The biggest portion of the narrative describing the healing of the blind man (Jn 9) is about witnessing. There are 27 verses in which Jesus is not present physically, but he is the theme, he is the central object. A man born blind was healed. Everybody wants to know how and whether he is the blind man or just looks like him (v. 8-9).
When questions and doubts arise, the blind man answers ‘it is me’(v. 10). He points to the man named Jesus who healed him. The blind man speaks of his own personal experience. Facing the division among the Pharisees and their theological discussion, he suddenly understands the connection between the miracle and the history of his own nation. God is still acting. Reconnecting the healing with the history of Israel, with the mighty deeds the Lord has performed, he proclaims Jesus is a prophet (v. 17). When interrogated by the Pharisees for the second time, the formerly blind man makes a basic theological reflection. “We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him. It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person who was born blind. If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything” (v. 31-33). Jesus cannot be a sinner if he performs miracles.
He is not giving up even when he is despised by the Pharisees who question his testimony (v. 28-29.34). In the Jewish understanding, a blind man was not a sinner, but unreliable for legal witnessing. His testimony could not be counted. However, he cannot do otherwise but repeat his own personal experience: Jesus healed me!
Two details are important to notice. First, the crucial role of the verb “know.”The parents know their son was born blind, but now he sees. The Pharisees know what happened to Moses, but they do not know Jesus. They know him to be a sinner because of their own conclusion. The blind man does not know the whereabouts of Jesus; nevertheless, he knows what he did to him and the way God deals with people. The Greek “oido” – “know” implies personal experience. The formerly blind man knows by experience. The Pharisees do not know by experience, nor by honest search of the Scriptures. They know by the filter they have used to read the Scriptures and the events of life. The Pharisees know theoretically by their own reflection. Their filter means ‘God acts only in a way we say and no other’.
The second detail is the growth of the understanding of the man. The more he reflects on the experience, and the more confronted with it, the clearer view he gets. Jesus is “man,” and then “prophet,” and finally, “he is from God, a devout man who does the will of God, and not a sinner.” This growth leads to a deeper personal encounter, “‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ He answered and said, ‘Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have seen him, the one speaking with you is he.’ He said, ‘I do believe, Lord,’ and he worshiped him.” (v.35b-38)Finally, in this encounter, the Lord reveals himself to him as the Son of Man from the prophecy of Daniel (7:13-14), the Messiah!
The Pharisees remain enslaved in their own filter. In their own lenses. In their own unchangeable understanding of life and God.
The man born blind changed his understanding based on his own experience with Jesus and an honest reflection on the Scriptures. It testifies that God is not far away. He’s close to his people. He’s close to suffering, and because of this, the blind man grows in his experience. Sticking to the real experience of God’s mercy, he comes to know Jesus more deeply.
Lent is a special time to follow the path of the blind man. Searching for our own experiences with Jesus, reflecting on them in the light of the Scriptures, so our eyes may be open as well. If you think you do not have any experience, then ask the Lord to come to you as he did with this man!