Blindness

1 John 2:9-11

          I can only imagine what being blind is like. It certainly would be isolating. The darkness would close in, especially if the blindness came later in life. The simplest things would become dangerous. Walking around the house becomes as obstacle course with sharp objects and multiple tripping points. You can’t just go for a walk in the neighborhood by yourself, at least not to begin with. Carrying out the easy, taken for granted tasks would have to be relearned. Getting dressed in a color coordinated outfit requires the help of a sighted person.

          Driving a car is out of the question. Looking into the face of your children and grandchildren becomes just a pipedream. Watching a movie turns into listening to sound effects. Next time you watch a movie, close your eyes for a minute and see if you can keep up with what is happening. It’s a very different experience!

          Imagine trying to navigate life without an internal compass of right and wrong. Or not understanding social clues like a smile or a frown. Or looking at a road sign and not knowing what it means. Or looking at a menu in a restaurant and not being able to read the words. These could be just as difficult to adjust to as physical blindness. And yet some people endure these brain handicaps every day.

          John tells us that people who don’t love fellow believers and yet claim to be Jesus-followers, are blind. They walk aimlessly in life. They don’t have a definite direction, and they certainly have no way of orienting themselves in the spiritual world. There are many things over which they could stumble. Just as a physically blind person has no way of knowing the dangers that lay ahead, so it is with those who don’t love. There are obstacles that are clearly visible to those who do love, but which are unseen to someone who doesn’t love. They are plain as day to obedient people, but hidden in the open to those who don’t love. Obedience gives sight.

          I am sure that physically blind people adapt. They learn to cope with their lack of sight. The develop ways of navigating the world that we don’t understand. I had a professor at college, a music teacher, he was blind. He would slap his feet against the sidewalk as he walked. He used the sound bouncing off the buildings as a way to know where he was. He rode a three wheeled bicycle and used the same types of echo location tricks to stay on course.

          But his navigation was not the same as a sighted person’s. You could see right away that he was blind by the way he moved about the physical world. His movements were awkward and halting. He often bumped into those unseen things. He was a phenomenal organist and pianist, but even his conducting was awkward. His movements weren’t smooth and flowing.

          So it is, John writes, that those who are disobedient are spiritually blind. Because they refuse to come into the light that obedience brings, their spiritual world is filled with obstacles that they fail to see. Their spiritual walk is awkward and halting. Those who watch from the sidelines can see something is wrong. They miss the obvious things right at their feet. They move right toward danger without the slightest hesitation. And they won’t believe the warnings that others give them.

          Sound like some of the people you know? They rush headlong into trouble, again and again. They don’t seem to learn from their mistakes. They can’t even learn from other’s mistakes. I hope you aren’t like this!

Obstacle

Mark 10:46-52

      Obstructions! Have you ever sat in a theater behind someone who was too tall? Or had to watch a ball game from behind a big pole? Or see what the crowd was excitedly observing, but you couldn’t move to get a better view? Obstructions come in all shapes and sizes and get in your way.

      While traveling in Italy a few years ago we were near a mountain top villa we wanted to visit, so we pulled off the highway and headed toward this villa. It could be seen for miles around as it stood on this rocky outcropping. But just when we would turn onto the road that would lead us there, there were police blocking our way. We thought there must be an accident, so they were diverting traffic. So we pulled up and asked. “Il Papa” was their reply. Now Italian is not our strong suit, so we were puzzled for a couple of minutes. Then it hit us, the Pope was at the villa, and they were protecting him.

      When moving in any direction, whether we like it or not, we will face obstacles. If we want anything important, challenge is part of the process. Things will get in the way. If it were easy, everyone would achieve the goal. The best goals are the hardest to achieve. I will let just about anyone wash my car, but I won’t allow just anyone to remove my appendix. And to become a surgeon takes years of training and experience, all of which are obstacles to me becoming a surgeon so I can do my own operation.

      There was a blind may sitting by the road when Jesus was leaving the town. Blindness is a pretty large obstacle to many things in life. This man might have had to have someone lead him to the place to sit each day. He relied on the kindness of strangers for his most basic needs. Every task in life would be more difficult.

      But what you don’t expect is for people to try to stand in your way. You don’t expect people to trip up a blind person. That is cruel. And yet that is what some were doing just that. They were trying to keep the man from getting to Jesus. He shouts hoping to get Jesus’ attention, but they want him to shut up.

      Luckily Jesus hears the man and stops. He wants to remove the obstacles from this man’s life. He want to give him access. Jesus gives the man an open door.

