John 9: on blindness

"For judgement I have come into this world, so that the blind may see and those who see will become blind."  (John 9:39)

John 9 contains the story of Jesus healing a man who has been born without eyesight.   However, in contrast to the earlier healing story concerning the paralysed man in John 5, this is a story of the healed person coming to faith.  Jesus seeks out the man who he has given eyesight, who replies "Lord I believe" (9:38).

However, as in much of John's gospel, this healing sparks fresh debate into the question of who Jesus is.  Is he the Lord?  The Messiah?  Is he just a good man, or is he a dangerous blasphemer?  By performing this miracle - this sign - Jesus is again showing who he is.  He is fully divine, God with us.  He has power over the material world and is not of it - although he became of it for us.  The world was created through him.

But Jesus wants to make a further point, as the giving of sight to the blind is symbolic.  Jesus has come to show us the way and the truth, and furthermore, to show us God.  Like the man's eyes were open, Jesus comes to open our eyes to God.  We can see what Jesus means when he says the blind will see.  We are all blind to God's glory, because our souls and our bodies are marred with sin.  The problem is not that the visually impaired need to be able to see, but that we are all spiritually blind, no matter what our eyesight is like.  But Jesus offers to help us see.

But what of the second half of the statement?  Those who see will become blind.  It's easier to understand when Jesus expands in his conversation with the Pharisees.  If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now you claim you can see, your guilt remains' (9:41). 'Those who see' are those who at least think they can see - they are those who believe that they have sufficient insight, knowledge and godliness to save themselves from God's just judgement.   They will become blind - or are blind - unable to see God's glory because they are not looking to Jesus, who will lead us there.

Blind or visually impaired people face enough challenges today, but without the Equality Act and things to make life slightly more accessible, the blind man in our story had no option but to live in poverty, begging from others to scratch together enough on which to live.  And yet Jesus came to him to open his eyes.  The giving of sight meant that he could be included in society, would have raised his status and meant people treated him with more dignity.

In the context of this life, we might identify with the blind man or we might be far more privileged in terms of material goods or social status, but spiritually we must all sit in his place, realising that we are poor and cut off from God.  It is then, when we stop looking at everything else, that Jesus comes to open our eyes.  Like the blind man, we go from a place of exclusion to inclusion.   But God doesn't need to give us physical sight to do that - it is the eyes of our souls he opens.