My guess is that all of us at sometime in our lives have played a childhood game….familiar to us all ……“Pin the tail on the donkey………At the time we may have been nervous playing it because we had to be blindfolded, but that nervousness did not last long. One realization kept us relatively calm. We knew that the blindness induced by the cloth over our eyes was temporary. We not only remembered what it was like to see, we were confident that we would see again as soon as the blindfold was removed.

Obviously none of these comforts were known to the blind man in our Gospel today. He was born blind, so he had no memory of seeing at all. He could not pull off a blindfold and receive sight that he had never known before.

If we have the ability to see, then to fathom blindness more than as a temporary experience of a blindfold is beyond our understanding. We have nothing other than our imagination to rely on, and even that is the limited imagination of one who can see.

 This man who John tells us was blind at birth had been told enough so that he knew that he wanted sight, but certainly he did not know what he was seeking. He did, however, have one important thing going for him. Because he could admit his blindness, he could ask for the gift of sight. Because he knew he needed to be healed, he could seek to find a healer. Because he was not in denial of his inability to see, he could eventually have a world of sight opened to him which Jesus did.

 However, there appears to be more than one “shade or color of blindness” in our Gospel story, and this is my general theme today. There is the man who asks for sight and receives it, but there are others in the story…..Pharisees…..who also appear to be blind. They simply did not know it ! They were blind to see goodness, healing and compassion even though it stared them in the face. They were blind to the Power of Jesus. When the newly sighted man told them that Jesus was the one who healed him, they could not even look at the possibility. They had total “tunnel vision.” They didn’t want to be confused with facts. Jesus was not one of their favorite people. His life and everything that he stood for challenged who they were and the way of life to which they were accustomed.  To do so, they would have to look beyond the walls of their pride and arrogance, and that would have carried a price they were unwilling to pay. They ignored reality. It would have forced them to change attitudes to which they were wedded and conclusions they were not about to let go. Being oblivious to it in their prejudice, the Pharisees actually chose blindness.

Although Plato wrote this allegory some 400 years earlier, we see the truth of this played out in the Gospel Drama today. One person gained sight, the others, blind as they were, refused to see the truth. It has been said that the most enslaved person in the world is the slave that thinks he is free. By the same token, there are none so blind as the blind person who insist that he can see.

There is a true story of another man in our day who was born blind, and he was quite comfortable in his blindness. Everything and every one in his life were organized to serve him well. He was intelligent, sharp and related to people well. He knew his village and the surrounding hills and mountains so well that he could carefully make his way to the mountain cottage of one of his friends.

One day, he decided to visit his friend across the narrow mountain pass. He got there safely and spent the whole day with his friend until it was dark. When he was preparing to go home, his friend handed him a lantern and urged him to carry this light. It’s dark and dangerous on these mountain passes. The blind man only laughed. “Why do I need a light ? You do remember that I am blind.”  The friend responded, “The light I asked you to carry is not for you since you are blind. It is for others to enable them to see you on the dark path.”

So the blind man took it and he carried the light for a time. But, it became a nuisance to him as he had many other things to carry. Finally, he just threw the lantern over the cliff. And so he went on for a time, but then suddenly a crash !………..Someone had run into him, and they both fell down on the path painfully smashing the other person’s light. They struggled to their feet, and the one said, “I couldn’t see you; where was your lantern ?” “I didn’t need the light, I am blind!”  And the other man then said to him: “And now, sadly, both of us are blind.” And then, they went on together…..the blind leading the blind!

Today’s bad news is that in our society, we often experience the blind leading the blind. Spiritually speaking, the sad news is that this Lantern or Light of Christ has been a nuisance to many, and that they have thrown their Lantern “over the cliff” too. They end up walking narrow, dangerous path until there is a collision in their darkness.  

Many folks [including our Pharisees today] are taught to accept blindness as truth. So which are we ? As fallible human beings, are we among those who admit enough of their blindness from time to time, that we can ask for help? Do we realize our limitations ? Or are we among those who insist that they can see all the time, even when we can not ? If we are the first type, then faith and humility may lead us to be cured of this shade of blindness. If, on the other hand, we are the blind who do not recognize their blindness, this story may be an invitation to stop playing that silly game..…Let’s remember that we each live in a world of our own making……and to take off the blindfold and to open ourselves to the wonders that can be seen only with  what is inside ….the heart. Is it difficult for us to look in directions that we are not accustomed to look?  Is it frightening to open ourselves to new visions that might challenge us to new behaviors? You know, Jesus tells us that we must be as “little children” because unlike adults, children have little need to deceive themselves which you and I do occasionally. Maybe we are doing this today in some way. We all experience a measure of blindness and limitation ……individually and even corporately as a government or even a church.

Yes, believing in Jesus is giving ones heart to him, and allowing Him to open our eyes to not only look, but to see ! The heart is the deepest center of the self….the inner sanctum of “sight” and understanding and spiritual growth.

Referring back to Plato’s allegory of those living in the shadows of their cave, may we also see the kinds of blindness that prevent us, on occasion, from knowing that there is more to see than the familiar shadows in the caves of our comfort.    And this Lenten Season may we realize and see and joyfully accept the fact that the same Jesus Christ who healed the man in our Story 2000 years ago is anxious and willing and able to heal us today !!

“Lord, that we may see”