Please Don't Pass Me By

There was a blind beggar by the roadside that caught the disciples’ attention. They noticed this man; he probably wore tattered clothes and walked with a large cane of some sort. We are told he was blind from birth. I can’t imagine what it would have been like not having seen anything my whole life. He wouldn’t know what a tree looked like or what blue is. But I know deep inside, the beggar’s blindness was not the only blindness in this story. The disciples believed that the blindness of this man happened because of some sin that had been committed. Yet even the disciples could not see what was about to happen. John 8 also states that Jesus refers to the Jews as blind because they cannot see He is from God. The Pharisees later in this chapter have to deal with a man-born-blind that could see and attributed Jesus’ healing to the Devil and cast this man out of the temple.

But which is worse, the physical blindness of the beggar or the spiritual blindness of the disciples, the Jews, and the Pharisees?

When I was little, my grampa took me to visit a local man. He was a blind man, but very angry. He never wanted visitors and even his family was not permitted on his property. My grampa had to settle a debt with him so we were allowed to come inside. Not knowing any better, I asked Grampa why the man was angry all the time with the man standing there.

Grampa took me aside and whispered “Because God is working his miracle through him”

I asked Grampa to explain, but I can never explain it in the English language the way he explained it to me.
“He has been blind all his life, but he will only be blind in this lifetime. When he gets to heaven, he won’t be blind anymore. God has made him suffer for only a short time, but because of his blindness, God glory can be seen by you, me, and those around him”

It was then that I told Grampa something I will never forget: “Grampa, would God let me trade places with him so I can get to heaven too?”
Not much was said after that, though I remember the man hunched down on the chair across from us, sobbing and Grampa reassuring him. A week later, I met a new friend. He and his family were visiting his blind grampa.

Jesus didn’t leave the man born blind… blind.
Jesus spit on the ground and made some mud. He put it on the man’s eyes and then He told him to wash in the Pool of Siloam. He then could see! This man who had never seen his reflection or people’s faces or buildings could now see it all. He had met Jesus and now he could see. It was a miracle.

Jesus, I need you --- please don’t pass me by.