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March 19, 2023Walking in the Dark:
A Reflection on the Gospel of John 9:1-41
A blind man visits a friend, chatting and confiding, forgetting about time. The friend said, “I light a lamp for you because it is too dark.” The blind man replied: “Are you kidding me? I am blind, day or night makes no difference.” The friend apologized and said: “I am not joking; I mean you should hold the lamp so people can see and not bump into you.” It sounds reasonable, the blind man happily took the lamp and left. After walking for a while, someone bumped into him, and he fell to the side of the road. Too angry, the blind man stood up and said: “Are you blind because I held the light so bright, but you could not see?” The other person replied: “You are blind, the lights go out without knowing when.” As such, it seems that there is only one blind person in this story. But actually the man walking in the dark was also blind because he did not see the blind man even though he was not physically blind. To walk in the dark without the light of Christ is also to be blind.
The Pharisees wondered, “Surely we are not also blind, are we?” The Pharisees felt themselves sharply touched by our Lord’s words, which they understood to speak not of the blindness of the body, but of the mind. They were aware that they were not physically blind because they were doctors of the law, so if Jesus said this, they would have ridiculed Him as an idiot.
Jesus said to them: “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.” This means that if they were blind in their bodies, they would be less proud and sinful. For bodily blindness would humble their mind. But now they say to themselves, “We see,” that is, they think they see, and are so wise as to be excellent judges of Christ’s advent and person. And therefore, they from their arrogant and evil thoughts continue in the sin of unbelief against Jesus; they obstinately set their mind against Jesus, and thus refuse to believe in Jesus as the Messiah, though Jesus has demonstrated that He is by very many signs and miracles. And therefore, they cannot by any possibility be enlightened and healed by Jesus, because they obstinately refuse to hear Him.
Thus, we, like the Pharisees who know about the Law of God, can be blind when we have arrogant and evil thoughts that oppose and reject Jesus. We are blind because we walk without the light of Christ.
In Christ,
Hoa Nguyen
