Seeing when we think we see

"that those who see may be made blind"

John 9:39

John 9 is a chapter about a man born blind.  By the end of the chapter, he can see.  But in that time, and through that miracle, those who refuse to see the truth, have grown more blind. 

They challenged the man, not believing he was ever blind.  They challenged his parents, who pleaded the fifth, not wanting to be thrown out of the synagogue. 

And they challenged Jesus, for again healing on the Sabbath, and for what they consider to be His "mocking" words to them.  "For judgement, I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind."

"Are we blind also?" they replied.  And that's the tricky part.  They saw, physically, but not spiritually.  That's how it is today, too.  Those who are physically blind know it.  Those who are spiritually blind think they see just fine. 

For years, my family has gone camping in the Kings Canyon National Park.  And one year, several years ago, we toured a cave called Boyden Cavern.  We were with a group, and when we got deep into the heart of the cave, the tour guide started talking to us about darkness.  He had us all sit down, and then he warned that they were going to turn off all the lights inside the cave, so that we could appreciate how truly dark it was in there.  He told us that the darkness we were going to experience fit the definition of "complete darkness," which is that you literally cannot see your hand in front of your face. 

So they turned off all the lights, and it really was oppressively dark.  And to prove that it was, in fact, complete darkness, the guide instructed each of us to extend our hand in front of our own faces, thumbs touching our noses, and then wiggle our fingers in front of our faces, to see if we could see anything. 

Go ahead; you know you want to try it.

And while we were all doing that, they turned the lights back on.  And there we were, fully illuminated, in our all foolishness.

And when I think back on that, I think I know how the Pharisees might have felt, if they could have seen how the light of Jesus shone on their foolishness. 

Now, unfortunately for us, Jesus is no longer walking the earth pointing out spiritual blindness.  But fortunately for us, we've got the Bible.  People of His time didn't.  I mean, they had the Scriptures, but really those weren't all that accessible to regular people.   Or at least, they weren't as accessible as they are to us.  The only problem for us is, we have access to it, but we don't read it.  Or we don't read it enough. 

So get it out!  Open it up!  Dig in!  And you'll see what you've been missing! 

~ "Lord, that our eyes may be opened" ~

Matthew 20:33

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