John 9:35-41
Spiritual Blindness
35Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
36"Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him."
37Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you."
38Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.
39Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."
40Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"
41Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
What we see and think is not always what it appears...We should take time to think about what we have seen and heard sometimes...Seeing is not always believing...Sometimes when we have trouble seeing and believing things we must use our hearts, and our faith...And we must have and keep an open mind about what we see and what is Truth...It was clear to the Pharisees what they saw...Jesus healed a blind man, who had been blind since birth....It was no more than that...Maybe the mud or the water in Siloam or the combination had helped the blind man's eyes and sight...All the Pharisees saw was an ordinary Man heal a blind man with some mud and saliva salve...They (the Pharisees) thought they had seen this clearly and perfectly in their minds, even after taking the time to investigate the incident...Yet, they missed it...They got an idea in their mind, and they would not let it change...Even after their investigation they wanted to throw the healed blind man out of the synagogue, if he said that Jesus was the Messiah...The Pharisees as you read about the healing seem almost mad that Jesus healed a man who could not see since he was born...How odd!!!...At the very least Jesus was an extraordinary doctor this and His other healings...
Jesus could not get the Pharisees to believe who He was...They call Jesus a sinner and tell the blind man to give glory to God...The Pharisees say "We know this Man is a sinner." (John 9:24)...They were ready to cut off the blind man's rights to go to the synagogue, the very place where Jesus resides...The synagogues, the temples, the churches are actually His and where He often, if not always, resides...Yet, they were blind to this...
Now those of faith, love the verse, when the Pharisees tell the blind man that Jesus is a sinner, "whether or not He is a sinner or not, I do not know...One thing I do know...I was blind, but now I see" (John 9:25)...We learn from Jesus, the Pharisees, and the blind man that we should trust in God (and worship God), but we should also truth in Jesus and worship Him...What the Pharisees lacked was not trusting Jesus...They could not see Jesus for anything more than an average Man, an ordinary Guy...The Pharisees could not see this, even with there good eyesight...When Jesus ask the healed blind man, if he believed in the Son of God...The healed man quickly says, tell me who He is, so that I may believe in Him...Jesus says "you have seen Him, in fact, He is the One speaking with you."... The healed man believed in Jesus as well as God...
Jesus came to earth to teach us much about His Father, and Himself...He came for the sinner, and the spiritually blind...He did not come for the righteous, or those who are proud, and think the know everything they see through their own eyes...The sin of prideful ones and the conceited ones remain today...Jesus, when He was on earth, addressed the self-conceited and could silence them with His words...He always knew what to say...What He said was always the right response to any question and the right response to His critics...Yet His opposition and critic still could not believe Him or who He was...When pride raises its head in our lives, let us seek Jesus and His wisdom, so we will not be blind to Him and His word...Pray that He gives us the patience and insight to see Him...He gives Light to men who cannot see...He gives us Light from the darkness...