113. Seeing and Not Seeing

As he passed by, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Jesus answered, “Neither this man sinned, nor his parents; this happened for the works of God to be revealed in him. I must do the work of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud, and said to him, “Go wash in the pool of Siloam.”  So he went away, washed, and came back seeing. The neighbors, and those who knew he was blind before, said, “Isn’t this the one who sat and begged?” Others were saying, “It is he.” Still others were saying, “It looks like him.”

The man said, “I am he.” They asked him, “How were your eyes opened?”

He answered, “A man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes, and said, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash.’ So I went and washed, and received my sight.”

Then they asked him, “Where is he?”

He said, “I don’t know.”

They brought the man who had been blind to the Pharisees. It was a Sabbath when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Again the Pharisees asked him how he received his sight. He said, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see.”

Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” There was division among them. They asked the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?”

The man said, “He is a prophet.”

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

His parents answered, “We know this is our son who was born blind, but how he now sees, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself.” His parents said these things because they feared the Jews who had already agreed that anyone who would confess Jesus as the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. 

They called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know this man is a sinner.”

He answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: once I was blind, but now I can see.”

They said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

He answered them, “I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?”

They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from.”

The man answered them, “How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but listens to anyone who is a worshiper of God and does his will. Since the world began, no one has ever heard of someone opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this were not from God, he could do nothing.”

They answered him, “You were totally born in sin, and you think you can teach us?” So they threw him out.

Jesus heard they had thrown him out, and finding him, said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”

He answered, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?”

Jesus said to him, “You have seen him; it is he who speaks with you.”

He said, “Lord, I believe!” and he worshiped him.

Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind.”

Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”

Jesus said to them, “If you knew you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

Reflection

The Pharisees were interested in either disproving the miracle or discrediting the miracle worker. Neither approach worked very well. Are you skeptical by nature? Does it take a lot to convince you of something new? Is there any approach you’ve found effective in helping skeptics “see the light?” 

Prayer: Open my eyes, Lord, that I not blindly resist what you are doing.