"Did You See That?"

One of the many amazing aspects of literature that is seldom considered by those of us who are not professional critics is the role which many disabilities play in helping an author create a level of depth and complexity which could not otherwise be achieved. Often we as readers superficially assume that such infirmities are irrelevant and gloss over the blind, the deaf, the lame, and the crippled characters a text so obviously presents to readers begging us to examine more closely the link between the infirmity and the human condition. This is nowhere more true than in scripture. We are often taught of the miraculous healing of the blind, deaf, and lame and as readers of scripture do no further analysis of the symbolic constructions of these conditions. The point is, infirmity is never simply infirmity. It is always present in a text and it is always more significant than we are aware. Blindness, for example, is never just blindness.

For instance, in Mark 10:46-52 the Apostle Mark relates the story of blind Bart. Bartimaeus (Bart) was sitting along the road to Jericho begging, a common profession of the blind in Biblical times. When he hears that Jesus is coming he cries out “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many sermons I have heard and commentaries which I have read state simply that Bart identifies the Messiahship of Jesus by stating Jesus is the “Son of David.” A very true and accurate statement. Jews believed the Messiah would come from the line of David and this statement does indeed suggest that Bart had an insight that others may have not. (Get it? A blind man with in-sight!) The simple fact is that Bart sees on deep spiritual level that those in the crowd are incapable of attaining. They, in fact, attempt to hush Bart rebuking him for his loud and incontrovertible cry.

Much like Tiresias in Oedipus Rex, Bart does indeed know the whole truth about the king and I think this is the point. In contrast to those in the crowd who hush and rebuke, Bart cires out. Many times in life we know God is near and yet are blind to His presence. We may not be certain and full of doubt. We may be lost in our own self pity and self victimization. But Jesus makes His sound plain so that we can hear Him and know His coming; however, due to those circumstances “who” hush and rebuke us we seldom cry out "all the more." The point is that we must scream like Bart. You know it's Jesus, you just need a little, or a lot of faith. In the end, it is this faith, the ability to see where the blind (in this case spiritually and not physically blind) cannot, that prompts Jesus to heal Bart. You see, Bart could always see just not in the the obvious way.

But it’s not always this simple. Blindness in a text is not always the difference between spiritual blindness and physical blindness as in the story of blind Bart. (I know. You’re all thinking something Simpsonish). Blindness, according to Thomas C. Foster in How to Read Literature Like a Professor, presents the author with many difficulties that are not very easy to resolve and very often change the interactions of characters within a text. The changes may be subtle but the fact that an author has chosen to undertake these difficulties is significant. “Clearly the author wants emphasize levels of sight and blindness that go beyond the physical” (202).

The second example is taken from the Gospel of John : “1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:1-2). The question the disciples ask is three fold when it come to the issue of blindness. The first is “Why has this man been blind from birth?”, the second, “Is his blindness the result of some sin?”, and the third is, “Who did it?”. Your question, I am sure, is “Where do you get three questions from the one the disciples ask?”.

The answer to this question is “That’s what the text is asking.” Jesus answers the first pretty plainly by saying that this man’s blindness is not the result of any sin. As we can see, the text implies a cultural belief concerning the spiritual nature of infirmity. If you’re born blind, someone did something that requires atonement or forgiveness and somewhere along the way the appropriate sacrifice was not made. The sin has gone unrepented and the resulting punishment from God is the infirmity. Perhaps this man’s father threw a stone off a cliff and killed a man walking by below and never realized the consequence of a mundane action. Maybe his mother worked past the allotted time preparing for the Passover and said nothing. Who knows? The point is Jesus is telling his disciples that God doesn’t work that way and he probably never did.

Jesus is overthrowing a cultural worldview conception of God by removing the spiritual aspect of blindness. Jesus answers the first question by stating that this man’s blindness is for the purpose of glorifying God. Yes, even bad things are there so that God can bring glory to himself and demonstrate His sovereignty over all things (C. S. Lewis’ The Problem of Pain). A great example of this is the Book of Job. Job suffered for no other reason than to demonstrate to all those around Job that He was in control. Not even Satan can act against us without God’s permission. Now that’s a pretty awesome statement of power and this is a lesson the disciples need.

The disciples need to learn that God presents us with certain difficulties to challenge our preconceived notions of who He is and, as a result, give us a more clear and accurate conception of Himself (A. W. Pink’s Attributes of God). So this answers the second question: God made this man blind. This man lived his whole life as a blind so that this moment could occur. Seems pretty cruel, I know, but this is what the text implies. And this is perhaps the most difficult aspect to reconcile. Why would God perpetrate an “evil” so that He could demonstrate His omnipotence?

The simple answer is because. (Bad English, I get it.) You see, it is not for us to fully understand the why behind God’s actions and this is the deepest lesson of the passage. Paul writes many times of the “mystery” of the Gospel. In some way Paul is suggesting to us that if God gave us answer for everything He did we would have no reason to rely on Him and have no reason for faith. The true test of faith is accepting things as true that we do not fully comprehend. It’s not a “Bible tells me so” situation however. It’s more like “I’ll answer that question when we meet” kind of thing. Not knowing inevitably produces a need and dependence like nothing else can. If we went into a job already knowing everything, we have no reason, no purpose for doing that job any longer. We would be bored, apathetic, and uninterested. The key component of mystery is the excitement of discovering the answer and the thing that keeps most of us going to work is the possibility of a new challenge. This is what gives this passage its coup de gras.

The last passage on blindness suggests something still a little grander than the latter and perhaps along the lines of the disciples thinking. Isaiah writes in poetic prophecy,

18 “Hear, you deaf;
look, you blind, and see!
19 Who is blind but my servant,
and deaf like the messenger I send?
Who is blind like the one in covenant with me,
blind like the servant of the LORD?”

In this context, blindness is the result of obedience. Seems a little strange I know but true all the same. I think that sometimes we miss the point that we are simply to follow the commands of God without question. Blind obedience is doing what we are asked without knowing why or what the outcome will be. Like a missionary who drops a bunch of tools into Amazonian natives only to be killed with those same tools later. Asinine isn’t it. Or like God sending Himself to pay the price He Himself required for our sin. The point is that these ironic situations shed light in the darkness we so often curse.

Our faith, when it comes to obeying God, is best described as a darkness with a pin point of light we strive to reach. Sometimes we seem to be closer to it and at other times it’s so very far away. What we fail to realize is that what appears to be a small point of light in the distance is actually illuminating the path we walk. This is why scripture is described as a light unto our feet. It’s okay to have doubts, to question, as long as we are obeying what scripture says while we seek out the answers. This is the whole point of God saying “Come, let us reason together.” Part of reasoning is not rejecting the answer because we do not quite fully understand them. We need to keep obeying and keep asking.

The Israelites did the opposite. They didn’t understand and walked away which led them to suffer the consequence of disobedience and spiritual blindness. They weren’t blind because of their sin; their sin led them into blindness. If we stumble about a dark room, the result is stubbing a toe or falling over that coffee table we swore was some place else in the room. When we kick the couch it’s a reminder to turn on the light. In other words, when things aren’t going well for us we may need to turn on the light or open our Bibles and do a little soul searching. Trouble is God’s attempt to remind us that, to some degree, we have forgotten to wait and listen for and to the answers He is giving us and to keep asking questions.