The Sight of Faith

The man born blind was sent by Jesus to the pool of Siloam to be healed (John 9). Later, after the man was rejected by the Jewish leadership council, Jesus found him, in order to reveal himself to him more clearly.  Here is the conversation:

John 9:35-39  Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?"  And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you."  Then he said, "Lord, I believe!" And he worshiped Him. 

Note the four words I have taken the liberty to underline.  The blind man had already "seen" Jesus before he saw him in the flesh.  He "saw" spiritually, though blind physically.  This story is just not fundamentally about physical healing.  The physical healing is a gift of grace, and an intimation of the integrity of the resurrection body that is given to the man who "saw" while blind.  But, the real "theology" is about spiritual perception.

And Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind." Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?"  Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains. 

I reverently suggest that what Jesus means is this:  His coming into the world is to execute a judgment, in order that those who [recognize that they] do not see [spiritually] may see, and that those who [assert that they do see, but they do not] may be made blind.  That is, the spiritually dead and sinners are recovered to life by repentance and faith in Christ himself, but the unrepentant and those spiritually blind to Christ are further enslaved in their blindness by his own testimony, and as a result are condemned.

There is a lifestyle here.  This passage speaks not only of that great transition from death to life which is connected with conversion to Christ, but also with the way we go on in this life.  Being brought low before Christ by our tribulations brings self-abasement, repentance, faith, dependence on Christ, love, joy, peace, patience, the vision of heaven seen by faith, and power by the Spirit.  To the sight of the flesh, what appears to be the way up to spiritual greatness is the way to hell.  But, to the sight given by the Spirit, the way to heaven is the way down, to Christ in his sufferings in the world, to Christ in his manner of life in this world, and soon, to Christ as he is in his resurrection and glory.