Seeing The Light

Thanks to cornea transplants, some people who were born blind have gained functional use of their eyes. Nevertheless, success is rare. In his book Catching the Light, author Arthur Zajonc described the plight of one young patient this way: “The light of day beckoned, but no light of mind replied within the boy’s anxious, open eyes.”

In John 9, Jesus healed a man who was born blind. Medically, this is a double miracle. First, there’s the miracle of bringing about sight without doing a cornea transplant. Second, the man’s mind was illumined so that it could process what his eyes were viewing. But the greatest miracle is the healed man’s profession of faith (v.38). John’s account reveals that Jesus is the light of the world (v.5), and He can bring light to our eyes and to our souls—physically and spiritually (v.39).

The thought of physical blindness scares me. I imagine myself groping in darkness, unable to see the beauty of my surroundings. That was our spiritual state before Jesus came into our life. Man, by nature, is spiritually blind. Without God’s illumination, we can’t see Jesus’ beauty or the hope of eternal life. And no transplant or human effort can cure this disease.

But Jesus can! He came to fulfill the messianic promise that “when He comes, He will open the eyes of the blind” (Isaiah 35:5).

The story of Jesus healing the blind man ends with a splendid reversal of roles: The man, who was assumed to be in spiritual darkness, could see God’s light, while the Pharisees, who could see physically and were thought to be enlightened, were shown to be spiritually blind (v.41). What’s the message? To recognize that Jesus is the source of light and life—He opens our spiritual eyes to His beauty and all that is truly real.

Taken from “Our Daily Journey”