Seeing Is Believing - The Man Born Blind

“Why, that’s very strange!” the man replied. “He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where he comes from?. . . Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.”

John 9:30-33

Some people have a special talent for missing the point. You know the type. If you told him the fable of “The Ant and the Grasshopper” to illustrate the importance of preparation, he would respond with the oh-so-profound observation that insects don’t talk.

Jesus dealt with such men throughout his earthly ministry. The Jewish religious leaders constantly opposed him and couldn’t see past their own legalism and tradition long enough to see that this Man was unique. No wonder he raised such a ruckus among the common people.

Others came to understand who Jesus was because they witnessed or experienced his miracles with open minds and hearts.

When Jesus met a man born blind one Sabbath day, he demonstrated God’s power to heal. He spit in the dirt, wiped mud over the man’s eyes, and told him to go wash. When he did as Jesus said, he received the gift of sight. For the first time in his life, this man could see his own hands, his reflection in the water, and his parents’ faces.

He also saw something special about Jesus.

The Jewish religious leaders wanted to take issue with Jesus’ “working” on the Sabbath, but the man who received the gift of sight made a profound observation: “If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it” (John 9:33).

His simple, to-the-point thinking was absolutely correct!

As Jesus’ follower, you should always be ready to point to Jesus as your source of spiritual sight. He is the One to whom others must turn to receive eternal life.

People close to you are bound to notice that the spiritual insight Jesus gives you makes a difference in every area of your life. When they do, tell them what he has done for you—that you were once blind but now you can see.