Is Seeing Believing?

 

John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

The above paragraph is the conclusion to this chapter devoted to the events surrounding Jesus' healing of a blind man.  It begins with the disciples asking about the reason the man was born blind: "Whose fault was it that he was blind?" Wrong question. Jesus responded that God had a purpose in mind, even though we know that any such defect is the result of the Fall. The question was: "How can this bring God glory?" Once again, the jealous religious leaders questioned Jesus' authority to do such a terrible thing on the Sabbath and ended up kicking the healed man out of the temple.  It did not matter to them that he was now whole; he had been a blind sinner and had no hope of ever escaping that.  Jesus disagreed, so He introduced Himself to the man as the Savior.  Now the man's eyes were opened physically and spiritually.  The Pharisees had only physical sight, and they failed to use that to see the Truth before their very eyes. Open our eyes, Lord, that we may truly see.