The Gift of Sight

Sacred Gifts and Holy Gatherings
Four Weddings and a Funeral
A Wedding in Cana

John 9:1-11  The Message

True Blindness

9 ^1-2 Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?”

^3-5 Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world’s Light.”
^6-7 He said this and then spit in the dust, made a clay paste with the saliva, rubbed the paste on the blind man’s eyes, and said, “Go, wash at the Pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “Sent”). The man went and washed—and saw.
⁸ Soon the town was buzzing. His relatives and those who year after year had seen him as a blind man begging were saying, “Why, isn’t this the man we knew, who sat here and begged?”
⁹ Others said, “It’s him all right!”
But others objected, “It’s not the same man at all. It just looks like him.”
He said, “It’s me, the very one.”
¹⁰ They said, “How did your eyes get opened?”
¹¹ “A man named Jesus made a paste and rubbed it on my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ I did what he said. When I washed, I saw.”

 

For Reflection 

God does not inflict birth defects, illnesses, or just plain bad luck.   The way some speak of God, one would think that God is the original born looser.  When things go wrong for many, God is blamed.  When inexplicable events occur we call them acts of God!

We suffer from the human condition.  The mystery can only be accepted, not rationalized or explained.

Very often we neglect to thank God for sending us into comforting arms and opportunities for healing.  Jesus not only healed the blind man's eyes, He healed all of those who suffered from misguided understandings of God relationship to humankind.  Why was an unacceptable blind beggar who was often ignored and shunned, suddenly rendered acceptable?  How did the disciples understanding of their religion cause them and other believers to see and understand?

Pray

for the wisdom found in the parables of Jesus.  Pray so that your eyes will see beyond your religion and into your faith in God.