Seeing is Believing
Always after a theme to hang my devotionals on, I am going to think about our five senses, sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell.
There is a story in John's Gospel where a man is healed of his blindness by Jesus:
As he went 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?'
Neither this man nor his parents sinned,' said Jesus, 'but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me.
Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.'
After saying this, he spat on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. 'Go,' he told him, 'wash in the Pool of Siloam' (this word means 'Sent'). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
His neighbours and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, 'Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?' Some claimed that he was.
Others said, 'No, he only looks like him.'
But he himself insisted, 'I am the man.'
'How then were your eyes opened?' they asked.
He replied, 'The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.'
'Where is this man?' they asked him.
'I don't know,' he said.
John 9: 1-12 [NIV]
Why did Jesus' heal the blind man, apart from the obvious benefit of his being able to see and so earn his own living?
Jesus often spoke of "spiritual blindness" – people not understanding truth. This story shows that restoring physical sight is an indication that he can restore "spiritual" sight. Verse 3 says "this happened so that the works of God may be displayed in him".
Reflect on this story and try to get under the surface of what Jesus' words and actions are saying to you.
Mairi Mowbray
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