Spiritual Blindess
The following is a devotion inspired by our youth group series on the Gospel of John.
John 9:35-41
Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?” Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”
Do you ever feel like God’s work is hidden from your eyes? If you are like many Christians, you’ve asked this question. What I’m pointing to is often termed the problem of “divine hiddenness.” It’s a complicated question. Especially when we hear fellow Christians talk about “seeing God” in this or that experience. How can we better see God at work in his world?
The answer to our problem lies in perception–how we process the light that enters our eyes. But before we get there, let’s look more closely at John 9 as a whole.
Our devotion is about a man who was blind from birth. Despite the assumption that this man or his parents had sinned, Jesus confidently states “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3). To Jesus, our problems are not external. If anything, our limitations, weaknesses, or even physical blindness are opportunities for God’s work to be seen.
Jesus then spits into the dirt to create mud. He then rubs the mud into the man's eyes and restores his sight. A puzzling miracle to behold. But there is a fascinating link to the story of humanity’s creation in Genesis 2.
The second creation account of Scripture begins with dry ground and dusty dirt. Springs come up to water the ground to create mud. God then breathes into the muddy ground (Hebrew: adamah) to create humanity (Hebrew: adam). This small link shows how Jesus is making the blind man a new creation. Yes, Jesus is restoring a man’s sight. But moreover, this is John reminding us that we need to be made new for us to even see the kingdom of God (John 3:3).
The Pharisees get upset about this for multiple reasons (the healing was on the Sabbath, Jesus is the one who performed the miracle, and the man is presumed to be a sinner). After a long interrogation, the Pharisees expel him from the synagogue community. Jesus then returns to the man and delivers the main lesson featured in our devotional (John 9:35-41).
The lesson goes something like this: “Those who know they are blind can see, but those who claim to see it all are the ones who are truly blind.”
What does this mean?
Jesus is talking about perception. Contrary to being objective judges of the world, we are utterly blind to most of reality. In fact, the center of our vision, the fovea, can only focus on two degrees (roughly twice the width of your thumb at arm's length). The rest is quite blurry. And our brain fills in the gaps of what we think we see. Furthermore, our attention is not always directed by our conscious mind. We don’t primarily see matter, but what matters.
In other words, our attention is shaped by what we value (and vice versa). What we give our attention to determines how we see the world, and yes, how we see God. For example, despite witnessing the result of God’s work, the Pharisees were blind to what was right in front of their faces. That’s because the Pharisees thought they completely understood the situation. But over and over, they refused to learn the lesson of Jesus: our hearts determine what we see.
A curious lack of detail will complete this devotion. The “person” who was born blind isn’t named. Personally, I think we need to imagine ourselves in his place. If we recognize the limits of our attention, that we are also “blind from birth”, then we will be in a better position to see.
Thankfully our eyes are opened by God’s own Spirit. Moreover, we are given a rich set of practices to help us desire God more and more. Prayer, meditation, and solitude all train our hearts to desire God and his kingdom. By doing so, they train our attention to see God at work in his world.
Prayer
Open the eyes of my heart Lord, I want to see you. Amen.