"One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
John 9:25
The ninth chapter of John's gospel is fascinating from various points of
view.
From a literary standpoint it is interesting.
The main theme is a man born blind receives his sight from Jesus.
But the chapter asks the question, "What really is sight?"
In it we are confronted with people who see but have no awareness of what
they see.
And we meet a man who is blind, but has amazing insight that others lack.
The account goes like this: Jesus and his disciples are walking along a
street in Jerusalem having just escaped a crowd where were about to stone
him for some of the things he was saying. They sight a man sitting begging,
a man blind from birth.
His disciples, apparently knowing the story, ask him a question: "Who sinned
that he was born blind?"
It was assumed that such a tragic event was the cause of some sin, either
his parents, of the child himself in utero.
They did not see a man, they saw a theological puzzle. They were wrong
of course.
Jesus says, neither, but you have to see this from a different point of
view.
Don't just see the problem, look for the solution, or the opportunity.
Jesus says, "so that God's greatness can be displayed."
What a transformation happens in our life when we choose to look at life
differently, and it is a choice.
We can focus on the problem only, or we can also look for God at work in
it.
This is not being a Pollyanna, and just not thinking negative thoughts.
It recognizes reality.
The man is blind.
But Jesus says, if all you look for is who to blame, you are going to miss
something far greater.
You need to look to see what God can do in this.
Something goes wrong in life and you can focus on who to blame, if you
like.
But if that's all you look for, you are going to grind to a halt.
And it is a choice to look for God at work in it.
And to pray for God at work in it.
To WANT God to work in it.
And Jesus heals him. He smears mud on his eyes and instructs to go wash
the mud off.
The man responds obediently.
He could have told Jesus to push off.
What good was mud on eyes that never saw?
But he was willing to see it through. (pun intended)
And his faith was rewarded.
This is interesting because we know there is a whole lot more to sight than
just getting signals from the eyes.
I read that:
students of the physiology of sight say that only ten percent
of our seeing comes through our eyes.
Most of what we "see" enters our brains through touch and movement, which
the brain turns into vision.
We know that babies who never crawl struggle with depth perception.1
Dr. Oliver Sacks, a famous neurologist in his book, An Anthropologist
on Mars, tells of a man who had been blind from early childhood. When
he was 50, he underwent surgery and was given the gift of sight. But as he
and Dr. Sacks found out, having the physical capacity for sight is not the
same as seeing. Virgil’s first experiences with sight were confusing. He was
able to make out colors and movements, but arranging them into a coherent
picture was more difficult. Over time he learned to identify various objects,
but his habits—his behaviors—were still those of a blind man. Dr. Sacks asserts,
“One must die as a blind person to be born again as a seeing person. It is
the interim, the limbo…that is so terrible.”2.
In other words its like a computer. You can plug hardware into it, but unless
you have the software, your hardware may be useless.
So too with sight. Much of what we see is learned by programming the brain
through trial and error. Newborns have no depth perception.
Their eyes work, but the brain is not sufficiently wired to interpret the
signals.
So it is with insight.
You have to be willing to see.
In fact, after the man is healed, his neighbors have a hard time recognizing
him. They saw him every day, or did they?
They saw a blind beggar every day. But did they see a man?
How many people are there in your world you really don't see.
Is there anyone you have substituted a convenient label for, instead of
a person?
Or who is there you think you know all about, but who may be a total mystery
in waiting?
Let's face it, its easy to deal with labels, but less easy to people.
We teach ourselves what to see.
A good part of what we see and are aware of comes from what we expect to
see and what we are used to seeing.
You've seen the psychological tests in which you are shown a picture of
an old woman's and a young woman's face in the same picture.
Once both have been pointed out, they are easy to see. Often we see what
we learn.
Who do you see every day?
Do you really see her?
Or do you see what you expect to see?
I did a very brief experiment with members of our session a few months back.
We were talking about being an intimate fellowship because we are small. I
challenged that notion and began asking people to identify one another by
simple facts that I knew but was not sure others knew.
Names of children, important events in each others lives and so on.
For those who were there, I think it was an eye opener, if I may use the
phrase.
You see we don't really know each other nearly as well as we think we do.
We know the surface and become comfortable with surface images, but often
do not see beyond the surface.
The man in John's gospel was in many ways invisible because of his disability.
All people could see was a problem or an affliction. They did not see a
man of wonderful complexity.
And of course, it is only the blind man who could see Jesus.
Once he is healed, the religious leaders go into a total tailspin because
Jesus has healed on the Sabbath.
They cannot connect the dots of man of God healing on the Sabbath.
The blind man knows its obvious. He says Jesus is obviously a prophet. He
sees it right off, and Jesus seeks him out to bring him to a new
level of sight. Jesus asks if he believes in the Christ. The man says, who
is he?
Jesus says in effect, "you are looking at him", and once again he believes
and receives salvation.
At the end of the chapter the pharisees are still grumbling about Jesus
and no fools they understand the implications of Jesus words about sight.
They ask, "are you calling us blind?"
Jesus says, "if you were only blind, there would be no problem, but you
think you see and your sin still remains."
Oliver Sacks says something amazing.
He says, “One must die as a blind person to be born again as a seeing
person.”
It is only when we realize that we are half blind by our assumptions and
prejudices that we have the possibility of seeing.
When we comprehend that seeing is believing, I mean that seeing sometimes
depends on believing.
It is true, there are none so blind as those who just will not see.
So what?
So this: I have no idea where your blind spot is. I have enough trouble
with my own.
But there is one who knows.
But you have to be willing to see.
This week, each morning as you awake, say this prayer: "Lord help me today
to see what up until now has been invisible to me."
Do that and be willing to relearn your world, and you will begin to see
life in new ways.
You may even begin to see someone familiar to you in a whole new light.
That person may even be yourself.
Preached March 2, 2008
Dr. Harold McNabb
West Shore Presbyterian Church
Victoria, British Columbia
Notes
1.Gina Gilland Campbell, "Seeing More Deeply", a daily
devotion printed in Disciplines, Upper Room Books, Nashville, 2008
2. Olives Sacks, An Anthropologist on Mars, Vintage 1996
Online Resources Consulted
http://www.preachingtoday.com/
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