Many of us have trouble with our eyes. I decided to get my eyes checked 15 years ago, and after a battery of tests, the eye doctor told me to go to a drug store and get a pair of "readers" -- and to come back and see him in 5 years. I've gone back three times, once every five years, but each time he tells me to keep getting the "readers" at the drug store. Of course, a dysfunction or disease of the eye is nothing I aspire to, but I do confess to wondering why I don't qualify for prescription eye wear.
Thankfully, most of us never will be rendered blind. We can imagine it by blind-folding ourselves and stumbling around our own houses for a short period of time, or we can think about it as we try to find light switches when the power suddenly goes out, but few of us will ever experience the reality of blindness. Or will we?
I don't have to tell you that physical blindness is an apt metaphor for being spiritually blind. Scripture tells us several stories of blindness and limited sight. There's the one about the man Nicodemus who was blind to the basic teachings of the kingdom. There's Paul -- or was it still Saul(?) -- who experienced his sight being restored as scales fell from his eyes. And of course, the blind man, who called out to Jesus and who Jesus healed.
The disciples saw that man, and were curious about why such a thing would happen. They assumed that his blindness was a punishment for a particular sin. But they weren't sure whether he himself, or his parents were to blame. When Jesus says, “it was not this man who sinned or his parents” he doesn't mean to suggest that the blind man or his parents were perfect and holy. Jesus is trying to correct their reasoning that bad things happen to bad people (and therefore since I am relatively healthy, I must be relatively good). Baloney. My good eyesight has little to do with how "good" I am, and much to do with my genes. Throughout the New Testament Jesus repudiates this kind of “you must have deserved that” gloating from pride-filled observers.
Perhaps the disciples were blind to their own blindness. Perhaps they were so focused on this man and wondering what his sin was that they couldn't recall their own. Indeed, Jesus tells us to watch out for logs in our eyes. Time and again, Jesus points to the Pharisees, urging us to notice our own shortcomings.
What is it we might be missing as we complain about what others aren't doing for us? What do we NOT SEE when we wallow in self-pity or react to the imperfections we see in our neighbors?
Help me, Lord, to see you more clearly in the faces of those who I find irritating, insensitive, inept, and idiotic! Make me aware of your presence in them and in myself so that I will not be blind to their needs, anxieties, and hopes. Amen.
