One of my students told me a harrowing tale of taking a shower and going blind. Almost immediately after turning on the water everything went foggy and white. Gasping in fear she raised her hands to her eyes only to discover she had gotten into the shower still wearing her glasses. Obviously this wasn’t nearly as frightening as one of my friends who got hit in the head with a baseball and was blind for about three hours. Our eyes are our ticket to freely move about, freedom to independence, freedom to see the wonder of a smile on the face of a child, freedom to savor the beauty of a flower, a bird, a sunset or the face of one’s spouse.
One of my favorite Jesus stories is found in John 9. Jesus gives sight to a man who was born blind. The religious establishment tried to discredit the miracle by claiming fraud. They made the man’s parents verify their son’s identity. Finally they proclaimed Jesus to be an impostor. The now-seeing man’s reply is marvelous. He said, “I don’t know about that. What I do know is I was blind and now I see.”
One afternoon I sat with about five hundred people and watched two theologians debate the nature of Christ. It was such a pointless exercise. Each spoke so authoritatively. As if they knew. How could they? God is beyond our finite minds. As we left, someone asked me my opinion. Which position did I favor? It was such a joy to indirectly quote the man in John 9. I said, “I don’t know about that. What I do know is before I knew Jesus I was blind but now I see the only thing that is important. Jesus saves.”
Written by Roger Bothwell on July 9, 2009
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
rogerbothwell.org