[In John 9,] a man who had been blind since birth comes to see on both physical and spiritual levels, while those who seemed to see perfectly well become increasingly blind. The man born blind is a good symbol for us in the middle of Lent as we try to sharpen our own spiritual sight.
In a somewhat unusual (almost magical) procedure, Jesus anoints the man’s eyes with mud and sends him to wash in the pool of Siloam. Healed, the man is able to see on the physical level. But that is only the beginning of his coming to see the true identity of his healer. When his neighbors question him, the man affirms that he was indeed healed by “the man called Jesus.”
When the Pharisees contend that his healer could not be from God because he healed him on the Sabbath and thereby performed forbidden work, the man asserts that his healer is “a prophet.” […] When the opponents summon the man again and try to make him condemn Jesus as a sinner, he refuses and states that Jesus must be “from God.” When he finally meets Jesus again, the man accepts Jesus’ self-identification as the “Son of Man”—in John’s Gospel a glorious figure. Note the man’s journey in coming to see who Jesus really is: first a man, then a prophet and someone from God, and finally the glorious Son of Man.
The blind man’s progress in spiritual sight is paralleled by the opponents’ descent into spiritual blindness. While their inquiry starts quite objectively, their understanding of Jesus becomes increasingly hazy. First, they insist that Jesus must be a sinner because he broke the Sabbath. Then they dismiss the man’s claim that Jesus is from God. Finally, in their own encounter with Jesus, they fail to recognize their spiritual blindness and sinfulness in rejecting Jesus as the revealer and revelation of God.
The blind man’s story reminds us that we need God’s grace and revelation to move toward sharper spiritual vision. Likewise, the opponents’ descent into greater spiritual blindness warns us that if we think we already know all about Jesus, we may be blinding ourselves to the many surprising features of Jesus’ person and fail to see in him the glory of God.
--Daniel Harrington, SJ
Image source: 6th-century Rossano Codex, Healing of the Man Born Blind, https://hail.to/tui-motu-interislands-magazine/publication/ak395Yu/article/bMIND39
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