I say to you that many prophets and kings have desired to see the things which ye behold, and did not see [them]; and to hear the things which ye hear, and did not hear [them].
Jesus turns to His disciples and tells them how blessed they are. They were being shown what generations of godly people had longed for and never received.
These words close a passage where the Lord opens His heart. One writer traces that passage and ends at this verse.
Luke 10:18-24 gives a wonderfully full revelation of all that was in Christ's heart at that moment when He was going away. There are the "names written in heaven," and the revelation "to babes." There is the Son, too glorious to be known — that was His true character. There is the Father, known to Him only and to those He revealed Him to. And there is the blessing of those whose eyes had been opened to see what they saw by His presence. It is an exquisite expression of Christ's heart when passing from this world to the Father.
What were their eyes on? The Father, made known by the Son — and made known only as the Son chooses.
The Father was working, revealing things to babes. The Son was revealing the Father, as He alone could, who knew Him as the Father. There was something men could not know — the Son. That is for the Father alone to know. There was something they could know — the Father — and the Son was making Him known, but as He chose. So men depended on the will and grace of the Son to know the Father. It was a new revelation. Blessed must they be who share in it… What a privilege the disciples enjoyed — and Christians enjoy it too!
Many people saw and heard Jesus but understood nothing. So the blessing does not rest on eyesight alone.
The Lord did not attach this blessedness to mere outward seeing and hearing. He describes that kind of seeing elsewhere, and He contrasts it with the intelligent understanding of the disciples: "seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand… But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear."
Even the disciples needed correction here. The Lord called them blessed, and He also questioned them.
Day after day a unique display of heavenly deeds passed before the eyes of these privileged men. Yet none of the apostles truly grasped the wonder of the Messiah and His ways… And to these same blessed men He said in rebuke, "You have eyes — do you not see? You have ears — do you not hear?"
The prophets and kings Jesus names spent their whole lives waiting.
Many prophets and many kings waited for God's covenant with longing patience. They passed their days on earth as strangers and travellers, until that day of Christ should come — the day that would justify and reward the long-tried patience of their souls.
Their loss is not permanent. They will yet see what they missed.
Many prophets and righteous men had wanted to see what the disciples saw, but they never lived to see that day. Will they lose their joy? No. They will see the day of Christ's glory. They will see the harvest that grew from the seed they sowed in patience and under difficulty — a harvest known perhaps only to themselves and to God.
The disciples had more than the prophets did. Yet their privilege was not the highest point.
Even that wonderful privilege was less than the mighty increase brought in by His death, and resurrection, and ascension. This was true above all when the Holy Spirit was given, so that they could grasp it all fully and bear witness to it.
God has given us more than the disciples had. That brings a danger: treating holy truth as ordinary.
I know of nothing more deadening to the conscience, nothing more damaging to the spiritual life, than to handle holy truths while they have no power in our hearts. The same is true when we fail to realise what a wonderful privilege we have… The Lord Jesus could say that to His disciples when He was here on earth. How much more does it apply to us? We have received the Holy Spirit, the wonderful unfolding of the secrets of the very heart of God.
- Longing — Prophets and kings waited as strangers and travellers. They died still holding the promise.
- Arrival — The disciples saw what those men longed for: the Son revealing the Father, as He chose to.
- Sight — The blessing was not in eyes and ears, but in understanding. Others saw the same Man and grasped nothing.
- Increase — His death, resurrection and ascension went further still, and so did the gift of the Spirit.
- Danger — We have more than prophets and kings had. The risk is treating it as familiar truth with no power in the heart.