“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”
The Aaronic Blessing in the Book of Numbers in Scripture
I have been recently reflecting on the impact of a person’s gaze. You can gaze with the hope of communicating love, delight, joy, and desire. Or, you can gaze at a person with contempt, anger, hatred, distrust, or suspicion. In a gaze, there is one who gives and one who receives. It can become a mutual gazing where both parties give and receive. In both cases, something invisible is transferred and internalized. I think of prayer (contemplation) as a form of gazing upon the face of Christ, who sees me with love, justice, in truth, and mercy. When I sit and seek to receive the gaze of Christ, my heart settles into a peace and stillness that comes out of a deep knowing that I am cradled in His arms. My big brother has me in Truth. In fact, my big brother sees me with love. Truth and love are deeply settling as I become grounded in reality and in embrace.
Jesus is so good at addressing the heart of the matter with me. He pierces through the hurt and hardened exterior with words that soften and bring me to remorse and receptivity of His embrace. Truth and Love. The more I open myself to receive God’s gaze, the lighter I become. I have also noticed that His gaze upon me impacts my gaze upon others. The more Christ pierces through my hurt and hardened exterior, the more I can receive Christ’s embrace of me which opens me to embrace and see others differently. As I receive Christ’s gaze, I am drawn out, as though being sculpted out of a block of marble. Christ’s face upon me dissipates the stuff that is not me. As a result, I become more clear, more me, in the face of Christ.
The Aaronic Blessings hints at the gift that is the Gaze of God. I am struck by this imagery because to see and receive a gaze, I must look up. I must be willing to have my eyes meet another’s – in this case, Christ’s. When I hide from Him, I hide from His gaze. I can get stuck gazing at some storm or staring at myself, usually with fear and judgment. This can paralyze me, keeping me from receiving Christ’s gaze upon me. In those moments, I cry out, “HELP!” Find me, Lord, turn my eyes upon you — your sheep is stuck! The good shepherd always finds me, and brings me back to Him, in His gaze.
© 2025 Megan Mitts. All Rights Reserved.