Blind Man Out of Sight

He was a beggar on the streets of Jerusalem, a Jew born blind, pitied, reviled.

But one Sabbath day, as he sat among the scum and filth, he heard footsteps, quite close. He heard a sharp sound, like someone spitting, and then a strange, wet kind of noise beneath him on the ground. All of a sudden, something thick and smooth, like mud, was being gently rubbed over and around his eyes.

Then, a Man’s voice spoke, and it was like the hands that had touched his face, gentle but sure. “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (John 9:7), the Voice said.

So he went, because he trusted this Man—Jesus, He had said His name was. When he reached the pool, he washed the mud (for that is what it was) out of his eyes as he had been told—and just like that, light flooded in, and shapes, and colors. He could see!

Overjoyed, he headed for home, taking in the things that he had all his life heard or touched but had never seen. When he told people of the miracle, they hustled him eagerly to the Jewish leaders, a group of Pharisees, who interrogated him and even his parents (vv. 13–24). But these Pharisees were not amazed or happy for him. They were determined only to prove that the Man who had healed him, Jesus, was a fraud. As they continued to prod him angrily, he answered plainly what he knew: This Jesus was no fraud. He was a true miracle worker “from God” (v. 33). For his honesty he was excommunicated (v. 34).

But he could not blame the Man who had made him whole. His heart was longing after Him; his heart, like his eyes, had been opened. Not long after, a Stranger approached him and spoke. And he realized—it was Jesus. Jesus revealed to him what his heart had been searching for, that Jesus Himself was the Messiah, that He was God with us (vv. 35–37). In response he said to Him, “‘Lord, I believe!’ And he worshiped Him” (v. 38).

On that day, the blind man was given his spiritual as well as his physical sight. On that day, he was restored to God.

Reflect: Can you have your sight but still not see? Are there things in your life that God wants to show you to which you are shutting your eyes, from which you are looking away? Pray for spiritual eyes to see.

Key Bible Texts

He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. (John 9:25 KJV)