Blindness I

As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him. And two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” The crowd sternly told them to be quiet, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” They said to Him, “Lord, we want our eyes to be opened.” Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him. (Matthew 20:29-34)

Then they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road. When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him here.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage, stand up! He is calling for you.” Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus. And answering him, Jesus said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And the blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!” And Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road. (Mark 10:46-52)

As Jesus was approaching Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging. Now hearing a crowd going by, he began to inquire what this was. They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And he called out, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Those who led the way were sternly telling him to be quiet; but he kept crying out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped and commanded that he be brought to Him; and when he came near, He questioned him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And he said, “Lord, I want to regain my sight!” And Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him, glorifying God; and when all the people saw it, they gave praise to God. (Luke 18:35-43)

Don: In Matthew and Mark, Jesus was leaving Jericho. In Luke, he was approaching it. Matthew tells of two blind men, whereas Mark and Luke talk of only one, with only Mark identifying him (as Bartimaeus). These discrepancies may be readily explained; for example, perhaps there was more than one instance of the performance of the miracle. They do not detract from the stories’ main message.

Matthew failed to mention the role of faith in healing, whereas Mark and Luke emphasized that it is the key to healing. The variations are what one might expect from multiple witnesses to exciting events.

At a time when there was no treatment for blindness, the loss of sight was obviously a significant event. There were no antibiotics to take care of eye infections, no cataract surgery, no lasers for retinal detachment, no implantable lenses. In a dust-blown land of unceasing sunlight, blindness from infection would have been common. With no braille and no leader dogs, the blind were totally dependent on society and on begging for their survival.

The Bible has no fewer than 50 stories concerning blind people. In the proclamation of his mission statement, the primacy of giving sight to the blind was manifest when Jesus quoted from the book of Isaiah:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
 Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
 He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
 And recovery of sight to the blind,
 To set free those who are oppressed,
 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18-19)

Blindness and its opposite, sight, have deep spiritual as well as physical meaning. The spiritual equivalent of physical sight is “insight”—understanding of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said of his mission:

“For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” (John 9:39)

He concluded:

“If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.” (John 9:41)

Like everything else, the issue of blindness was first raised in the Garden of Eden, when Eve told the serpent:

“From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:2-5)

The result of this was that they ate the fruit and then…

… the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. (Genesis 3:2-7)

Adam and Eve went from limited or no insight to full insight. But this insight will eventually be reversed:

I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. (Revelation 3:18)

The irony is that salving the eyes is blinding.

Jesus healed many blind people in his ministry. As well as Bartimaeus, they included a man who (unlike him) had been blind from birth, which was apparently a significantly different category of blindness. After being healed, the blind man said to his Pharisee inquisitors:

“Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.” (John 9:30-33)

But the Pharisees stuck to their guns, insisting on equating blindness with sin:

“You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” So they put him out. (John 9:34)

Jesus healed this man not with a simple touch of the finger but by the preparation and application of a poultice of dirt and spittle—again, a blinding agent is used, paradoxically, to open the eyes, like the salve in the passage from Revelation.

In another case, somebody:

… brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch him. Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?” And he looked up and said, “I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around.” Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly. And He sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.” (Mark 8:22-26)

It took two applications of the poultice (of spittle only—Jesus did not mix in dirt from the ground this time) to restore sight to this man. Why? Jesus used spittle three times: (1) with dirt, to heal one blind man; (2) with no additive, to heal another blind man, and (3) to heal a deaf and dumb man by applying his spittle to the man’s tongue:

They brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay His hand on him. Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly. (Mark 7:32-35)

The use of spittle seems to us repulsive. Why did Jesus use it? What is its significance, metaphorically? Bartimaeus was one of the blind who actively and persistently sought to be healed. Jesus evidently took their persistence to reflect their faith. The man who required two applications of spittle poultice to be cured did not seek a cure—someone sought it for him. He was healed through the faith of his friends. The curing of the man who was born blind was undertaken entirely on Jesus’s own initiative. Neither the blind man nor his friends asked for a cure for him, and faith was not a factor:

As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” (John 9:1-5)

At the same time, Jesus healed this most difficult form of blindness with ease:

When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. (John 9:6-7)

What is the spiritual significance of the blindness metaphor? What does it mean to be healed? What is the relationship between blindness and sin, considering that blindness is associated with darkness, and Jesus with light? What is the role of faith in healing? What is God’s role?

Solomon implied that vision is essential:

Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained,
But happy is he who keeps the law. (Proverbs 29:18)

Yet Paul implied that it is not:

…for we walk by faith, not by sight… (2 Corinthians 5:7)

Paul further implied there is an inverse relationships between sight (i.e., spiritual insight) and knowledge:

Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. [It’s interesting to note that as a church we base a tremendous amount of our message on knowledge of the scriptures and the prophetic word.] For we know in part and we prophesy in part;  but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:8-13)

Jesus said:

Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. (Matthew 13:13)

What can, should, and must we see?

Anonymous: Jesus told the Pharisees that they were blind because they thought they could see, and that to admit one’s blindness is to be forgiven for one’s sins. This subject is as deep and broad as an ocean. In our recent discussions of leadership, it occurred to me that leaders lead because they think they they can see, and followers follow because they think they cannot. The blind need to be led, and children need to be led. They are admitting their blindness and their need for light.

Don: And Jesus essentially likened the Pharisees to “the blind leading the blind.”

Donald: The light/sight/blindness metaphor is seductive in its brilliance, clarity, and sharpness. We perhaps need to be careful in interpreting it. We accept our pastors as leaders of our churches. Does a leader know s/he is a leader? The Pharisees were rebuked for the assumption. How is a leader chosen? Is leader the same as mentor? Who leads or guides the leaders? If none of us can see, what use leaders or guides?

Anonymous: To be led is to admit of a need to be shown the way. There is no difference between a mentor and a leader in that respect.

Donald: Is the pastor a leader because the church appointed him, or because you chose him to be your spiritual mentor? There seems to me to be some sort of distinction.

Anonymous: Perhaps the leader, who by definition arrogates more authority to lead than the mentor, is the greater sinner. Jesus took this burden from us by arrogating to himself total authority for spiritual leadership. My pastors have been good pastors, but we have all seen poor pastors; and in any case, no matter how good they are, they all need leadership themselves!

The blind in the scriptures are contrasted as confessing their dependence versus those who assert their independence by claiming they can see just fine and don’t need to be led. Unless one confesses one’s blindness, one cannot be led. But few of us are prepared to confess it.

Chris: The serpent in the Garden told Eve that God knew her eyes would be opened if she would eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. She, and Adam,  believed it would confer wisdom. So there was blindness in the Garden before the Fall: They were blind to sin and to the existence of a will other than God’s. But after the Fall, their eyes were opened to their own will but closed to God’s will. Their lives became dependent on their understanding of the knowledge of Good and Evil, as opposed to being dependent on God’s understanding of it. We rely on our pastors to supply or guide us toward God’s understanding. We tend to neglect the inner light—the remnant of our time with God in the Garden.

Michael: Perhaps the reason why the man who was blind from birth did not ask to be cured was that he could not know what he was missing.

Don: Perhaps he was happy being blind! He did not know any better.

Donald: How could one describe “sight” to someone blind since birth?

Don: Today we have merely glossed over the subject at large. I think there are some issues of deep spiritual significance in this metaphor—such as that just raised about being born blind versus losing one’s sight—which we will explore in depth in the course of the next several meetings.

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