John 9:2-7 – “And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind
Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.”
This man had never seen the light of day in his entire life, that was about to change. His days of darkness were over as the light streaming from the face of Jesus opened his eyes as well as his heart. Natural light and spiritual light flooded his life at the same time. I am not quite sure which light was more shocking to this blind man. Like he famously said, “I was once blind but now I see”. Most of us were not born without the ability to see natural light but all of us were born in a state of blindness. That all changes in a moment with the touch of God. Here is how the Christ Centered Expository Commentary describes this.
“Those who think they see are blind to their own blindness and will remain that way. They reject the light because they live in and love the darkness.
Those who [are] blind are the ones who do not realize their need. Those who receive sight are the ones who sense their darkness. The Pharisees thought they had it all together, that they had arrived. Through their acquaintance with the Law they knew they were not perfect, but they did not understand how deeply infected they were with sin. So they adopted the external appearance of having dealt with sin though actually they had never faced the darkness of their hearts. They were self-satisfied. They said, “We see” when in reality they were blind.”
I would never have considered myself spiritually blind in those years before I met Christ. Like everyone else I was groping in the darkness thinking I could see without any spiritual light in my life. I was caught by surprise when Jesus found me wandering in the darkness in New Orleans in the summer of 1973. Like the man born blind, I too had been born blind, I just didn’t know it. I became aware of my condition when God’s light flooded my soul. Jesus came alive to me in an instant, all things suddenly were changed in my life. I could see now. Like the blind man in John’s story I too was blind but now I can see.
