“[The Pharisees] said unto him, ‘Give God the praise! We know that this Man is a sinner.’ He [the former blind man] answered, ‘Whether He be a sinner or no, I know not. One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.” (John 9:24-25)
The blind man in the Gospel of St. John saw, and saw in many ways. He saw first by interacting directly with Christ, then by doing what He said in letting Jesus anoint his eyes with clay and by going to wash in the pool of Siloam, and then finally by witnessing before hostile authorities what had truly happened to him: he was born blind, and now he saw.
More deeply, this man saw with his heart first in knowing his own real and seemingly permanent limitations that could not be fixed by just human means. Then he saw by willing to see more, to know more, and to find more. He was willing to believe. God has revealed Himself unto us, even today through miracles and the eyewitnesses of His Saints. May we be more willing to believe so that the Living God will draw near to us and heal us of all of our physical, mental, and spiritual ills!
“He that saw it bore record, and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith truly, that ye might believe.” (John 19:35)
The Monastics at St. Isaac of Syria Skete
and at the Convent of St. Silouan
and the Faithful at St. Nicholas Church
and the Staff at Orthodox Byzantine Icons and St. Isaac’s Bookstore.