Seeing comes from obedience

“The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” John 9:11

Model of old Jerusalem.
Original image by Berthold Werner

The blind man had never seen Jesus. He had only heard him speaking and felt his hands touching his face. But something about Jesus, his willingness to touch a blind beggar, his voice and the way he spoke, made the man willing to do as Jesus told him. Even though it meant leaving his begging bowl and stumbling, still blind, to the pool several streets away, he got up and went to Siloam to wash. And he came back seeing.

Later the man described himself to the Pharisees as a disciple of Jesus, (9:27) though at that stage he was still uncertain about who Jesus was. When Jesus met him again and told him the truth, he instantly recognised Jesus, and fell down in worship. Not only had his physical sight been restored, but his spiritual eyes had been opened.

Not long before this, Jesus had told the Pharisees, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32). In other words, obedience comes before knowing and demonstrates discipleship. Such obedience requires trust in the person of Jesus before we have seen the truth of what he is telling us. The Pharisees refused to trust Jesus. The blind man trusted and through his obedience came to the truth.

To be a disciple of Jesus doesn’t require that we have all the facts about him, or understand every theological proposition about him. We only need to trust him because of what we do know and be willing to do what he tells us. Such trust and obedience will lead us to the truth.