The Light of the World
According to the National Eye Institute, the eye functions by light passing through the cornea, then the pupil and lens to the retina. When light hits the retina, it is turned into electrical signals, which travel through the optic nerve to the brain, turning the signals into the images we see. When any part of this process is interrupted in some fashion, then problems ensue.
When I was seven years old, I started to have problems with my eyesight. The first eye doctor I visited said that I did not have any problems and must have wanted glasses because some of my classmates must have had glasses. Thankfully, my parents took me for a second opinion, at which point I received my first pair of glasses. Thus began a life-long frustration over my ability to see. Over the next few years, my eyesight quickly worsened to the point that I was going to the doctor every three months to get a new prescription. When I was 10, they decided to put me in gas-permeable (hard) contact lenses. In my late teens and early 20s, my eyesight changes finally slowed down enough that I only had to change my prescription once a year. In my late 20s, my doctor switched my contacts to soft lenses as the hard lenses were aggravating my eyes so much that we were worried that I would get to a point where I couldn’t wear contacts at all. This would have been devastating for me, as my contacts help me see as clearly as possible, and my glasses give me headaches when I wear them for an extended time. Now, in my 30s, my doctor keeps a spare set of contacts on hand for me, just in case I ever have an emergency. Contacts and glasses are necessary for my daily functioning. Without them, I can only see approximately 3 inches in front of my face; everything else is merely blobs of color.
Light is essential for seeing, but our eyes must also function properly to see correctly. In John 9, we come across a man who has been blind from birth. No sin on his part or his parents caused his affliction; he just lived in a broken world. Jesus tells us, though, “‘This came about so that God’s works might be displayed in him’” (9:3). Jesus proceeds to make mud with his saliva, coat the man’s eyes, and tell the man to go wash in the pool of Siloam. (Before we get too grossed out by the whole saliva thing, culturally, saliva from influential, respected, godly men was considered a curative.) The man obeys Jesus, and, thus, by faith, he regains his sight. This miracle comes after Jesus’ teaching in the temple, where He says, “‘I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life’” (8:12). The Pharisees disbelieved Jesus’ authority and work. They said that he was false, that his “‘testimony was not valid’” (8:13b). They fail to see that the works Jesus does testify for Him.
Earlier in the book of John, Jesus talks about this very thing. Jewish law required at least two corroborating witnesses regarding a testimony. Jesus says:
“‘…These very works I am doing testify about me that the Father has sent me. The Father who sent me has himself testified about me. You have not heard his voice at any time, and you haven’t seen his form. You don’t have his word residing in you, because you don’t believe the one he sent. You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me. But you are not willing to come to me so that you may have live.’” (5:36b-40)
God the Father and the Scriptures themselves testify about Jesus. Jesus proves Himself by both His words and works. He speaks the words His Father gives Him and completes the work that His Father gives Him to do (John 3:34; 5:19, 30, 36; 9:4). In R.C. Sproul’s commentary on the book of John, Sproul states, “The function of miracles is not to prove the existence of God but to demonstrate and authenticate a messenger of God” (146). Jesus has clearly claimed His status as the Anointed of God, the Savior and King of the world, the Light of the world. He then proves it true and follows His spiritual declaration with a physical reality – healing a man who was born blind.
Light and darkness are symbolic themes found from Genesis to Revelation. The Lexham Bible Dictionary (LBD) describes them this way: “Light and darkness together describe the opposite ends of a good-evil dualism that pervades biblical symbolic language…At the heart of Old Testament’s symbolic use of light and darkness is the connection the text makes between light and the personal presence of God, and darkness as all that opposes God.” As early as Genesis 1:3, when God speaks light into existence and limits the darkness, we see the battle begin. John continues the symbolism of light and ties it directly to Jesus’ identity: “…the full symbolism of light merges in the person of Jesus as salvation, knowledge or revelation, wisdom, life, healing, and God’s presence. Darkness, on the other hand, refers to sin and opposition to Jesus” (LBD). When the Pharisees challenge Jesus again in the account of the man born blind, we see how blind the Pharisees really are.
The Pharisees pull the formerly blind man into an interrogation since they cannot believe that Jesus miraculously healed him. The man did not even know that it was Jesus who healed him, but he is staunch in his refusal to deny Jesus. The man said, “‘One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I can see!’” (9:25). You cannot argue with the straightforward fact of the matter, but the Pharisees certainly try. This prompts Jesus to say, “‘I came into this world for judgment, in order that those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind’” (9:39). The Pharisees say that they can see, that they are not blind, but they are most blind of all.
We must ask ourselves: can we see? In the Christ-Centered Exposition for the book of John, the authors write: “Only someone who realized he was blind would long for sight…Only when a person understands his spiritual blindness will he turn to Jesus for healing. We are blind, and once we realize that, then we can come to Jesus to receive sight” (Carter and Wredberg, 211). Since I was a child, I have longed to see without the need for contacts or glasses, to have a cessation of the awful headaches that come with the strain I experience with my poor eyesight. My sight problems pale in comparison, though, when compared with the inability to see how much we need Jesus. So, today, stop and ponder – do you see clearly, or do you need a fresh encounter with the Master Healer?
