During the month of ministry at St. Nicholas’ Home in Malaysia, I came to a greater understanding of what it truly means to be blind.
The Scripture in John 9:1-41, gives the definition of true blindness.
In the beginning of the chapter, the scene starts with Jesus healing a man who was born blind.
Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?”
Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world’s Light.”
He said this and then spit in the dust, made a clay paste with the saliva, rubbed the paste on the blind man’s eyes, and said, “Go, wash at the Pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “Sent”). The man went and washed—and saw.
Soon the town was buzzing. His relatives and those who year after year had seen him as a blind man begging were saying, “Why, isn’t this the man we knew, who sat here and begged?”
Others said, “It’s him all right!”
But others objected, “It’s not the same man at all. It just looks like him.”
He said, “It’s me, the very one.”
They said, “How did your eyes get opened?”
“A man named Jesus made a paste and rubbed it on my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ I did what he said. When I washed, I saw.”
“So where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
They marched the man to the Pharisees. This day when Jesus made the paste and healed his blindness was the Sabbath. The Pharisees grilled him again on how he had come to see. He said, “He put a clay paste on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.”
Some of the Pharisees said, “Obviously, this man can’t be from God. He doesn’t keep the Sabbath.”
Others countered, “How can a bad man do miraculous, God-revealing things like this?” There was a split in their ranks.
They came back at the blind man, “You’re the expert. He opened your eyes. What do you say about him?”
He said, “He is a prophet.”
The Jews didn’t believe it … vv.1-18
Jesus healing the blind man causes a great uproar. One, because he performed the healing on the Sabbath and two because the people just flat out didn’t believe that the man who was born blind could now see.
In taking a moment to think about what’s happening in the Scripture, I realize that the people who don’t believe are the ones who are really blind.
They are blinded by sight.
One of my constant prayers this year is asking God to blow my senses – giving me supernatural hearing, taste, touch, smell and sight.
While serving in Malaysia, God gave me a three-week-long eye exam.
Living and working at St. Nicholas’ Home opened my eyes to what it truly means to be blind. The truth is that people who are physically unable to see, are not the ones who are blind. True blindness is failing to acknowledge a need for a Savior who is Jesus Christ.
When we realize that a part from Christ we are nothing and can do nothing, that’s when we have perfect vision.
St. Nicholas’ Home promotes a lifestyle of independence for those who are physically blind through various programs such as massage training, basketry and braille production. But no matter how many vocational skills are taught, the residents here are still dependent on those who can see to cook their meals, drive them around and be their escorts when walking in an unfamiliar place.
Similarly, as believers in Christ we are dependent on His light to illuminate our hearts and give sight to our spiritual eyes.
Mr. Andrew, one of the elderly residents at St. Nicholas’ Home who is physically blind and hard of hearing is dependent on Christ. On several occasions, I’ve caught him walking the hallways audibly quoting Scripture.
It’s amazing.
One may look at him and say he is blind, but I look at him as a man with 20/20 vision. Why? Because he keeps his eyes fixed on Jesus.
If we go back to the Bible story of the blind man, we see that it ends with the Pharisees casting him out of the community. Jesus finds him and reveals to him his identity as the Christ. The man believes and worships Him.
Jesus then said, “I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind.” v.39
The man now has perfect sight, physically and spiritually.
And so are all who believe.
Have you passed your spiritual eye exam?
