To See or Not to See

Blindness

*** Image

Psalm 146:7–9 (NRSV)

[It is the Lord] who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;

the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.

The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

*** n/s: The condition of unbelief is sometimes compared to blindness in the OT. And the Lord promises that when the messiah comes, he will make the unbelieving believe. He will hope the eyes of the blind.

Isaiah 42:6–7 NRSV

I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.

*** Image: Man born blind

The Investigation

John 9:8–9 NRSV

The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.”

John 9:15–16 NRSV

Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided.

John 9:17 NRSV

So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”

John 9:18–19 NRSV

The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”

*** n/s The parents want to stay out of this.

*** Arguing: Things begin to get tense. A second round of investigation begins.

“Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.”

“I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

“What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes.”

“I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to heart it again? Do you also want to become his disciple?”

“You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.”

“Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know wheere he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

“You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us???”

*** Move along, nothing to see here

*** n/s Sometimes powerful people try to make us think that the world is different than what we see with our own eyes. And when we don’t cooperate, we get shunned, or worse.

*And they drove him out.”

Powerful people, forces in society, influencers may try to get us to believe something we know just isn’t true. The man born blind can relate.

Jesus opens our eyes and we see. We see him, his will, his goodness.

Some who claim to see are really blind, thinking they see but not seeing.

Some have greater guilt—they are not blind, but still refuse to acknowledge the truth.

John 9:39–41 NRSV

Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

*** Seeing!!