Silliman University Church Reflections

Our Scripture lesson today seems pretty straightforward. Jesus heals a blind man by the well of Siloam. It is a simple story about the power of God. But is the message really that simple? The conflict that follows the event reveal much more. Was the blind man, blind because he was sinful? Was his blindness punishment for his sins? Who is Jesus, who makes a blind man see? And what about Jesus parting words “I came to make the blind see, but those with eyesight I make blind”. And the Pharisees cry, “What, are we blind too?” There is more than the healing of the blind man here. There is a struggle of faith and talk of new vision.

Quantum physicist Arthur Zajoc writes of studies which investigated patients recovering from congenital blindness. Thanks to cornea transplants, people who had been blind from birth gain function of their eyes only gradually. Zajoc talks about a young boy. “Upon awakening from surgery, the boy was confused with the light, color, and shapes he was seeing,” Light and eyes were not enough to grant the boy sight. The light made him see the world, but the mind was unable to explain the world, though his eyes were open.

“The power to see is learned slowly” the doctor said. “To give back sight to a blind person is more the work of an educator than of a surgeon. The truth is vision requires more than a functioning eye. Without an inner light, without visual imagination, we are blind”. We need “inner light” — the light of the mind, spiritual sight that creates meaning, before we understand what we see.”

Physical blindness is difficult enough to heal. But healing a man with congenital blindness, was the easier part for Jesus. More difficult was convincing those with perfect eyesight that indeed a blind man had been healed. Those with eyesight jealously grilled the man. How did Jesus heal you? Who is Jesus? Is he from God when he violates the law of the Sabbath? Are you with him too? Were you really blind from birth? Call your parents. The parents confirm in fear that he was blind from birth and said, why don’t you ask him, he is an adult already. The parents were afraid they would be expelled if they believed in Jesus.

One blind man sees. But those with eyesight have been blinded.
Let’s look at some forms of blindness.

1. Blindness due to prejudice
Note, the disciples’ questions: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  Blindness was thought of as punishment for sin. The blind man was judged a sinner. Jesus:Judge not lest ye be judged, (Matt.7:1-2). Prejudging is a favorite past time because it makes some persons feel alright with God. If blindness is punishment for sin, and I am not blind, therefore, I am free of sin.

Prejudice makes us think that we are better than other people. That is one kind of blindness.

When we see a teenage mother struggling to raise her child alone, we say, “Well, she should have waited, until she was married.”

When we see the effects of alcohol or drugs on the lives of people, we say, “They deserve it!”? This prevents us from seeing the world and its people and prevents us from recognizing the work of God that needs to be done.

2. Blindness due to skepticism!
The neighbors were skeptical of what happened. They see what they want to see. They remembered this man as being blind and begging at the Temple gate, and now he is up walking around. Some of them wondered, “Was he really blind, or was he just pretending to be blind, in order to be a beggar?”

We too struggle with skepticism. It is often a mechanism to seek comfort in what is familiar. Skepticism shuts out God’s action.
The captain of the Titanic refused to believe the ship was sinking till water was knee deep in his room. Only then did he believe the hull had been pierced and the unsinkable ship was going to sink.

3. Blinded by religion!
When the Pharisees were confronted with the blind man who was healed, they debated. This is a stage managed event, the blind man is a conspirator with Jesus. Jesus is a sinner because he healed on the Sabbath. Whatever he does is not of God.

We too rely on our traditions and heritage to escape responsibility. Our structures and doctrines sometimes prevent us from doing God’s command. Traditions protect us but they make us slow to act.

4. Blinded by fear
When the blind man’s parents were called and asked, was he really blind from childhood? The parents were afraid. Why don’t you ask him, he is old enough. The parents were afraid they would be thrown out of the synagogue. They couldn’t proclaim the truth because of fear.
Fear cripples us, and keeps us from affirming the work of God completely, in our persons, and in our community.
We started out saying, this is a simple story of God’s miraculous power. Jesus healed a blind man! But Jesus also explains other forms of blindness — prejudice, skepticism, religious pride, fear. These are forms of blindness which are as bad as or even worse than literal blindness.

In order to  understand, we need inner light, a willingness to see with eyes of faith.
Helen Keller was once asked: “Is there anything worse than being blind? Her answer: “Yes, a man with eyes, who has no vision.” The Pharisee question “Are we blind too?  is a question we might well ask ourselves from time to time. Because we have eyes but sometimes no vision.

(Sermon delivered March 2, 2008, SU church, Acknowledgement Larry Hiles)