March 11: Jesus Opens Our Eyes

As the encounter between Jesus and some Pharisees reveals, blindness takes on two distinct meanings. In an obvious, physical sense, blindness means one is sightless, unable to see. In a moral or mental blindness, one is either unable or unwilling to judge moral values or even see inconsistencies in one's way of thinking. Both senses of blindness are obvious in this miracle performed by Jesus. Physical healing of the blind man led to the exposure of moral and ethical inability to understand on the part of the Pharisees. How was the healing of the blind man received?

Wiley Richards is a retired professor of theology and philosophy at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville.

• The healing of the blind man evoked the curiosity of the neighbors (vv. 8-14). The neighbors were in a quandary about what had happened to the physical change in the man who stood before them. Some asked the rhetorical question of whether it was the one who formerly sat and begged. Could it be the same man? Others suggested that the healed man looked like the one who begged. Finally a neighbor asked the man how his eyes were opened. He explained the process a man named Jesus had used to heal him. Jesus had anointed his eyes with clay and ordered him to wash in the pool of Siloam (v. 11). He performed as Jesus commanded and came away seeing (v. 7).

• Surprisingly for us, the healing of the man born blind (v. 1) revealed the fearfulness of his parents (vv. 20-22). Not satisfied with the man's healing and critical of the healing on a Sabbath (v. 16), the Jews sought out the man's parents to confirm (1) whether he was their son, (2) whether he had been born blind, and if so (3) how he could now see (v. 19). The parents confirmed the first two questions but waffled on answering the third. Fearful of being cast out of the synagogue if they confessed that Jesus was God's Anointed One (Christ), they referred the question back to their son, his being of legal age to answer for himself.

• The next encounter revealed the courage of the healed man (vv. 24-25). The Jews prodded him with what they thought was a devastating argument, that Jesus must be a sinner because He profaned the Sabbath. A sinner presumably could not open blind eyes. The healed man's answer was equally devastating: "One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I can see,"

• The conversation revealed the simple logic of the healed man (vv. 30-33). The Jews called upon their history to buttress their argument. They knew all about Moses but knew nothing about Jesus, especially where He came from. He therefore could not be from God. The man's answer demolished their analysis. In all of history, no one has ever heard of anyone opening the eyes of the blind. Therefore Jesus had to be from God.

• The final encounter with Jesus revealed the salvation of the healed man (vv. 35-39). The man's "eyes" were ready for spiritual light. At Jesus inquiry whether he believed in the "Son of Man," the man pled ignorance, asking Jesus to show him. Jesus replied, "You have seen Him, in fact, He is the One speaking with you." The man immediately believed and worshiped Jesus.

Some of the Pharisees tried to intimidate Jesus. After all, they thought, surely He was not calling them blind (vv. 39, 40). Jesus replied that their sin remained because they deliberately chose to be blind (v. 41).