Looking and Seeing

)

Acts 9:3-8

Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every time I look at you
I go blind.

"I Go Blind" written and performed by 54-40 from the album by the same nam. (The Hootie and the Blowfish version was recorded ten years later.)

In Scripture blindness was a special kind of affliction. It wasn't treated as a physical ailment, it was considered a spiritual illness, an indication of sin.

Samson's life proved this. Even though a powerful judge of Israel, he was not attentive to his Nazirite vows. When he was taken by the Philistines one of the things they did to him was to blind him.

When Jesus and his disciples came upon the man who was born blind, they asked who sinned to cause his blindness.

Saul of Tarsus persecuted the Church of Jesus Christ, for this he was blinded until the Lord lifted his blindness.

Blindness, in the case of two of Samson and Saul was a result of sin. Samson and Saul were filled with pride. Samson carried his fair share of vanity to boot. But because of their blindness, because they recognized the sin in their lives through their blindness, they sought the Lord in new ways. Their new faith in the steadfast God brought them to a new relationship with the Lord. They both approached the Lord in contrition and obedience. They did what they were called to do. They fulfilled their vocation.

It can be pointed out that their obedience led to their violent deaths. Samson died at the destruction of the Philistine temple which he brought down on all who attended the party held to shame him. Paul's death is not reported in scripture or history, but he was presumed to be beheaded at the hands of Nero in the mid first century. Yet, they both met their fates with their faith fully known. They met their faith fulfilling their missions on earth.

The Lord is never a fan of sin, but the Lord can use us even in our sin to accomplished the work of the kingdom. That's powerful.

As for the man born blind, it was the Lord who opened his eyes, which cost him his spot in the temple and in the community. His blindness was not the result of sin, yet to accept vision and the Lord cost him all that he had.

We have blind spots in our lives too. Some are the result of our sins, some aren't. But it is up to us to seek and find the blindness in our lives which are like Paul's and the which are like the man Jesus healed. Our Lord is the only one who can give us the answers to those questions, and our Lord is the only one who can heal us from that blindness too. Otherwise we are like Samson and die blind.