He stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael felt ashamed. Then the man of God began to weep.
Ever been gazed by someone? It brings about different initial feelings depending on who’s looking at you and the circumstances surrounding it. If it’s my sister talking about her boyfriend’s stare, that’s a blush moment. If it’s the kiddos seeing my serious look, they knew it’s high time to pick up their toys. If it’s from another woman scanning you from head to foot, it’s either she envies your dress or you did a mismatch. If it’s from a suspicious looking stranger, sure it’d hurry your feet to blend in with the crowd instead of being singled out. What is common though, is that being gazed upon makes one uncomfortable, paranoid, and insecure. And the feeling lingers ‘til the ‘why’ question has been satisfied.
When Hazael was sent to meet the prophet Elisha and inquire about the king’s fate in connection with his current illness, he was next met with a fixed gaze. That was an awkward first meeting for two men. If he readily noted that Elisha was in fact from their enemy country, that stare could have easily be taken as an insult, igniting a fight. Good thing his reputation went ahead of him as the one who healed Aram’s army commander from leprosy and the one who suggested feast and freedom to their once captured men. But still Hazael wondered why he was given such special notice. It probably went on for minutes because his uneasiness grew to shame. The same feeling when Adam and Eve realized they were naked. As if those eyes looked past his pretense and saw the sin in his heart. But what disturbed him most was when Elisha started weeping and prophesied he will be God’s punishment to Israel’s idolatry. He denied the possibility and kept the mode by denying the king of a full report. The next day, guess who showed up at the king’s bed, spreading a thick, soaked cloth to the face ’til the ill, old man suffocated to death? Hazael may have deceived himself, or thought he could bluff Elisha, but God was the one who gazed through his heart and found guilt, even before he acted upon it. God was the one who first wept for his sin, moreso for the sin of his beloved Israel. The same weeping Jesus did when he was nearing Jerusalem, knowing their sin would lead to the judgment siege that would soon encircle them. It was a heartbreaking gaze.
How would you like for God to fix His eyes on your heart? What will He see? Will He weep much seeing those sins, or more because you will hurt His beloved? ‘All may stumble and fall, but I never will!’ was the resounding words of Simon Peter. But the world knew now he did it thrice. And so were the rest of the heroes of faith. From eternity past God already gazed upon their hearts, and ours, and saw sin. He knew it will lower our faces, make us uncomfortable and bring us much shame. And so He sent His Son and gave Him the cross. He took the public’s gaze and endured the pain of nakedness, in our stead. More importantly, He did it to spare us from God’s sure judgment because of our sin. It is only through Jesus will condemnation pass over us. If we humbly acknowledge His saving work, not only will we welcome His gaze to prune us, it also gives us the privilege to gaze back and see His beauty and grace. You’d love those eyes :>
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