DTEB, “THE BLIND MAN WHO SAW JESUS”

I came back from Florida with a nice tan (in places) and a lot of nice memories.  I also came back with pink eye.  (“Conjunctivitis” is the official name, but “pink eye” is a much more colorful term for it.)  By Tuesday morning when I got up, my eyes were welded shut, and I realized that I needed to go to the doctor.  I am on eye drops now, and can see much better.

Blindness comes in many forms.  One of the best things I do for my spiritual eyesight and sanity is that I go through a 3-minute retreat most days.  I get free e mails from Loyola Press with these retreats.  Each of these retreats has a brief centering exercise, a short passage from the Bible, a few comments, two questions, and a very brief prayer.  You really can go through these retreats in three minutes!

Today’s meditation was based on John 9:35-38.  Here is the author’s observations about this brief passage:

“The conclusion to the story of the man born blind gives much food for thought. The man who is physically blind at the beginning of the story not only gains his sight but also gains insight with regard to the identity of Jesus. He calls Jesus a prophet, a man from God, and finally Lord. Even in the face of being rejected by his community, the man born blind took a stand when he said, “I do believe, Lord.” When the story ends, he is the one able to see the true identity of Jesus. One unsolicited encounter with Jesus was all it took for him to believe. His affirmation of faith moved him to worship.” (https://www.loyolapress.com/retreats/do-you-believe-start-retreat, accessed 02-21-2018.)

Yes!  Sometimes those who are blind end up seeing things that the sighted don’t see.

But then, we’re all pretty blind, aren’t we?  There is so much that I can’t see, but there is still more that I choose not to see.  The truth is that I often don’t want to see.  If I saw, I might have to change; I might have to do something about what I saw.  Who wants to do that?!

In fact, even before his physical sight was restored and his spiritual sight grew, the blind man had to do something.  We are told this fact earlier in the story, which spans all of John, chapter 9.  In verses 6 and 7, we are told that Jesus spit on ground, made mud with the saliva, put it over the man’s eyes, and sent the man to wash in the pool Siloam.  (Ironically, the pool to which the man was sent had a name that was probably built up off the Hebrew word that means “to send.”)

One thing that I had never noticed, as many times as I’ve read this chapter, is that Jesus doesn’t even promise the blind man that he will be able to see after he washes.  Jesus just says, Go do it!

And I have to wonder what the blind man was thinking.  Was the blind man thinking to himself, “Well, this is about the cruelest practical joke anyone has ever played on me!  First, this guy that I don’t know from Adam spits on the ground, makes some mud, and smears it over my eyes.  Then, he tells me to stumble around and go wash in the pool of Siloam.  What good would that do?”

We aren’t told if the blind man had any misgivings.  What we are told is that the blind man did what Jesus had said.  He went, he washed, —and he saw.

Perhaps the blind man had been listening intently as Jesus responded to his disciples’ rather theoretical question about who had sinned: this man or his parents, that he should be born blind.  (Jesus-followers can ask the stupidest questions.)

Jesus’ response to the disciples pointed out that neither of their either-or choices was correct, at least in this case.  Rather, Jesus spoke of the fact that, in this case, God’s works would be displayed in the blind man.  Jesus also referred to himself as the light of the world.

If the blind man heard this exchange, perhaps something in what Jesus said—or the tone in which Jesus said it—awakened some desperate hope in the blind man.  Be that as it may, the bottom line is this: The blind man did what Jesus had said, and was no longer blind.  He could see!

Are your eyes welded shut?  Listen to Jesus/God and do what he says.  Might help!