I Was Blind, But Now I See

…the man said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshipped him. John 9:38 (NIVUK)

In the ninth chapter of John’s gospel Jesus heals a man who had been born blind. It was a wonderful healing, enabling this man to see physically for the first time in his life. I can’t truly imagine what it was like for him to see after years of darkness, nor can I fully appreciate the deep joy he must have felt following the miracle. It must have been a magnificent experience: to have been blind, and now be able to see.

As marvellous as this miracle was, John included this incident as a sign to point his readers towards realising that Jesus could not only heal physical blindness but spiritual blindness too (cf. John 9:39-41). This blind man not only received physical sight, but he was also spiritually enlightened, revealed by his profession of belief and worship of Jesus (John 9:38). It is astounding that a Jewish man would worship another human being. He may not have understood fully who Jesus was, but he certainly sensed he was in the presence of deity and so worshipped Jesus.

All human beings’ worship something. We may not call it worship but we all have something that occupies our heart’s desire. It might be money, our career, our possessions, or a hundred other things. Whatever it is we worship, other than God, becomes an idol, and worshipping the wrong thing or person is the ultimate cause of spiritual blindness. But as our spiritual blindness is lifted, we will inevitably come to worship the true God. This worship will be trinitarian in nature: the Holy Spirit spotlights Jesus, God in the flesh, leading us to worship him (John 16:7-15), which will be to the Father’s glory (Philippians 2:11).

The Pharisees failed to recognise who Jesus was, didn’t worship him, and remained spiritually blind. This man believed in the ‘Son of man’ and worshipped him. The scales fell off his eyes both physically and spiritually. If he had been a writer like John Newton, I could imagine him writing,

Amazing Grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found
Was blind but now I see

May that be our song too.

Have a good week singing the song of grace.

Pastor Barry