As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”” Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”

 John 9:1-3

The healing of the man born blind in John 9 is an amazing example of how our perspective colors how we see everything else. Was it an act of healing performed with the lowliest of elements in plain view of all or was it an act of blasphemy (performed on the Sabbath, yet)? Was a man who had spent his life in darkness and poverty an irredeemable sinner who somehow deserved his fate or was his misfortune the staging ground for a work that only God could do? Does God only heal and bless the pious or does He—will He—transform the sorrow of this fallen world for His glory?

It depends on your perspective.

If you are a Pharisee, you operate from the perspective that anyone or anything that threatens your power or position must be eliminated. Your weapon of choice is the Law of God, the Law you were charged to study then teach to others. The Law you have twisted for your benefit. From your perspective, darkened by sin and self-interest, you feel free to deride a miracle and sit in judgment on the work of God.

Then there is another perspective.

This weekend I spent precious time with our youngest granddaughters, ages 5 and 6. We played make-believe and did a lot of visiting (what else with girls?). But our 5 year old was also anxious to share a story about a blind man Jesus healed. She could hardly contain her excitement as she told me (with gestures) how Jesus bent down, spit on the ground, made a paste of mud then put it on the blind man’s eyes. Then Jesus told him to wash the paste off in the nearby pool. When the man did this—he could see!

We talked a little about how the blind man must have felt to see for the first time, but the central fact of the story was what Jesus had done. No question that it had happened; only the amazing way He had done it. We didn’t even mention the Pharisees and their dirty work because, in the end, what difference do they make anyway?

Two perspectives, but with very different outcomes: one that will lead only to darkness and the other to light and life.

For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind (John 9:38).

Nancy Shirah