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A SOLILOQUY ACCORDING TO THE MAN BORN BLIND

                                                            John 9: 1-41

It was the strangest, wildest, most wonderful day in my life. It was the day I shall remember as long as I live. It was the day that I, born blind, was given my sight!

            There were so many emotions that surged through my soul IN ONE DAY! I had the most profound sense of GRATITUDE to this stranger that came my way, I guess quite by accident, and gave me the gift of being able to SEE! I had the most profound sense of ANGER at the hardheaded Pharisees who kept questioning me about the man who gave me my sight. Imagine, they did not even care that I could now see; all they cared about was that the man who healed my eyes did it on the Sabbath. As far as I’m concerned, I could care less WHEN he cured me. What meant the most to me was THAT he cured me. I ended the day, however, no longer angry, but WORSHIP-FULL, for the day concluded with me falling on my knees at the feet of the man who called himself THE SON OF MAN, whom I came to believe was the SON OF GOD.

             In fact, in one day, I went from seeing Him as just another man, a stranger, to understanding Him as PROPHET, all the way to being convinced that He is God’s very own Son. May I tell you about the greatest day in my life?

             It didn’t start very well! I was just sitting there, begging as I usually do. I mean, what else can a man born blind do? And I heard this little group coming nearby. Of all things, I found myself to be the subject, no I guess the object, of a theological argument. I couldn’t believe their insensitivity. One of the followers asked the leader of this little band a question about me, like I was a rock or a stone or a tree, but not a person! I heard him ask: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents for him to have been born blind? As if, because I suffered blindness, either I or my parents had sinned! I knew the Scriptures said that “the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children,” but to jump to the conclusion that because something bad happens to a person automatically means someone had sinned, is an impossible theological assumption. Well, their leader didn’t believe it either! I loved what He said to them. NEITHER HE NOR HIS PARENTS SINNED, BUT HE WAS BORN BLIND SO THAT THE WORKS OF GOD MIGHT BE DISPLAYED IN HIM. Wow! I loved that answer! Apparently this Rabbi didn’t buy their theological assumptions. It sounded like He was a man who wanted to make things happen! I began to feel a surge of hope inside me. I heard Him say something like, “I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, which sounded good to me. All my life, I’ve been wishing for LIGHT!

             He did something or other with some dirt, spittle, put it over my eyes, told me to go wash in the pool of Siloam, which I did, and… I can only tell you, I COULD SEE. Light, colors, people, the water in the pool, THE WORLD.

             People around couldn’t believe it. They didn’t believe I was the same person. They asked me how I came to see. WHO DID IT? So I told them. “A man did it,” that’s what I told them. That’s who I understood him to be at the time, just another man, a stranger, called Jesus. He made a paste, daubed my eyes, told me to wash in the pool, and I did it, and I could see. They said, WHERE IS THIS MAN? I told them I had no clue. As soon as I said that, I had this uncomfortable feeling somehow, as if I should know, but I really did not know where He was. He didn’t stay around for me to thank Him.

            That’s when all the hassle happened! All my so-called friends thought this miracle, which was done on the Sabbath, was a matter for Pharisees to handle. I heard them murmuring!  This Jesus did WORK on the Sabbath! It is against the law! This Jesus HEALED on the Sabbath, It is against the law. So they brought me before the Pharisees. On my way over, I thought to myself, “I bet brother Jesus doesn’t give a wit about this stuff.

             The Pharisees asked me how I had come to see, so I told them my little story. Do you know what? Of all things, they started arguing among themselves! I thought, “Good, let them fight it out, whatever they had to fight out! At least they were off my back! You should have heard them arguing! It was insane. Some said, THIS MAN CANNOT  BE FROM GOD; HE DOESN’T EVEN KEEP THE SABBATH LAW. HE IS OBVIOUSLY A SINNER. Other said, BUT IF HE IS A SINNER, HOW COULD HE DO SIGNS LIKE THIS?

