WAS BLIND BUT NOW I SEE.

John 9: 1 – 11


The first two hymns I ever learned were; “How Great Thou Art” and “Amazing Grace”. I remember just loving those songs, and would sing them when I was playing by myself in the backyard.
In Amazing Grace, the line that always made me stop and think was; “Was blind but now I see”.
To the mind of a four year old, that seemed to be something. Was that person in the song really blind? How did hr get around? Was it scary not being able to see?
The only thing was that I didn't have anyone to answer those questions, so in youthful frustration, I put the subject away and thought of other things.

1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.
2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
3 "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

If I take the story of this blind man at face value, I can tell that it is about a true healing. The man whom had no eye sight, now could see with the best of them. But, it also tells us the the work of God might be displayed in his life.
Now that I am older than that thoughtful youth I once was, I find myself leaning a bit towards the spiritual blindness as well.
Unless we believe, how will we see God's work in anybodies life?

10 "How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded.
11 He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."

To me that is a statement of belief. He told him, he went, he got his reward.
Simple. Period point blank. Nothing more need be said.
Yet, it still seems muddy to me. Yes there is a physical healing of this mans blindness but, if he didn't believe that “man they call Jesus”, he would not have been healed.
So , I guess no matter how we look at that hymn, and the word, we will always have that double minded approach to the word of God. Especially when we try to apply the word to our lives.
The word contains absolute truth, there is no doubt about that, but it can also be metaphorical, thereby lending itself to our better understanding of our faith.
There is an old saying that we hear bandied about in every movie, TV show, or radio show whenever the protagonist is in a dilemma. “The truth will set you free”. As good advice as I've ever heard. The truth is by telling the truth, it will be cathartic taking a great weight of your shoulders.
Then again, Jesus said that He was the truth. And, He will set you truly free indeed.