Blind Spot; John 9

May the mumbling commence!

Have you ever heard of a blind spot?  Even those of us with the best of vision have blind spots.  We often talk about blind spots as we drive.  (And for the football fans out there – there is also being blindsided by a tackle or a block.) 

I drive school bus.  Just this morning, I was driving my morning route.  It is amazing how I can get into a rhythm.  I joke that I can almost do my route in my sleep because I have done it so often.  I drive down certain streets and make stops at certain corners and homes to pick up certain students.  Well, this morning, I was at one of my stops and saw a couple of my regular morning riders. 

After greeting them and waiting for them to sit down, I was in the process of closing the door and moving on.  The stop sign was retracting, and I was taking off the parking brake.  Then I saw some movement from the corner of my left eye.  There were two more students (a brother and sister) who have not ridden in the morning for quite awhile.  Until they moved into my peripheral vision, they were in my blind spot.  I quickly reopened the door, kicking the stop sign back out.  I reengaged the parking brake and waved them to cross the street. 

Routine saturates our lives so much; we don’t always notice what is going on around us.  We can be blind and not know it.  I wonder how often we get into a routine in our worship and miss the miracles of God that happen right before our eyes. 

I wonder if we sometimes forget that worship is an action and not a passive verb.  Can we force ourselves to be actively aware of what happens in our times of worship so that we may be ready to readjust our routines to match the flow of God’s Holy Spirit?

I am meditating on this type of blindness because of the passage from John chapter nine about Jesus healing the man born blind.  The disciples first asked Jesus if the man sinned or his parents that the man was born blind.  Jesus told them it was that the glory of God might be displayed in his life.  The disciples were blinded by their culture, which told them that some sin had caused this blindness.

The Pharisees were also blinded and confounded by the healing.  They sought another explanation for the healing outside of Jesus.  They thought the glory should be given to God.  They could not fathom the miracle happening through Jesus, who was challenging many of their assumptions about God.  Read a passage from John chapter nine below:

A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God," they said. "We know this man is a sinner." 

He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!" 

Then they asked him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" 

He answered, "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?" 

Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this fellow's disciple! We are disciples of Moses!  We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from." 

The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.  We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will.  Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.  If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." 

To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw him out. 

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" 

"Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him." 

Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you." 

Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him. 

Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." 

Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?" 

Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” (Verses 24-41)  

Let’s be careful about claiming to know so much that we have nothing left to learn.  As Christians, we never “arrive”.  It is a continuous learning process, and we can always benefit from a Spirit-led lecture or sermon or life experience. 

Remove our blind spots, O God, so that we may see your Spirit’s moving and adjust our lives accordingly.  Jar us out of our ruts.  Put the salve of Your Spirit on our eyes so that we may see more clearly the work You would have us do.

Enough mumbling for now… 

Peace Out