Today we get to open another gift that Jesus brought us when He chose to lay aside His glory and enter our world. How drab the colors must have seemed! How unusual the music! How strange it must have been to walk and talk among people who were created by His Father yet failed to see His blessings or give Him the worship due His name!

Here’s what we’ve opened so far.

Gift #1 – Jesus was born so that we could be born again.

Gift #2 – Jesus walked so that we could worship.

And today…

Gift #3 – Jesus spoke so that we could see.

In John 9 we read the story of a man who was born blind. The common thought of the day was that physical ailments like blindness were likely a result of sin – either the man’s own personal sin or some sin of his parents. Jesus corrected this wrong idea, reminding His disciples that the man had been born blind so that “the works of God might be displayed in Him” (John 9:3).

Physical blindness is a terrible thing. Close your eyes. Now, imagine that you have never seen the face of your parents…or your siblings…or your precious children or grandchildren. What if you couldn’t even understand the concept of color? How many bumps and bruises would you have from trying to navigate your way through even the most familiar of spaces?

Jesus looked at this blind man with compassion and was moved to act in mercy. The man didn’t seek to be healed, but he did what Jesus asked when instructed to go wash off the clay that the Savior had applied to his eyes. By faith, he obeyed… So he went away and washed, and came back seeing (John 9:7).

Of course, this made the religious crowd angry. Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; in their eyes, because they did not recognize He was Lord of the Sabbath, He was a lawbreaker. The fact that a man had gained his sight meant nothing because their hearts were hard. They possessed physical sight and had no mercy or compassion for the blind man.

Jesus spoke to the blind man and gave Him physical sight, but something greater happened just a little while later. After a somewhat humorous exchange with the angry Pharisees, the man was put out of the synagogue. Jesus sought him out and spoke to him again. This time, there was more at stake than just physical sight.

Jesus spoke so that the man could see with spiritual eyes.

John 9:35-38 – Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.” And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him.

Remember…the last time this man saw Jesus, he was blind. He went away by faith to wash, and when He returned, Jesus had disappeared. How kind and gracious of Jesus to seek him out and speak to him again! He wanted not only to open his physical eyes, but the eyes of his heart to understand salvation and truly see!

Jesus speaks to us, so that we can see. He spoke to the Pharisees too, but their hearts were hard, and they remained spiritually blind.

John 9:39-41 – And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”

In other words, do we accept what Jesus says by faith and obey? Or do we deny our spiritual blindness, and remain in our sin?

Jesus speaks…so that you can see…

See the truth about who He is, and why He came.

Has Jesus spoken to you?

Ephesians 1:18-19a – I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.