Day 9, John 9

Guest Blogger: Aaron Miner

What is blindness? At its core it is the inability to see. Though a person can be physically blind, other types of blindness exist as well. Love can be blind, or a person can be unwilling or unable to notice something that is obvious to others. Jesus in John chapter 9 warns us about spiritual blindness.

The chapter begins with Jesus and his disciples traveling along the way when they notice a blind man. This initiates a question from the disciples. The question is not: “Why is this man blind?” but rather, “Who sinned to make him blind?” The perception in Jesus’ day was that sin caused sickness and suffering such as blindness. Job’s friend, Eliphaz expressed similar views in Job 4:6-8, that the innocent never perish. These views express a spiritual blindness that God condemns in the response to Job and his friends: “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2 NIV)

Jesus’ response in verse 3 is equally enlightening, “so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” The common wisdom of Jesus’ day was blind to the realities of God’s purpose. The story of Jesus healing the blind man illustrates the light he shines into the blackness of a blind world. Jesus is the light (v. 5) and just as he healed the blind man from physical blindness Jesus opened his “eyes” from spiritual blindness (vs. 35-41). The Pharisees on the other hand show that they are spiritual blind to what God is doing around them (v. 34).

This poses an important question for us today. What are we spiritually blind to? We can be in periods of suffering or blessing and completely miss what God is doing around us. We can also be like Eliphaz and the Pharisees, so steeped in the “religious wisdom” of our time that we are blind to our own sin before God. This can be either legalism or relativism. But if we humble ourselves before the cross and ask God to search our hearts his light will come into our life and where we were blind we will see. On the other hand, if we do not humble ourselves before the cross of Christ we will become hardened and blind to our sin (vs. 39-41).

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