Maybe They're Blind

John 9:24-34 (ESV)
²⁴  So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”  ²⁵  He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”  ²⁶  They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”  ²⁷  He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?”  ²⁸  And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.  ²⁹  We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.”  ³⁰  The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.  ³¹  We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.  ³²  Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. ³³  If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”  ³⁴  They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.  

I have known a few blind people. Some of them mask their blindness. One was in a drama group I helped direct many years ago. He became a lawyer. He memorized his lines before anyone else. He could see enough light that he would walk through doors and even tried riding a bicycle. He had to stop because he kept running into parked cars. He couldn't tell if they were moving. He was over at my house one day and knocked over one of my children. I snapped at him to watch where he was going. I forgot he was blind.

Not every non-Christian is blind. Some have never been confronted with who Jesus is. They have not had the opportunity to identify with Christ. They are more like puppies who  haven't opened their eyes. They will see once their eyes are opened.

Many people don't know Christ because they are blind. Their blindness comes from a predetermined mindset. They are determined not to believe no matter how much truth is placed before them. They are determined to be right and will dismiss anyone who says otherwise.

Religious people are infamously this way. They believe they know more than others and therefore fail to listen to what people are telling them. They can easily miss what the Lord is doing simply because they don't want their faith to be challenged. Thus, we have people making methods of doing church immutable. They find reasons to determine that they do not fit the biblical pattern and declare these things as evil. I have seen people try to make the type of clothing worn to church, when the offering is taken during a worship service and the type of music played during worship spiritual mandates which determine whether the leaders are following the Lord. These new pharisees were blind to what God may be doing in the church because the pattern of church habit had become worship regardless if God ever spoke to them. They worshiped the method and determined whether or not anything was sinful by the way it matched their established habits.

These religious people aren't much different from those who refuse to believe in God. They have predetermined what is right and wrong by comparing it with what they have previously determined to be so. They are blind. Sometimes I forget this because they pretend to be sighted so well that I forget.

I find it ironic that the formerly blind man in the above scripture is the only one who can see. He has been blind since birth and sees much better than those who have seen since birth. Sometimes smart people are the dumbest people in the room.

I have to remember that people who refuse to see should be considered blind. I cannot heal their blindness but I know Someone who can. I must continue to expose them to Him. If they are willing to let Him take mud and put it on their eyes they will be able to see too.