Blindness

Who is blind? The answer would be different depending on the types of eye, physical or spiritual. So, there are two kinds of eyes. One is our physical eye, and the other would be the eye of Spirit. How can we know the difference?

Let’s check the character 9 of the Gospel of John.

One day, Jesus and his disciples met a blind man. He had been physically blind since birth. And those disciples thought this blind man was unfortunate. There must be reasons why he suffer from this physical disability.

They asked Jesus why this man had to suffer from his physical blindness? Was it because of the sin that he committed? Or, was it because of his parents who made anything sinful?

Perhaps, their intention was good. The disciples wanted to help this blind man by finding out the reasons; there could be a sort of curse or cause that made his life such miserable.

Who was blind?

The disciples were so blind. What they saw was the illusion and delusion of this world. Jesus had never seen the situation in the same way that his disciples did. Why was this man physically blind? Jesus answered as follows:

Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

John 9:3

It was never because of the sin that he committed nor anything sinful his parents made. There must never be such things as karma and curse unless we accept it in our blind, superstitious belief. If ever anything, according to Jesus, his physical blindness is for the works of God that should be made manifest in this man. Furthermore, what Jesus would point out should be not the physical blindness of this man alone.

The truth is that everything in our lives must be for the works of God that should be made manifest. God is everything, and there is nothing at all that God can’t manifest Himself.

Jesus was able to see this truth, whereas his disciples were not. They were indeed blind. So, the blindness was not on this man, but on the disciples themselves.

After this conversation between Jesus and his disciples, Jesus healed the physical blindness of the man. We understand it as one of the well-known miracles. And we tend to see it as God’s extraordinary power that opened the physical eyes of this man.

Was that the whole of this miraculous incident? God forbid.

After this miracle, what this physically blind man realized was indeed the very truth that everything is God’s work. At this very moment, not only his physical eyes but even the eye of Spirit in him opened.

Let me repeat it. It was not only that the physical eyes of the man healed, but more importantly, the eye of Spirit in him opened to see the truth that God is everything. There are no such things as karma, curse, and superstition that make his life unfortunate or miserable. This physically blind man realized the truth that life was beautiful and perfect as God saw Himself in heaven. From the beginning, life has been fair and flawless even before this miraculous happened.

Once the eye of Spirit in us opened, we see the truth that everything has been and had been miraculous ever since. We can see the light of the world as Jesus said:

As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

John 9:5

After that, another group of people approached this blind man. They were Pharisees who believed and practiced the laws of Moses religiously. They were also proud of their knowledge. Just like the disciples of Jesus, their minds were fully in the assumptions about the fortunes and unfortuens of people’s lives.

If you are unfortunate, there must be some reasons. The physical blindness of the man must be by some sinfulness he or his parents committed. In the same way, they believed that Jesus was also a sinful person. He didn’t follow the Sabbath. He healed the blinds and many other sick persons on the Sabbath day.

According to their reasoning and knowledge, the blessings of God should not happen among those whom Pharisees thought of sinful. People suffer for reasons. Some are fortunate, and others are not, because of the respective reasons those Pharisees are supposed to know and observe. Pharisees never thought they were blind. Without doubt, they believed their eyes were widely opened because of their knowledge.

Pharisees didn’t know they were blind.

They kept on claiming they should be the ones who see everything well because of their knowledge and who they were.

And Jesus said:

And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

John 9:39

He is the light with us, which could open the eye of Spirit in us. And we could see the truth that God is everything, then we also see everything is a miracle. And for those who claim their own (spiritual) eye, on the contrary, this light would make them blind. Or, at most, they would realize they were blind.

And Pharisees asked Jesus:

And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?

John 9:40

Jesus answered as follows:

Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

John 9:41

If we claim we can see the world, our sin will remain. The eye of Spirit is not what we claim we can see everything, but our realization that we humbly accept our inherent blindness and the truth that only God sees everything through His eye on our behalf.

Image by Mabel Amber