Blindness ...

Tuesday, Aug 21, 2012. Recently I was upset about someone … I was quite upset indeed. Talking to my wife, I complained about particular behaviour, saying that this person is difficult to deal with and that it does not pick up a quite natural viewpoint. At some point I was asked: can't you see that he is blind? That struck me .. Blindness might be the problem - but my blindness as well.

How blind are we? …

We need to talk about blindness. Blindness can refer to our eyes, of course, meaning our ability to see things. That is a blindness which is based on perception of electro-magnetic waves, which can be detected by our human body. But there are other meanings of blindness!

When you cannot see something, we speak of blindness. That also refers to insight into a particular area or some particular relationship. Honestly, how blind are we? Perhaps your first reaction to the topic is: but I can see. Perhaps you think you can see well - both the world around you in the physical sense as well as your insight into it. That was MY first reaction.

But when you think back 500 years. People did not know what we know today about science. The cause of many illnesses was hidden from their eyes. The cause of many natural phenomena was hidden. Could they see? Could they see in the sense we see today, with our insight into natural laws, physics, fluid dynamics, micro-biology, genetics, … Compared to all of this, the people in the past were quite blind! How blind are we today?

The blind will see …

The New Testament tells stories about the blind. Jesus heals the blind. There are several particular stories, and there are passages interpreting the healings. The blind will see … and those who think they see will be blind! There is a spiritual meaning of blindness and seeing which Jesus refers to. When he is healing, he is also healing our soul and our mind - our inner eyes.

It is spiritual insight, which is important. How does God see the world? Think about all these humans, who go through their day without seeing the Lord, who is there with his power, with his spirit, with his love and his compassion. Think about all the Christians who do not see him, who go to church occasionally, but they only turn to him in hours of trouble. We lack his passion and his mercy.

Blindness is a topic which we do not often talk about - spiritual blindness. There is a lot to be learned which we do not know, a lot to be seen which we do not see. Lord, help us to open our inner eyes, to live with your heart! Help us and heal us … (Roland Potthast) ... more texts