Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see! John 9:25 (NIV)
Blind Man Walking – Part 2
Go to PART 1
Jesus and his disciples were walking along the road when they saw him. The disciples were asking why he was blind, “Did his parents sin? Was it his sin?” Jesus replied with, “Neither.” And after saying, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world,” Jesus went up to the blind man, spat on the ground, made some mud, put it on the blind man's eyes, and told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. This act would take the blind man from darkness into light.
The blind man (I wish I knew his name to call him by it) experienced an incredible transformation.
But why?
He didn’t ask for it. For all we know, he didn’t even know what Jesus was doing until he felt some wet, dirty, smelly stuff being smothered on his face by a complete stranger. And even then…
And why did he go to the pool? Why follow the strangers instructions? But he did, without knowing Jesus, having faith in him, or even understanding what was happening to him. And as he washed, his eyes began to work. They unclouded and shapes began to form in front of him. He could see.
From darkness to light.
Transformation born in the everyday, normal, limited, muddy, messy world and birthed by the divine and infinite God, who is inextricably hard wired in the fabric of all that is.
The Pharisees were questioning the blind man about “what happened and why and how and who and what is right, was it from God, isn't Jesus a sinner…”
But the man could only say back,
“Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind, but now I see!”
How does transformation happen? Does it take place as we perform more morally? Does it happen if we go to church every weekend? Does it take place after a few years of being a “good Christian”? Is it a two step process that we follow carefully and engage in intentionally? Or like for the blind man, can it happen when we least expect it?
I don’t know. There are many things that I don’t know.
But one thing I know for sure about my life, is that once I was blind – blind to the Divine, blind to holiness and wonder, blind to the love that has always been right there waiting for me – and now, every day, I’m beginning to see.
The blind man didn't know what was going on. Goodness, he didn’t even know who Jesus was. But he knew that something crazy had taken place. A miracle. An encounter. He danced with the Divine and you could tell just be staring into his once blind, but now alive eyes.
What do you know for sure?
I know for sure that when I mix my muddy life – my body made from dust – with the faith and wonder of God, transformation happens. God made Adam from clay; he mixed him into being. He brought something altogether miraculous from something altogether ordinary. (which begs the question, is anything ordinary?).
And he does it still.
Fill in the blank for you, “All I know is….”
Maybe you were blind and can now see. Maybe you were in prison, and you’re now free. Maybe you were broken, and now you’re whole. Let faith work out the details and write down only the things you know for sure.
I think we’ll find we are all more like that once-blind man, who Jesus baptised in mud, than we know.
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