Do we look at situations with “inside eyes” or “outside eyes”? We used the example of when we enter a church building. If we have been in the building many times, we are in a sense citizens of the land. Our “inside eyes” notice when something has changed - like flower arrangements on Easter morning - because we’ve been there many Sundays before. But sometimes things become invisible to us - like clutter stacked up in a particular corner. When we visit a church for the first time, we are foreigners to the land, and we see things with “outside eyes.” We notice the number of crucifixes, the sparkles in ceiling paint, bulletin information and where the extension cords are located. We see things from a fresh perspective.

When Jesus was on the cross, many in the crowd thought He was calling for Elijah, who was supposed to precede the arrival of the Messiah. These Jews knew their scripture well. Jesus had performed many miracles. Perhaps Elijah descending to rescue Him from the cross would be THE big miracle - the one that would finally set up the Messiah’s earthly kingdom and overthrow Rome. These citizens of Israel had very good “inside eyes,” but they overlooked something.

The centurion was a Roman soldier - a foreigner to the land. Certainly he’d watched the story surrounding this Rabbi Jesus unfold. It was big news in Jerusalem. But in the end, he was a soldier, and he followed orders. He directed his men to nail Jesus and the others to their crosses and waited for them to die. Except - there was something different about Jesus and His death. Darkness fell on the land, Jesus forgave all, an earthquake shook the ground and the temple veil was rent from top to bottom. And this foreigner exclaimed, “Truly this man was the Son of God.”

The centurion’s path didn’t follow that of the Jews. Although this Roman soldier wouldn’t have been able to understand the significance of the torn veil in front of the Holy of Holies, he did see what the Jews did not: Jesus is the Son of God. Now we have a relationship with God that has no veil. Let’s take a new look at our faith and beliefs with “outside eyes” and see whether we can find something that we’ve been overlooking. Let us also use our “inside eyes” to ponder deeply some subtle thoughts on scripture or our faith. Perhaps the Lord will show us something new on our foreigner’s path.