Healing Rays of Righteousness

Read John 9:1-41

In the biblical story of John 9, Jesus brings healing to a man who had been “blind from birth” and who has never seen the face of his parents or his friends.  Neither has he ever seen the dazzling colors of a sunrise or sunset, the beauty of flowering bushes, flying birds, flowing streams, or a starlit sky.

As Jesus is walking along, he sees this man and stops to heal him.  Yes, for Jesus, no one is ever lost in the crowd.  He knows each one of us, where we are, and what our need is.  He knows the cause of our blindness and he wants to heal us, if we let him.  This truth is our daily strength and hope.

And so, after answering his disciples question regarding whose sin caused this man’s blindness, Jesus healed the man’s eyes.  Mixing his own saliva with some soil, making a mudpack, he plasters the man’s eyes.  Then he tells the man to “Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam.”

The blind man believed, went, and washed – just as Jesus commanded – and he “came home seeing.”  Can you feel the emotions erupting within him?  Can you imagine the joy, the amazement that filled him as he walked home “seeing” everything and everybody around him?  Here was a man who could not venture into new territory without being led, but now he “came home seeing.” 

Here was a stunning miracle – a man blind since birth suddenly given eyesight, but no one is celebrating with him. His neighbors are doubtful and his parents are worried about the religious and legal ramifications, while the Pharisees find the whole episode threatening and foreboding.

In spite of the Pharisees attack, the healed man, without anyone coming to his defense, not even his own parents, refuses to give in to the charges they make concerning his healer, Jesus.  He simply speaks the truth as he has experienced it.  He admits he does not know a lot about this Jesus, but “One thing I do know,” – and this he clings to without wavering – “I was blind but now I see!”

The man’s life was changed physically and spiritually.  He was no longer blind, but now “seeing” and experiencing a new life of relationship with God.  And when Jesus heard that he had been thrown out of the synagogue, Jesus went and introduced himself as the “Son of Man.”  Hearing this, the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and then worshiped Jesus.

This story gives us the opportunity to consider the possibility of our own blindness.  This story also tells us that spiritual blindness is worse than physical blindness.  Physical blindness can be healed, but willful spiritual blindness resists healing.

The Pharisees were blinded by their dogmatic belief in their tradition and the Law of Moses and could neither see nor understand the healing miracle.  If they believed in what Jesus had done, then their law would be wrong.  And because they believed that to be impossible, they concluded that Jesus was not from God since he “does not keep the Sabbath.”

Tradition is a good and healthy thing – it gives us roots that connect us with our heritage, and helps us judge our thoughts and actions by the standards of those who have gone before us.  But tradition is not God – and we must always be aware that tradition can become an idol that blinds us to what God is saying and doing among us today.

The parents and neighbors are blinded by their worry and fear of the Jewish leaders and so are hesitant to give witness that Jesus, God’s messiah, was in their midst.  Yes, fear kept them from “seeing” Jesus, and fear can blind us as well.

I consider fear to be the most destructive weapon in the devil’s arsenal to keep us from “seeing” God’s hand in our lives and in our world.  We may fear loss – health, accident, death – or friends, job, home.  We may fear offending others who question or ridicule our faith and biblical understandings.  We may even fear the possibility that God may give us something that will be new, overwhelming and different than what we had in mind.  All of these various fears are capable of blinding us to the reality of Jesus’ healing, teaching presence in our midst.

And yes, I think we all need to admit that there are also times when we really don’t want to see truth, but prefer to live by our desires, our prejudices and be affirmed in what we know to be safe and familiar.   And so, we refuse to open our eyes to the possibility of seeing Jesus alive and doing kingdom work in our life and community.

The good news of this story is that the man born blind does not remain blind – and neither do we need to remain blind.  Jesus offers the man the chance not only to see the light, but to be light.  And Jesus offers the same to each of us.  What is it that keeps us from being able to “see” Jesus today?