Who’s Really Blind?

Dear Kids,

John 9:41. “Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.” (NASB)

The glaring sun pointed angry fingers at the well-dressed men emerging from the synagogue. Each one raised a hand to his turbaned brow as a shield from its penetrating beams while straining to see the approaching crowd.

“What’s going on?” one questioned. “A group like this can only mean trouble.” But upon closer observation the atmosphere seemed to be one more of excitement than disturbance. The spokesman’s eyes narrowed with disdain. “This is the Sabbath. This kind of activity is not appropriate on such a holy day,” he snarled under his breath.

As the group approached, a man was pushed forward. Though his clothes seemed disheveled, his eyes shone bright and clear. The shining orbs bounced from place to place and face to face as if he had never seen such glorious colors and sights in his life.

Immediately the religious leaders recognized a familiar blind man. Yet now the previously filmy eyes were as clear as the sky on a cloudless day. The enthusiasm and twinkle beneath the blue spoke of something deeper than physical vision and this confidence irked the Pharisees down to their core.

“How did you receive your sight?” they asked harshly.”A man came to me. He applied clay to my eyes. I washed and now I see!”

The leaders glanced at each other angrily with knowing looks. “What is the deal with this rebel teacher/healer who goes around forgiving sins and making blind men see – on the Sabbath no less? Who does he think he is, God or something? Yet a persistent doubt entered the minds of some, creating a rift in the malevolent unity. “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?”

“This supposed miracle can’t be true. Call his parents.”

Some time later an older couple were led into the group. The woman wrung her hands while the gray headed man wiped his face with a ragged piece of linen. Their initial excitement over their son’s healing was dampened when they had been summoned to testify. They had heard that the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed their son’s healer to be the Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.

Unwilling to risk the embarrassment and social disgrace of banishment from the religious heart of their society, they chose to ignore the questions asked of them, placing the burden of proof back on their son.

The angry men questioned the restored defendant again and began to apply the pressure that usually produced success. “Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner.” But he answered, “Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

Frustrated with their lack of success the determined men continued to ply the patient with repeated questions, seeking to entrap him in his words. But as they grew more blinded in their rage, the light  of understanding began to dawn brighter for the man who had just received his physical sight.

His lucid eyes peered accusingly into the stormy faces, “You say that you do not know where this man is from. Well, here is an amazing thing. You don’t know where he is from and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not hear sinners, but only those who are God-fearing and do his will. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone has opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

A purple vein throbbed in the forehead of the spokesman of the angry group. In blind rage he shook his fist and spat out his final reply, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” Get out of our sight and don’t ever step foot in this temple again.”

Later Jesus found the subdued and confused victim of the verbal attack and revealed His identity as the Son of God. The man believed and without taking his restored eyes from Jesus’ face he worshipped the One who had healed him and given him his sight – both physical and spiritual.

“Why do these religious leaders not see the truth?” he asked. Jesus replied, “For judgment I have come into the world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

Some eavesdropping Pharisees countered, “What? Are we blind too?” Jesus looked from one face to another reading deep into their souls,  “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”

The healed man saw Jesus as the light of the world and realized his need for a savior. The  self-righteous religious leaders thought they had all the answers and refused to believe Jesus was the Son of God. That left them in spiritual darkness. Who’s really blind here?

Love,

Mama