The Blind Boy’s Neighbor

I need to share a story that changed my life forever even though it did not involve me directly. You see, I grew up next door to the blind boy. I was just a few years older than he. As a young child, I overheard awful whisperings in the neighborhood when he was born. This was not only a terrible tragedy for the boy but, of course, also for his parents. They had a blind child to raise in a world that condemned his condition, and they were forced to endure the cruel glances and the accusatory stares of neighbors and even friends. It was a moral nightmare to be born with any sort of defect or illness.

You see, it was commonly believed that any “handicap” as you call it, any physical deformity in an infant, was a direct result of some sin committed by that infant’s parents. When this little boy was born without vision, everybody knew that his parents had done something awful to offend Almighty God. It was their fault. Of course it could have been his fault as well, the baby’s that is, because, sad to say, people used to believe that even unborn babies were capable of offending God.

I think he looked just the same as other babies. He pouted and cried and smiled and laughed. I know that, as a child, he was, in most ways, like other children. In fact, although my parents strongly discouraged it, I used to play with him sometimes when we were little. Almost all of the neighborhood children did. I thought he was a nice boy, bright and kind, certainly a lot more thoughtful than the brats who made fun of him all the time.

He could not play many games with us, however. That was a problem. Games with sticks and stones were definitely out of the question for him. He was too easy a target. There was one game, however, that he was exceptionally good at. It was a game in which one person was blindfolded and the others found a place to sit still nearby on the dusty streets of Jerusalem. The blindfolded person stumbled around looking foolish and had to find as many of us who were sitting still as possible. The advantage that the blindfolded person had was that those sitting would often start to giggle and give their positions away.

This special boy, who needed no blindfold, had an uncanny ability to find the rest of us, even when there was no giggling at all. He could hear us when we were scarcely breathing. He could grasp a sound or sense a presence when the rest of us could hear and sense nothing. When he was a little older, he could tell who was nearby simply by the smell of us, a fact that I, for one, did not consider to be terribly flattering. I suppose what I am trying to say is that he had his own unique way of seeing.

On the day when everything happened, when his life changed and my life also, Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” He did not mean that he was going to make people blind but rather, that he was going to help them understand their own blindness, for, truly, this is a malady that afflicts us all. Every one of us. Some of the Pharisees heard Jesus and said, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Well, the truth is this – not one of us sees with perfect clarity, not one.

I used to wonder if this boy, in his blindness, had no choice but to become a beggar but as I grew older, I was led to believe that this was his God-given responsibility.

My parents taught me that his begging not only assured him a living, however meager, but it offered the rest of the community the possibility of a special blessing. You may be surprised by this, our worlds are so different, yours and mine, but to offer alms to a blind man was to gain a blessing in heaven. This is what we believed! One gave to a blind person not solely out of mercy but for one’s reward in heaven. It was not that people were without compassion. This is simply the way it was.

Well, on this day of days, the blind man, my long-time neighbor, the boy I watched grow up, received his vision. It was a day that turned my life upside-down.

Many lives were, in fact, changed that day. It was a Sabbath day and not much happened on the Sabbath back then. I understand you do not observe the Sabbath anymore, but believe me when I tell you, we took the Sabbath quite seriously. It was not simply a matter of faith but of God’s laws, laws that we adhered to strictly. I know that you fill your Sabbath days with business and shopping and exercise but, according to divine commandment, we rested (for the most part). One was not permitted even to pull a hair from one’s head on the Sabbath or to tie a simple knot. And I have to say, it was nice to have a break once a week. I looked forward to the Sabbath.

I’d heard of this Jesus fellow, the healer from Nazareth. Some people hated him. Others followed him around like puppies. Personally, I was skeptical. I wanted to see for myself what all the fuss was about. And so, like many others on that Sabbath day, I went out to see him, to catch a glimpse of the one some were calling, “Lord,” although he had no official title or standing. There was a big crowd gathered near the temple and, sure enough, Jesus of Nazareth, was right there in the middle of it. He was, apparently, having some sort of discussion with his disciples.

It was then that I noticed the blind man. He was in his regular spot outside the temple but he was not collecting alms for it was, as I told you, the Sabbath. Jesus and his disciples stopped right next to him and they were discussing his blindness. The disciples wanted to know who had sinned, in other words, who had caused the blindness. They spoke about him rudely, as if he were not sitting right there or as if he were deaf, not blind. Of course, he could hear every word they said about him. Imagine everyone’s surprise, especially the blind man’s when Jesus said plainly that no one had sinned. No one had sinned!