             Well, I thought, I had them off my back, but at the end of their infighting they TURNED TO ME, and asked me WHAT I THOUGHT OF HIM. That kind of stopped me in my tracks. I mean, here were the ENLIGHTENED of Israel, asking a life-long blind man what I thought of Jesus. I thought of saying to them what I heard Him say, “HE IS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.”  But I blame well knew if I said that, I would be in serious trouble, and I didn’t want to fool with these boys. I thought for a moment. I was tempted to call Him just another man. That’s when I called him A PROPHET. You know, prophets could perform great signs, like the prophet MOSES doing those weird things in Egypt before Pharaoh. Like the prophet ELIJAH doing what the prophets of Baal could not do. That’s what I called Him. A prophet. They didn’t like that either. But I stuck to it. Anyway, all they asked me was my opinion. BUT I REALLY BELIEVED IT!

             They were so upset they went and asked my PARENTS if I in fact had been blind from birth. Well, THEY didn’t want to fool with these boys either, so they told them to go ask me. I wish they had not done that, because that is exactly what the Pharisees did. They brought me back again. I could not believe it!

             They said, “Give glory to God,” which in their minds meant I was now under some kind of oath. They said, they had reached their verdict, and that this Jesus was a sinner. I told them I was in no position to judge whether He was a sinner or not, and inwardly I didn’t even care. I told them all I know is that while once I was blind, now I could see. They wanted to hear my story all over again, and I said, “WHY, DO YOU WANT TO BE HIS DISCIPLES TOO?” Well, that was not too smart! You never heard such verbal abuse! They started claiming MOSES for themselves, and were sure Moses came from God, but WHERE THIS JESUS CAME FROM, they said, we don’t know. Then something inside me boiled. I had had it!  I said to these Pharisees, NOW THIS IS TRULY ASTONISHING. HE HAS OPENED MY EYES, AND YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE HE COMES FROM. I THOUGHT YOU WERE THE ENLIGHTENED ONES. IF HE WERE NOT FROM GOD, HE COULD NOT DO THESE THINGS. CAN’T YOU FIGURE THAT OUT?  I was even surprised at myself for what I had just said!

            Well, that ended it! They by now were boiling over too. They said something like, ARE YOU TRYING TO TEACH US? YOU WHO OBVIOUSLY ARE A SINNER THROUGH AND THROUGH, EVER SINCE YOU WERE BORN!

             And they threw me out of the Temple! I knew now I was in big time trouble! I knew I would be ex-communicated!  Which meant I would be ostracized, shunned, and terribly alone. I WAS BEGINNING TO WONDER IF BEING ABLE TO “SEE” WAS WORTH IT ALL!

             Just when I was feeling really down, and totally alone, the man Jesus found me! He had heard that I was “thrown out of the Temple.” He came out to me having SEARCHED ME OUT! Somebody later on said to me, “Exactly! When the Pharisees threw you out of the Temple, the LORD OF THE TEMPLE FOUND YOU!”

             He came to me quietly, smiled, we talked, and he said something like, “DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE SON OF MAN, OR THE SON OF GOD, or something like that? I wasn’t exactly sure what he meant by either of those phrases. As far as I was concerned, they meant the same thing. I knew, after my speech in the temple, I believed in something, but I wasn’t sure in what I believed. So I said, “SIR, TELL ME  WHERE HE IS SO THAT I MAY BELIEVE IN HIM”  What He said next sent shivers through me. It’s even hard for me to say the words. He said, YOU ARE LOOKING AT HIM HE IS SPEAKING TO YOU.

             That’s when I fell on my knees. That’s when I dropped to the ground in trembling joy.

             He opened my eyes so I could see THE WORLD. He opened my soul so I could see the SON OF GOD.  It was the day a man born blind was truly given his sight.

             I walked away with the thought, “I wonder if I should go back to those Pharisees, and tell them how wonderful it is TO HAVE OUR EYES OPENED.