Photo by: lobsterboy2
For an interesting conversation, read again the 9th chapter of John’s Gospel.
It has so many good lines about a blind beggar who can’t see until Jesus heals him, and two groups of people whose sight isn’t nearly as good as they think it is.
The chapter starts with Jesus’ disciples asking a question about the blind man. “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
The disciples think they are seeing in the man’s disability a direct consequence of somebody’s sin. But Jesus’ response shows that, by asking the “who?” question, they are showing that the blind man isn’t the only one who can’t see. He goes to explain that the real question was a “why?” that only God can answer.
Jesus then heals the blind man and a wider discussion begins. People who had known the man as a blind beggar are confused. Some say, “This is him.” Others say, “No, it just looks like him.” The man says, “It’s me!”
When they ask the man what happened, “He explains that a man called Jesus has healed him.
Knowing that Jesus is an issue, the man’s neighbors bring him to the religious leaders who have made it known that anyone who calls Jesus the Messiah will be put out of the Synagogue.
Photo by: Mike Seidman
So the Pharisees grill the man asking him what happened. When he tells them what Jesus has done, the Pharisees inform him that if it’s true, he’s been healed by a sinner (because it happened on the Sabbath.
But the religious leaders aren’t ready to believe the man. So they go and find his parents. His mother and father confirm that, yes, this is their son, and he was born blind.
Not wanting to be thrown out of the synagogue, however, the parents, are afraid to say more. So they say they don’t know how their son has been healed. But, they add, if the leaders really want to know, since their son is old enough to speak for himself, they should ask him.
So the Pharisees call for the man again and urge him to give glory to God for his healing and not to Jesus—who they insist is a sinner.
At this point the man answers with his now famous line, “Whether he is a sinner or not I don’t know. All I know is that, though I was blind, now I can see.”
What I find especially interesting is how this incident resolves. When Jesus hears that the man has been thrown out of the synagogue he goes, finds him, and opens the man’s eyes and heart even wider.
In the process some religious leaders overhear Jesus say that he has come into the world to open the eyes of the blind, and to close the eyes of those who think they can see (v 39).
To this the Pharisees ask whether Jesus is implying that they are blind. He replies, “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty….But you remain guilty because you claim you can see” (John 9:41).
So I wonder, what do these religious leaders think they can see? And why does Jesus want to make them blind? Is it so that they will not be able to see him, or is it so that they can?
One translation says, “I have come to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind” (NLT).
Am wondering whether this has application not only for those who are still outside of Christ, but also for those of us who, while being in him, and while knowing and worshiping him as the Son of God, have lost sight of how much he alone can see.
Maybe that’s why the wise man says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him. And he will direct your paths” (Prov 3:5-7).
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