Blind…
Born blind… Bound by the ancient curse.
Sitting, listening to the world within and the world around.
A beggar crying out silently to God from the depths: “O God, save me, have mercy on me.”
The question comes into my ear: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Now, another voice comes: “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him. We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming with no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
There is someone before me, blocking the warmth of the sun, like a shadow falling across my face.
I feel a touch on my face, the lifting of my chin and someone touching my eyes, the warmth of a presence attending to me in my need.
A touch on my eyes; something warm like an ointment being rubbed on my eyes.
And I hear his voice telling me, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.”
I rise to go to the pool, unsure of what is happening.
The encounter with that touch, that presence–Something has happened in me.
I go to the pool because he tells me to.
I am brought down into the waters of the pool.
I come up out of the water, blinking hard against the brightness of the light, like one emerging from a dark cave, free and unbound.
I realize that I can see.
I return to the place where I had been sitting, looking for the one who anointed my eyes and told me to wash. I do not see him.
I look at my spot where I had sat and somehow I realize that I am forever changed by the encounter with the one who opened my eyes so that I could see.
There are other people here who recognize me; they realize that I can see!
Some doubt that I had really been unable to see or that I am the same person.
I say I am the one.
They ask, “How were your eyes opened?”
“The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went there and washed and was able to see.”
They bring me before those of power, who question me about this encounter that has changed me. I tell them what had happened, and when they asked me, “what do you say about him, since he opened your eyes?” I say, “He is a prophet.”
And now, my parents. They ask them, “Is this your son and was he born blind?” And they testify that I am indeed their son and that I was born blind, but they cannot understand what has happened to me and what has brought about this change. They say, “He is of age…he can speak for himself.” Even my parents are afraid of the startling sign, of this change in me and of the power of the rulers of the age.
Again, I am questioned about what has happened and this man Jesus… And I proclaim his name to my brethren in the midst of their assembly… “One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.” They keep asking, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” As I continue to explain, I realize they cannot see. I proclaim, “This is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes… If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything.”
And in the next instant, in their rage, they say, “You were born totally in sin, and yet you were trying to teach us?” Then they throw me out of the synagogue.
And now, I realize as I think back over these events, that once I had been blind, but I was crying out, “Lord, let me see, deliver me, save me.”
Then this man Jesus passed by and looked on me and loved me.
I hear His words in my mind again,
“It is so that the works of God may be made visible through him.”
My whole life, my whole being, everything I knew has been changed by this encounter with this Jesus, who knew my need before I spoke. Reaching out to me, He healed me, directed me, and began to form me as one he had chosen.
And now, a man approaches me and asks, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” I look into his face and ask, “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” And Jesus says to me, “You have seen him, the one speaking with you is he.”
I answer, “I do believe.” And bowing low in worship, I cried out, “Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”[i]
NB: The original title of this work is Skeuos | σκεῦος. Skeuos is the word for vessel in Greek; as in Acts 9:15 for Paul as a “vessel of election,” or chosen vessel,[ii] 2 Cor 4:7 earthen vessels, and Rom 9:23 vessels of mercy.
Image Credit: El Greco. “Christ Healing the Blind c. 1570-1575.” WikiMedia Commons, n.d. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:La_curacion_del_ciego_El_Greco_Dresde.jpg.
[i] Adapted from John 9:1-41
[ii] “Acts 9:15 Commentaries: But the Lord Said to Him, ‘Go, for He Is a Chosen Instrument of Mine, to Bear My Name before the Gentiles and Kings and the Sons of Israel;” BibleHub. Accessed March 5, 2021. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/acts/9-15.htm.
Posted March 15, 2021
