Who was at fault, him or his parents, for him to be born blind?
This is how the disciples asked the Lord Jesus. It is the nature of man to judge others and to reason all matters, though man is almost always wrong in his judgement… For who can get closer or predict God’s judgements, examination and means to conclude things… Our thoughts are so far from God’s thoughts, as heaven is from earth.
To reveal the Glory of God in him
This is how the Lord answered the inquiry of His disciples. God is capable of being glorified in those who are weak, in disasters, in those born deformed and in the incurable illnesses. God might have reasons beyond us in these matters… If we looked through the eyes of our Lord Jesus, we would have found that everything around us, no matter how difficult, they will lead to the glory of God…. When the Lord heard about the illness of Lazarus, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God.” (John 11:4). We hope that all matters would guide us to reach for the glory of God in our lives, and observe how God is glorified at the conclusions of all matters.
As long as I am in the world, then I am the light of the world
Jesus declares Himself for us… He came to declare to us Himself and for us to have unity with God. For the Lord revealed to us Jesus through His miracles, giving us the awareness and enjoyment of out rights. So Jesus in this miracle, He presents Himself to us, not as a cure for new eyes for a blind person, but presents Himself, even before doing the miracle… He is the light of the world… The blind, not by nature, but by the spirit, are those who sitting in darkness and the shadows of death. To know Jesus is to know the true Light, which lights for every person coming into the world. Whoever follows Jesus, will never walk in darkness, but with the light of Jesus, only then he will enjoy the Light… God who said let there be light from darkness, He is the one who lit into our hearts, to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in Jesus Christ.
After the Lord has pasted the eyes of the born blind with mud, He told him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.” (John 9:7). Here we are before a new creation, and the end of an old birth, according to the earthly body, the end of blindness, the wash with the spiritual water, and light that is rising for the first time. All of these matters indicate to us the idea of our experiences with baptism in our lives. One of the settings and teachings of the church is reading this same chapter of the Bible, when new souls are accepting the blessing of baptism, and acknowledging the secrets of God’s kingdom.
The baptism is seeing the Light
“And we know that the Son of God has come and have given us understanding, that we may know Him who is true.” (1 John 5:20). This is how the beloved St. John teaches us in his first letter. He makes the connection between the birth from God, the light and the love of the brethren. This is the eternal life, in which the church lives as a whole, and was also as recorded by the early fathers, who dwelt in the light.
The new sight, which God offered us with the new creation, is being cleansed in the holy water of baptism. We could say that we don’t look to the temporary things, but to the eternal ones.
The spiritual sight could accept the work of God in secret without argument or debate. For it would be as if the scales have fallen from our eyes as with Saul, and the darkness departed from it. The darkness of ignorance, without faith, when Ananias placed his hands on Saul. God sent Ananias for this, for immediately his sight was restored, Saul got up and was baptized.
The spiritual sight can see the illuminant angelic army, fighting on our behalf, while the world’s forces of evil surround us. We become full of confidence, and shout out saying, “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” (2 Kings 6:16). As Elisha the prophet said to his disciple, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” (2 Kings 6:17).
The spiritual sight sees with faith in fulfilling God’s commandments, His obedience and love, until the offering of the only begotten Son, like our great father Abraham. It sees beyond the natural senses and crosses all barriers. It can even see God’s ability to raise the dead.
It becomes stronger in faith, to the extent of seeing God. Even Abraham called that place “The-Lord-Will-Provide.” (Gen. 22:14). That is Abraham saw the Lord, he examined His cross, His sacrifice and his resurrection through the sacrifice of love, when he presented Isaac on the altar.
The spiritual sight that we received in baptism; through it we can clearly see the Lord … So we can say with good faith to others about the Lord Jesus, that we saw Him and observed Him with our own eyes. Then we can understand what was written to the Galatians, “Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified.” (Gal. 3:1).
If we ignore the spiritual sight which we received in baptism then we will fall in the world with its desires, and defile, then this will make our sight weaker, and fatigue will cover our eyes. Therefore we could not be sure of seeing God any more. As the Lord told to the angel of the church of Laodiceans, “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ – and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked -.” (Rev. 3:17). Here is the weakness of sight, so one couldn’t identify himself and the truth of his condition. And the Lord said, “Anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.” (Rev. 3:18). This is the repentance through scolding and divine correctives, the tears of regret and the return to God. The tears of repentance are our repetitive baptism, through which we regain our sight to know God, to know ourselves as well as our activities.
“After you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations.” (Heb. 10:32, 33). Paul the apostle told this to the Hebrews. Because after they accepted the faith and entered into the inheritance of the saints in the Light, they were enlightened in the Holy Spirit, and were subjected to reproaches and tribulations. This is clear when we observe the story of the born blind. For after the Lord opened his eyes, the Pharisees as well as the Jewish leaders subjected him to harsh resistance, and prosecution. Wasn’t that the state of the people in the past, after they went through the sea of baptism, they had to fight Amalek. Therefore, Satan watches our movements as an enemy, since the first instant the Lord opened our eyes through baptism, or by cleansing through tears of repentance… From this instance, Satan stood stirring up storms around us, and stirring up the people against us as if we are strangers in the community.
Do you believe in the Son of God? Lord, I believe! And he worshiped Him
It was not difficult for the human to utter the faith, like Peter, when the Lord opened his sight and he said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matt.16:16). For Jesus, through His word purifies the heart and cleanse the interior. “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” (John 15:3). The purity of the heart enables us to see God, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matt. 5:8).