It is hard for those of us who see to imagine how different our world is to those who are blind. I remember talking to Darrell Young, a young blind man who was a member at Palm Beach Lakes many years ago. I vividly remember the day we talked about colors. He knew the names of colors, but I could not imagine what they “looked” like to him. I asked him, “What color is green?” His answer, “That’s easy. It is the smell of grass that has just been cut.” What a fascinating world!
Take a moment to see the world of that blind man in John chapter nine and his first contact with Jesus. Blindness was widespread even in ancient days. Isaac in his old age could not see, but he could tell that the son before him did not sound like or smell like Esau. He asked to touch the son’s hands to see if they were hairy like Esau (Gen. 27). It is ironic that later that deceiving son, Jacob, also lost his eyesight (Gen. 48:10).
However, there was no help for anyone who was born blind. From Eden to Malachi, there is not one recorded event where the eyes of those born blind ever saw. While there was a prophecy that when the Messiah came the blind would see (Isa. 35:4-5), the blind knew blindness was a hopelessly incurable affliction. This blind man said, “Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind” (John 9:32).
Then something happened to that blind man and his world was changed. This blind man overheard the words of the apostles. “Who sinned, this man or his parents?” It was commonly believed, even by the apostles, that such affliction was caused by sin. This blind man heard a Stranger spit and felt the moist mud being put on his eyes. How weird would that have felt? He knew the name of this Stranger and heard the authoritative command to go and wash in the pool of Siloam.
He did as commanded and he could see! The neighbors saw it. His parents saw it. He could see! He became the focus of the Jewish leaders who sought to discredit all that had happened. What this blind man now saw in Jesus was what they had obviously overlooked. He knew one truth and stated it so clearly to the leaders, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes” (John 9:30)! That Stranger came to Him again and revealed that He was the Messiah, and He not only knew the Stranger’s voice, He knew the Messiah and what He looked like.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the whole world could look at this historical record and see what this blind man saw so clearly! The Messiah has come and He is Jesus!