This past Sunday we reflected on the story from John’s Gospel in which Jesus heals a man blind from birth (John 9:1-41). The man is humbly ecstatic to be healed and pretty gutsy standing up to the angry Pharisees who repeatedly question him and criticize Jesus for healing on the Sabbath. By the end of the story, the man “sees” and worships Jesus as the Messiah.

Jesus told his disciples earlier, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

All of us, at times, are like the blind man in John’s story. We may have grown up loving God, know good from evil, know how God wants us to live, and try hard to love God and our neighbor… yet with all the distractions and pressures of the world (and human nature being what it is) we “lose sight” of Jesus and slip over into the darkness. We stop seeing God at work in the world or God’s way for us to follow. That can lead us to lose faith and hope, or act in ways that aren’t very much like Jesus.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be suddenly gifted with “20/20” spiritual sight again?? Maybe. It could also be quite sobering. Such divine sight would enable you to “see” not only God more fully, but also yourself and the world more authentically. You would see all the mean, weak, ugly, sinful parts of yourself for which you need to repent, and all the not-so-good sides of the situations and relationships in your life that you need or want to change. You would see without rose-colored glasses all the ugly, sinful parts of our history and culture in our nation, the world, and as the Christian community – all the unfairness, injustice, suffering, and complacency. And once gifted with this sight, you can’t “unsee” all that.

Here’s the Good News: Jesus doesn’t heal us so that we just “see” all the ugly parts. With the light of Christ truly in us, we also see and know Jesus walking with us, experiencing firsthand his love, compassion, forgiveness, and strength. We see God acting in the world through others’ acts of mercy, justice, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, etc. – and we’re excited to find ways that we, too, can be part of what God is doing in the world.

Not everything we see will make us feel good; vision often comes with a great deal of challenge, sacrifice, and responsibility. “Walking in the light” takes lots of prayer, and a healthy sense of humility and openness to change. Yet it is still so much better to believe, trust and live with vision than to stay in the unloving darkness! We need each other to help us know where we are and where God is directing us – as individuals and as faith communities. So, we pray for one another as we all travel together on this journey from darkness to light.

Wherever you are on your faith journey, we welcome you at Trinity every Sunday at 10am for worship, Holy Communion, and fellowship. We aren’t big or loud; you will find a warm congregation, uplifting liturgy, and the Good News of God’s radical love shared in word and sacrament.