Choosing Sight

Is the world just as beautiful if you cannot see it?

As he walked along, he 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 nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. - John 9:1-12, 35-38

The man who was blind from birth had never seen the world in which he lived.  His vision of the world was built through the input from his other senses.  So, when he encountered the man who gave him his sight, he could only recognize him by his voice, not how he looked.

When we enter this world, we are blind to God's presence in it.  We are like this man, relying only on the senses we have, the ones we know how to use.  

But then we have an encounter that opens our eyes.  

It may be a person, or an event, or perhaps a dream, and from that moment on, we realize we have a new sense of the world.  It is far more beautiful than we imagined.

Now, we could have our eyes opened and the rush of images we see doesn't look beautiful at all.  Instead it frightens us, and we go back to shutting our eyes to it.

The story of the blind man is our story.  It is the story of how we gain our faith.  At first, we are blind.  We have no idea that we are so loved by God, for we have no way to see.

Then at some point, He reveals Himself to us, and from that moment on, we know we are not alone, and we are loved.

But if we listen to the blind people all around us, we may lose our will to keep our eyes open, and we shut down.

To see God is our choice, not His.  He is always there.  We are the ones who choose to be blind.

More to come...