The Blind Onlookers - John 9
by Shannon Hernandez, Facilities Director
Over the past fews weeks as a staff and at Sunday Night Church, we have been studying John 9. This passage recounts the miracle of Jesus healing a man born blind and includes the reactions of many groups of people to the miracle. In each of these reactions from the “seeing” onlookers, we see different causes of blindness.
At the beginning of the chapter, before Jesus even heals the man, the disciples were blinded to the man’s need for healing by their preoccupation with whose sin had made him blind- the man’s or his parent’s. I wonder if the disciples would have even stopped to help if Jesus hadn’t taken the initiative. The man’s neighbors, who were accustomed to seeing this man sit and beg each day, had a hard time believing that the now seeing man was the same man and, upon hearing that Jesus healed him, took him to the Pharisees. How could they not give glory to God? Perhaps their blindness to the power of God kept them from believing that their neighbor had been healed and led them to look to the religious leaders rather than Jesus for answers. The Pharisees were also blinded by their religious beliefs, which kept them from seeing the miracle in front of them. Because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath (which they deemed work and unlawful), they refused to see this miracle for what it was. Instead, they doubted the man’s testimony, insulted him, and threw him out of the synagogue. The last pair of onlookers were blinded by their fear. These were the man’s parents, whose dread of being cast out of the synagogue kept them acknowledging who healed their son. Can you imagine the emotion of having a child healed after so many years? What joy and celebration! But that is not what we see here… instead, they are silenced by their fear of the religious leaders.
By the end of this story, we see that the formerly blind man is the only one who is truly seeing. Only he testifies about what Jesus has done for him, believing and worshiping Jesus as the Son of Man. And Jesus leaves us a pretty stark commentary in verses 39 and 41 saying, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind,” and “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.”
In one of our staff huddles I posed the question, “as Christians, are we currently blind or able to see?” One of the staff answered, “Yes, both.” And I believe there is a lot of wisdom in that answer.
“By the end of this story, we see that the formerly blind man is the only one who is truly seeing. ”
As Christians, God has opened our eyes to many truths about him- that he is the healer and that Jesus is the Son of Man. But we must not be so bold as to assume that we see all things clearly. Like the disciples, we can be blinded by our judgment of others- blaming them for their problems instead of reaching out to them with the compassion of Jesus. We can let our preconceived notions of how God works (and doesn’t work) blind us to the miracles that are occurring in the lives of our neighbors. Like the Pharisees, our religious beliefs can keep us from seeing the ways that God is moving in our lives. And like the parents, our fear of the reactions of others can blind us from the truly miraculous, preventing us from celebrating and worshiping our great God. This passage made this so clear to me. Will you join me in praying this week that our preconceived “religious beliefs” will not get in the way of us truly seeing God? Will you join me in praying that we will prioritize the work God is doing and not allow ourselves to get distracted with judgment or fear?