closes our eyes

Monday October 19^th, Isaiah 53:  ⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. The scape goat was the one on which the sins of a tribe or village were placed and then the goat was sent out into the wilderness where it was fair game for the predators.  Such an example is used to foretell the coming of the savior.  On him, On Jesus, was laid the sins for us all because after all of our bravado and desire to be in control, we could not do it.  Salvation is a gift, pure gift.  Seeing our sin opens our eyes to the gift of forgiveness, the gift of life we receive.  Closing our eyes to our own culpability closes our eyes to our salvation and the shining love that has come into the world.   Closing our hearts to the other in their time of need of grace has the same effect as closing our eyes.  In doing so we shut ourselves off from accepting the love of God.