Physical blindness is no trifling matter, no small affliction. Its ultimate origin is not of human sin or random chance, but divine appointment:
“Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?”
And while this is a great mystery, God has also seen fit to use physical blindness as a symbol of spiritual reality. He who is physically blind is in some measure insensitive to light and brightness, similar to a seeing person in the dark. And though we may see light with our eyes, yet we often choose to remain in spiritual darkness. We are insensitive to the light of God’s holy revelations, and thus prefer the darkness and shifting shadows over the truth:
“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”
This choice dulls our receptivity to God’s truth and creates a void in our hearts:
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
It was for this very purpose that Jesus came: to expose our blindness and then offer the eternal cure. Unless He removes the scales from our eyes, we will never see clearly; unless He applies the salve of grace to our eyelids, we will never discern truth. We will instead be like the Pharisees, of whom He said,
“Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
But if we humble ourselves, He promises:
“I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them.”
And again,
“The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.”
Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me! Lord, help me to see the true realities, and to walk in the light of Your word all my days!
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”