      I picture the crowd parting, creating a aisle between where he was and Jesus, a large obstacle removed. And the man takes those steps. The man might well have heard what Jesus said and did in this city, and he believes Jesus can restore his sight. And Jesus does.

      What obstacles are obscuring your vision of what Jesus wants to do in and through you? What stands between you and God’s goal?

Straight Home

Mark 8:25-26

      Golf is a game of strategy. Of course the goal is to get the ball into the cup with the least number of strokes. Sometimes you don’t drive directly toward the pin. Sometimes you drive to a better position rather than to shortest yardage. You use your drive to set up your second shot, making it easier to get to the pin, although not the shortest route.

      Strategy gets used in many sports, and in many areas of life. We butter up a colleague with cookies and complements in order to help with future requests. You save your fastest player until the fourth quarter when their speed with overwhelm your opponents. You train carrying an extra ten pounds of weight, so that when the race comes, and the weight is removed, it is much easier to run.

      Jesus, like all teachers, has some students who seem to be missing main points of the lesson being taught. Every teacher plans their lessons with the main points in focus. If the students can master these essential skills, then they will have a sufficient grip on the material and will be able to move on to the next, more complex tasks. If they don’t get the concept, they won’t be able to move to the next task.

      Jesus’ disciples have missed an essential warning that Jesus gave. They were too busy focused on their next meal. They got the message it hanging out with Jesus is important. Now they need to begin to really listen to what He is saying.

      Mark in constructing the order of his recording of Jesus life and ministry did so with purpose in mind. I think that is why he includes this story of two-touch healing. The first touch restored sight, but the man was unable to accurately distinguish objects. He thought people looked like trees walking. I suppose he could have continued in life like that. It certainly would have been better than staying blind, but Jesus had more for him.

      Today some people want to hang out with Jesus without listening to what He said. They gloss over the difficult message of holiness and self-sacrifice. Instead, they only hear that God loves them “just the way they are.” He does love us just the way we are, but He loves us enough to not leave us in our selfishness and rebellion. He loves us enough to want us to change.

      Some people feel that part of Jesus’ message is enough. But without full understanding, they are stumbling around in life struggling to identify the most basic elements of the life Jesus demands from us.

      One final note: Jesus tells the man not to go back into town. If he did, he would be disobeying Jesus. The Christian walk is about freedom, freedom to obey God, not freedom to do whatever we want. Life gets lived within the confines of God’s character, holiness. There are some things that are never acceptable to Him. Many things are specifically listed, like the Ten Commandments. Some are cultural and time-limited, like many of the specific ritual laws of the Old Testament.

      Maybe we need to go straight home and not enter the village.

Two Stages

Mark 8:22-26

      Cancer treatments often happen in stages. There might be an initial operation and then chemo or radiation treatments follow. Rarely does one treatment take care of the issues. This can be very frustrating for those going through the treatments, and for those who love and care for them. Instead of having the pain and uncertainty finished in one quick motion, the process gets dragged out over months, perhaps years. The closure moment might be delayed and postponed. Checkups happen over years. The words “cancer free” may come repeatedly, but maybe not.

      We have come to expect cures, quick ones, ones contained in small pills, taken once daily with food. We struggle with impatience. We want the suffering to be over and done. WE want to get back to our ‘normal’ life.

      I find it interesting that Mark places this account right after the disciples got stuck on discussing physical bread when Jesus wanted them to consider something very different. Jesus even questions whether their hearts are hard, their eyes blind and their ears deaf. And now Mark includes a story about a blind man being healed in stages. I don’t think this order is accidental.

      People bring this man to Jesus, a very common thing. Jesus pulls the man aside by himself, a pretty common thing. And then Jesus touches him twice, once for sight, and once for clarity. Why did He do it in stages? He had healed other people with a single touch, why did it take two for this man?

      I want to venture a guess, but it is only a guess. Mark includes this account here because the disciples had their eyes opened, but they still didn’t understand what they were seeing. This man could see people, but the image was distorted. They looked like trees. The disciples knew Jesus was different, but they didn’t know how different. They knew Jesus could multiply bread, but they didn’t understand that He was the Bread of Life. They needed a second touch.

      Sometimes we get satisfied with partial vision. We respond to the wooing of the Holy Spirit and we begin a relationship with the LORD. Our eyes are opened, but we still don’t really understand what we are seeing. Things are still distorted, reflecting too much of the old perceptions of the world. We still hold on to our old way of looking at things, our old limited worldview. But Jesus wants to do more.

      Don’t be satisfied with seeing the world like trees walking. Seek the LORD until you have His perspective, His clarity. Wait for His touch. When He touches we can begin to see clearly.