He saw a man born blind.” This is how our story begins. This man was unimportant to the many villagers of that day, insignificant to Herod and a nobody to Caesar, but he was most significant to God, for “He saw” him. God sees you as well.
What transformed this blind beggar to become a true worshipper of God? What was it that lifted one of the lowest of society to the very highest occupation possible?
First, he understood his condition. He was blind. Imagine – he hadn’t seen the stars in the night sky or even his own mother’s face. There was no creature he could turn to for healing, and there was nothing he could do by his power to see. He saw himself correctly as blind and helpless. Do you see yourself correctly? The Bible shines as a bright light and makes clear that “all have sinned” (Rom 3:23), and that God is a fair Judge who must punish every sin. We read that the punishment is suffering and death (Rom 6:23). So desperate is our condition that we are identified as “without strength” (Rom 5:6). God clearly describes us as we are; we can accept the description and “see,” or we can reject the light and remain “blind.”
Second, he obeyed the prescription. It was a most unique prescription, and the man was faced with a choice: Would he obey the Lord or not? This is the crucial point about any prescription: it must be obeyed to be personally effective. This blind man obeyed the prescription and “came seeing.” God has provided the cure for our blindness as well – a cure that cost Him all: “He gave His only Son” (John 3:16). His Son was sinless, and yet on the cross He suffered for sin. Why was He punished when He was pure? The answer shines so brightly from Isaiah 53:5-6: He was being punished for our sins. God demonstrated that His suffering was enough by raising our Lord Jesus from the dead. This is the cure for our spiritual blindness. The prescription is simple: accept God’s view of yourself, turn from your sin, and place your trust in God’s Son as Lord and Savior, and “with His stripes” you too can be “healed.” There is no one who has obeyed this prescription and not “come back seeing”!
Third, he appreciated the Physician. The city buzzed with news of this miraculous healing, and this once-blind man defended his Physician against various accusations. As a result of his defense, he was thrown out. The Physician found him and explained to this man Who it was that had healed him. The One who saw him in his awful condition (John 9:1), the One who prescribed the curing prescription (John 9:6-7), and the One who was standing as his Great Physician was none less than the Son of God Himself. When this previously blind beggar realized this, he fell on his face and worshipped Him. How could it be that the very Son of God took notice of me, and healed me and desires a relationship with me? The wonder of it all culminated in a bowed heart of true worship. May this transformation from beggar to worshipper be a reality in every reader’s heart.
