Have you ever been given the evil eye? Or you might have heard someone describe how they were looked upon as, ‘they gave me the evils’. It’s the same thing. It comes from the story of Nazar, the charm.
You will have seen them on your travels in the many markets around the world. The charm is called ‘Nazar’ and more often than not it is a blue glass jewellery piece to ward off the ‘evil eye’ that comes from someone who is wishing bad-luck on you. If you have ever been to Turkey you will definitely have seen these amulets as they are everywhere! Even on their budget aeroplanes a Nazar was placed, though it didn’t help them as they went bust in 2007.
It dates back to at least 6th century BC as drinking vessels have been found with Nazar engraved on them. But even today especially in some Asian and African cultures the strong belief that your soul can be damaged or even lost means that these charms are placed on people and their animals to ward off the evil eye.
The Greek Philosopher, Plutarch, who was born only 15 years after Jesus was the leading voice regarding the power of the evil eye so potent to even cause the death of children and small animals.
They were prevalent in the Jewish culture. In the Midrash Sarah casts an evil eye on Hagar causing her to miscarry her pregnancy. In the Talmud the descendants of Joseph are immune from the evil eye.
So Paul uses this as we begin chapter 3 of Galatians and enter into the bulk of the main part of his letter to them.
“You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.” (Galatians 3 v 1)
‘Who has put the evil eye on you?’ That’s what Paul was saying. ‘Who has put a spell on you?’
They know Jesus the Messiah was crucified for them. He had gone into great detail about the cross of Christ and what Jesus had suffered. He is astounded that his portrayal in his preaching to them had not prevented them from being ‘bewitched’.
Recently I was with a group of people who had all fallen out with one another. My task was to try and keep them together for the sake of the church. The divisions were historically deep, personal and hurtful. The only way forward was that everyone had to lose. So I suggested that every one of them no matter how right they felt they were, all of them should willingly and voluntarily hang on the cross like Christ had done for them. Was it possible that we could there and then visualise ourselves dying for each other?
You see, as I meet so many people and find myself in all kinds of situations of conflict, it feels at times that I am with people of the cross who have lost sight of the cross. Victory over their brother or sister in Christ is more important than the cross of Christ. When Christians use social media to attack others, they may feel vindicated, but where is the cross?
It isn’t just in conflict either. The most powerful act of God was an event that looked like a horrible twisted gory mess. It was torture. Blood and broken flesh. It was not pretty. This was no Oscar winning performance. This was horrible. Yet it was the most powerful thing that God did. Our Sunday Church services are one of the best places for people to see who the Church is. The atmosphere, the fellowship, the worship, the teaching, the announcements of the events. It needs to be good. We must have a lovely place for people to come to etc. But when the pressure to perform enters the arena we lose sight of the blood-soaked cross. When the most important person is the presence of ourselves or even the visitors then we have lost sight of the presence of our nail-printed Jesus.
Paul calls them stupid. He is not speaking of their mental state. But the fact that they have been blinded he is saying spiritually they are foolish. The rules that we place on each other have nothing to do with the cross. Circumcision as a means to prove you are a true follower has nothing to do with the cross. Arguing over whether we should pay a tithe (has I heard the other day) has nothing to do with the cross. Walking out of the church because a woman is preaching has nothing to do with the cross. There are Christians today who are bewitched. They know about the cross but they are blinded to the message of it.
We don’t need a Nazar. We do need to consecrate our hearts. We do need to humbly come and kneel at the cross again.
So what happened to my group of people? Was it possible that they all hung on a cross and die for each other? It was possible but they didn’t do it. In the end in trying to win they all lost and so did God’s church. Why? They had been bewitched.
Missions Paul 