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Learning to See
by Martin Smith
March 2, 2008
[John 9:1-41]
For most of human history, the idea that people born blind might actually gain their sight was the stuff of legend. But legend turned into fact when western surgical pioneers found ways of operating on the cornea. For the first time, we could observe scientifically what happens when someone who has never seen anything before is suddenly granted vision. In 1932, a German researcher called Maurice von Senden published the results of hundreds of cases.
His book makes haunting reading because the sudden onset of vision turns out to be traumatic. New vision takes the form of chaotic shifting patches of striped light which baffle the patients. Depth perception eludes them. People seem to shrink uncannily before their eyes, when they are actually just walking away. One patient stepped off a tall building to his death because he had no sense that the tininess of the figures he saw below indicated the height of the building. Two lovers always shut their eyes tight when they were together to block out the confusing display of shapes and figures, reverting to the touch and smell they were familiar with. Some patients prayed to become blind again, and one was hugely relieved when he did. Learning to see turns out to be a slow, painful process. Some patients were thrilled by seeing this wonderful world, but their joy was often hard-won. It was only after holding her eyes shut for two weeks that one girl eventually opened them and blurted out, “Oh, my God, how beautiful!”
How does our story from John’s gospel match up to these scientific accounts? Well, it doesn’t pretend to be a scientific report. It’s a miniature play, one of a series of seven one-act dramas that form the backbone of the gospel. Their plots deal with some kind of transformation worked by Jesus. The evangelist calls them signs. And at the end of chapter 20 he reveals the purpose of this series of dramas. “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” (20:30,31)
In these dramas, John has no interest in occult, miraculous powers. His concern is to explore the transformation that comes about through believing in Jesus as the Living Christ, and coming to life through that relationship. Remember, in John’s gospel Jesus’ intention is clear: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (10:10) So each story with a miracle in its plot was written to symbolize the contrast between the abundance of life that comes through a vital relationship with Christ, and the relative impoverishment of an existence that is disconnected from him. It is as great as the difference between ordinary drinking water and fine wine, as the story about the wedding at Cana shows. It is the difference between being an entombed corpse, and being alive, as the raising of Lazarus shows. And in the case of sign number six, it is like the difference between being blind and having sight.
Now, let’s imagine ourselves in the theatre. Sometimes the action on stage covers weeks, months or even years. Yet the play lasts only two or three hours. Drama has the power to compress the slow unfolding of human interactions over time into a short span. In the same way, the action in this story is extremely compressed, just covering a few hours. But John, brilliant dramatist that he is, has built clues into the story to show that his little play really symbolizes a process of coming to faith, a process that might take years, and a process that is far from smooth and easy.
This is where there is an interesting connection between John’s little drama and the stories of blind people learning to see reported by von Senden. In both cases, patients take a long time learning to see. True sight doesn’t come instantaneously at all.
So here are four stages of insight through which the man passes, after he has initially received the gift of vision from Jesus. They are the results of four interrogations. He is first interrogated by his neighbors from whom he used to beg. Then he has two interrogations by Pharisees. Then finally he is questioned by Jesus himself.
Stage One: Interrogation by the Neighbors In this brief act of the drama the neighbors want to know whether the beggar really is the one who has been cured and what Jesus did to cure him. The man gives a brief account of being anointed with mud and being told to wash it off in the pool of Siloam. When they question him about whether he has had any ongoing contact with Jesus, the man has to admit that he doesn’t. “They said to him, where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.”
In this first stage of faith, the man knows nothing about his healer except his name, “The man they call Jesus.” And he doesn’t know where he is. There’s no personal connection.
Stage Two: First Interrogation by the Pharisees In this scene, the Pharisees put pressure on the man to denounce Jesus as a sinner because he performed a cure on the Sabbath, violating one of the Ten Commandments. An argument breaks out among the bystanders, and gradually the man begins to make up his own mind about who Jesus must be, if he can give people sight. The blind man makes his own personal evaluation of Jesus. When they ask him, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” The man replies, “He is a prophet.”
In this second stage of faith, the man is beginning to ask who Jesus is, and what kind of authority does he have that makes him different from anyone else.
Stage Three: Second Interrogation by the Pharisees In this scene, the Pharisees again try to intimidate the man into condemning Jesus. But under pressure, the man really starts to work out for himself where Jesus’ power and authority comes from. He defiantly states his new found conviction that Jesus is “from God.”
In this third stage of faith, the man has started to receive Jesus as a gift from God. Somehow God is behind Jesus. God has sent Jesus to us. Jesus is literally a Godsend. Now did you notice in the gospel story the evangelist’s explanation of the meaning of the word Siloam, the name of the pool where the man washed — “Siloam means Sent”? A clue! Spiritual enlightenment begins to happen when we personally recognize that God has sent Jesus to us as his gift. You start to believe when you get the ‘Sent’ thing.
Stage Four: Finally, as the climax, Jesus takes the initiative to track the man down and talk with him face to face. “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, so that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshipped him.” (9:35-38) The man has now finally reached the point where is ready to be connected with and devoted to the one who has given him vision and light. He professes his belief in Jesus as the Son of Man, the unique person who truly expresses what humanity can be at its fullness, and at the same time truly expresses who God is in his life-giving compassion and love. I believe. Not “I subscribe to a dogma about you.” Rather “I believe in you, I entrust myself to you.”
The power of this story is that it holds up a mirror to us as a Christian community. We are a community where people are in the process of learning to see spiritually. And it is not easy. The adventure of insight that we call faith is difficult, and not everyone is at the same place.
Some people are at the point where Jesus is mainly a figure they have heard about from others. They don’t have a firsthand impression yet. “The man they call Jesus.” They haven’t formed a personal connection.
Another group consists of people in the process of wrestling with the meaning of Jesus’ identity. They recognize that he has some authority, that Jesus’ teaching makes claims on them, sometimes uncomfortable ones. A prophet is someone who proclaims uncomfortable truths and summons us to action. So these are the Columbans who feel a sense of commitment to Jesus, even though they may not be able to go beyond saying that he is a prophet. They may be serious about our outreach, without necessarily having formed beliefs about Jesus.
Some others among us find that their spiritual insight is getting into sharper focus. They are sensing that God has given Jesus to them, that God has sent Jesus to us, that he is God’s greatest gift to us. They have begun to experience Christ in their life as healer, and they are actively receiving him from God. These are people who are praying about Christ. In reading the scriptures they are beginning to feel that words like Savior have real meaning, since the gift of Jesus directly speaks to their sense of need, and of brokenness.
And then there are those among us who have experienced Christ personally by faith. In the story, it is Jesus who searches for the man he had healed in order to help him recognize who he is. So there are those among who will testify that at some point in their spiritual journey, perhaps after they have been coming to St. Columba’s for years, they came to know Christ as the Living One who has searched for them and found them. They have come to know him and worship him. Like the man who has finally learned to see in our story, they can say, “Lord, I believe.” They even understand from personal experience how it is that after first doubting, Thomas the disciple should finally say to Christ, “My Lord and my God!”