It’s the same pattern we saw in John 4 with the Samaritan woman at the well. The unexpected Jesus encounter is real and deeply life-changing in a beautiful way. At the beginning of the chapter the man is physically healed. Jesus doesn’t get drawn into the question, ‘Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ No apportioning blame: for Jesus this is an opportunity for God’s glory to break in.
How often do we beat ourselves or others up about who deserves what? There are times and places for that, and there are times to let that go, and find the deeper needs that are underneath what happened or what went wrong. There are moments when we need to
The healing miracle was big. Let’s take a moment to think about all that involved: healing of eyes, healing of optical pathways to the brain, re-programming of the brain, so that it could process and understand this new information. That’s a lot of miracle and a lot of joy.
But we are more than our physical beings. We have a soul that needs connection to the unconditional love of God. So the man is physically healed – now it is time for his soul to be reconnected.
That happens through the interactions that follow, and I don’t know whether to smile or cry when I read what happened. His neighborhood people argue about whether it really is him. They religious leaders grill him, because the healing happened on a Sabbath, and they are out to get Jesus. ‘I don’t know whether he is a sinner or not. One thing I do know, I was blind, but now I see…If this man were not from God he could do nothing.’ That just hardens them in their blind opposition to Jesus.
When he gets thrown out of the worshipping community Jesus searches for him, and reveals himself as the Son of Man. The man bows down and worships. He is know seeing beautifully, and his deepest soul needs are being filled.
We are all being called into deeper trust and wonder, and deeper seeing.
What’s your prayer for yourself?
Where are the places inside you of fear or hardness that could be lightened? Take a moment to pray those things, and then spend a few moments gently breathing in God’s love for you, and breathing out the things that you need to let go to God.