This blind friend of my childhood would later tell me that these words were as much a part of the healing he experienced that day as was the miraculous bestowal of his vision. Jesus’ words released him from any resentment he held toward his poor parents. This was not their fault after all. He said that, deep down, he knew this all along. In his heart, he had known that his blindness was no one’s fault. Jesus’ words brought that truth to life. Of course his parents sinned. I sin. You sin. Everybody sins. Everybody’s parents sin. But God does not retaliate against us by blinding or hurting our children.

Jesus also said something very interesting which I have given much thought. He said that my neighbor was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. That may sound like divine cruelty to you but I think of it this way. Everyone is born with flaws. Everyone! Some of those flaws are obvious, like this man’s blindness, and some are more easily hidden or more socially acceptable. Whatever our flaws may be, it is sometimes through these very flaws that God works wonders in us. Not only our strengths but our very weaknesses may glorify God. And so it was with this man’s blindness.

Now, I think it is noteworthy that the blind man never asked Jesus for anything. He just sat there being himself. Perhaps no request was necessary. Perhaps Jesus saw the longing in him. Whatever it was, Jesus did a very strange thing indeed, something I still struggle to understand. I am resigned to the fact that this part of the story is a mystery. Jesus spit in the dirt and made a little paste of mud and placed it on the blind man’s eyes. I was, I have to admit, embarrassed for him, and initially, I was insulted by Jesus’ crude treatment of him. But, as is my way, I kept my thoughts to myself. I waited and watched as Jesus told him to go wash his face in a nearby pool of water. Some would have asked Jesus, “Why are you doing this? Why are you putting mud in my eyes? Why don’t you go jump in a nearby pool?” But he went. He stood up from his beggar’s seat and went to the pool of Siloam to wash up. While I had not spoken to him in years, I followed him, thinking I might somehow help him through this moment of profound humiliation.

But then it happened. He washed his face and it happened. He was able to see.

For the first time in his life, this man had vision as most of us have vision. It was clear to me then and it is clear to me now that Jesus Christ is indeed the light of the world, the light that shines in the darkness, the light that darkness cannot overcome. He brought that light to my blind friend and he offers that light to me and to you. There were many witnesses to that blessed event, to the restoration of my neighbor’s vision, but not all responded as I did. Many were confused, even angry. Some of the local people could no longer tell whether or not this was the same man. They even suggested that he was someone who only looked like the blind man. And when he said, “Oh, it’s me alright,” they did not believe him.

Now, the Pharisees were deeply divided over Jesus. Some witnessed the miracle and believed he was truly of God. Others claimed that a man of God would never offer healing on the Sabbath for healing is a form of work. So what did the Pharisees do? Like any self-respecting group of law-makers, they hired a team of special investigators who nearly terrorized the man’s parents. His frightened parents stuck to the facts and asked the Pharisees to discuss the matter directly with their son. I felt so badly for them. For too long, they had been punished for having a blind son and now they were being punished for having a son who could see.

The formerly blind man was questioned a number of times and was very straightforward with the Pharisees. He said, “This is what I know. I was blind. And now I can see. I think he is a prophet. You may judge for yourselves.” The Pharisees treated the man miserably because, without meaning to, he confounded and enraged them. They accused him of being born entirely in sin and they drove him out of town. They did not seem to understand a word he said or a word Jesus said. Have you ever met someone who did not want to understand? I think these Pharisees didn’t wish to understand.

What is so fascinating and ironic is that, on that day, when his vision was restored, it became obvious that the vision of many seeing people was far more impaired than his. They could not see who the blind man was. They could not perceive what had happened. They could not make out who Jesus was. A blind man received vision and, in the process, the spiritual blindness of the community was exposed. At first, I was not seeing clearly either. I, too, was perplexed. But then I started to understand. Then I began to follow. Then my vision was restored.

I came to see why this man, Jesus, who had no money to speak of, no honors, no titles, no fancy family, this man who challenged our understanding of sin, who moved us to compassion, who dared to do the work of God outside the temple and on the Sabbath, no less, was called, “Light of the World.” On that day, I was given new eyes for seeing, new ears for hearing, a new heart for loving. And on that day, the focus of my life became the grace of God from which there is no turning back. Thanks be to God.

Prayer of the Blind Man’s Neighbor

God, who surrounds us with miracles, open our eyes to your presence in our lives. Help us to trust, not solely in our senses, but in our hearts. Teach us to reach out to one another in compassion and love, setting aside pity and fear. Remind us that our flaws and weaknesses as human beings are the very places where you so often touch our lives with grace. Teach us not to blame one another for sadness or illness or calamity but rather, to love one another in every circumstance. Where our vision is impaired, help us to see clearly, to perceive faithfully, to understand deeply. Grant us eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to love. Amen.

Source: teamnoah.info