Day 9

Christ Gives Sight

from the The Miracles of Jesus reading plan


John 9:1-41, Matthew 9:27-31, Mark 10:46-52

BY Guest Writer

Scripture Reading: John 9:1-41, Matthew 9:27-31, Mark 10:46-52

My preschool teacher was the first to notice my vision problems. Her suspicions were confirmed after an appointment with my eye doctor. I had a lazy eye, but the treatment was simple: wear a patch over the dominant eye to force the weak eye to strengthen. As a budding young artist, I relished the opportunity to draw a gorgeous new eyeball on my disposable eye patch each morning. I can only imagine how ridiculous I looked, but at the age of four I had little concern for appearances.  

My eyesight was corrected over time. Not surprisingly, the optometrist never pronounced, “Your faith has healed you!” Rather we assumed modern medicine deserved the credit. My physical sight was nearly perfect, but spiritually I remained blind for many years.

Jesus did not heal blindness the same way an ophthalmologist would.

First of all, your eye doctor has most likely never rubbed mud on your eyes. Secondly, I doubt your eye doctor has ever discussed your spiritual sight. In my experience, she has you look through a metal contraption and asks, “Which looks better, number 1 or number 2, number 2 or number 3?” Surely this is one of the most confusing tests known to man, but it has nothing to do with your faith.

While the multiple accounts of Jesus healing blindness did involve a physical transformation, He always acknowledged a spiritual component. Christ was not satisfied with saving the body; He was even more concerned with saving the soul.

Blindness and sight, darkness and light—these are metaphors Christ often used to describe the spiritual realm. When He healed someone of physical blindness, it was also a statement regarding His power to heal spiritual blindness.

Physical healing is a wonderful gift. But if we only ask for relief from our temporary afflictions, we are not asking for enough. Jesus came so that “those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind” (John 9:39). His miracle of sight is alive in all who believe because salvation is a miracle of resurrection. Our eyes have been opened; we were dead, but now we’re alive in Christ Jesus. Faith in Him is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:1-5,8).

When God gives us spiritual sight, scales fall from our eyes as they did for the Apostle Paul (Acts 9:18). Our circumstances might remain exactly the same, but our perspective shifts. Where there is hopelessness, Christ offers hope. Where there is fear, Christ offers peace. Where there is hatred, Christ offers love.

We are all works in progress. None of us has 20/20 vision just yet. But we know from Jesus’ work on earth that He delights in healing our sight. We ought to pray for physical healing because the Lord cares deeply about our entire well-being. But we should pray also for spiritual sight—the miraculous gift of faith that truly saves us.

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Kaitie Stoddard is a professional counselor who recently relocated from Chicago to Colorado with her husband. She has her Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and is passionate about helping couples and families find healing in their relationships. On any given weekend you’re likely to find Katie snowboarding in the Rocky Mountains, checking out new restaurants with friends, or catching up on her favorite Netflix and podcast series.

Post Comments (55)

55 thoughts on "Christ Gives Sight"

  1. Jayson says:

    Why should we trust God, my mom believes seeing an eye doctor is more Important then getting spiritual or physical healing from God. Why should I trust God when my mom forces me to get my eyes checked instead of getting healed by Jesus. How do you go about this? I am not able to make my own choices its always my mom making the choices for me do you know what that feels like to live a life hard with a mom bossing you around. I can’t even pay my own taxes or cook myself, so what’s your solution to that?

  2. Tierney Farry Gonnello says:

    Our circumstances may remain the same but our perspective shifts. This is what spiritual fullness in Christ has done for me in these last few months as my physical health as challenged me more than ever before in my life. in my darkness and physical starvation , I became spiritually full of Jesus and his love. What a gift

  3. Tori Lenton says:

    I recapped on this story from the reading plan in the book of John I did several months ago. It was great to go back and refresh on the notes I had written and to read this plan and how I had seemingly had similar notes and understanding to this story. This truly inspires me as I was born with retinopathy in my right eye. I have been blind in it since birth. I have never been able to see out of it nor was there an option for me to have surgery to see. If there was, we could not afford it. So as I got older, I realized that maybe it was not meant for me to see in this eye and that it was yet a gift. During college, I remember accepting Jesus as my savior again… Of course, I had grown up with my grandmother in church and we had those old school revivals. The ones where you sit on the morning bench and accept the Lord as your savior and then scheduled a day to get baptized in the lake by the church. Even though I had done that at the young age of 8 years old, I still did not quite understand what it really meant to be saved. It seemed like a natural thing to do during a revival in those times. However, being in college, I had a better grasp of God and he started showing me things in a spiritual view for things that I never could imagine seeing with a physical view. I was so amazed at the things he shared and still shares with me in my dreams. Now my friends always call me up and say “Pray for me because I know that you can “see” God like no other and that he answers all your prayers”. I often laugh because I share with them things about their lives that I never knew. I always tell them things that happen in my home that I know it was no one but God, or how I have these out of body experiences when I am sleeping. My fiance and old roommate have been able to see them. Funny they use to think Ghost were in my home, lol, but it was nothing but the presence of God. So in all of this short story, I thank God for the spiritual sight that he has given me. I still struggle sometimes with seeing the things he has for me, especially when I want to see them my way. But over my journey in life, he has truly made my sight clear and concise especially during a time where we are living in a falling world.

  4. Atalie Jones says:

    Lord, thank You for not giving up on me. Thank You for sending Your Son to heal my spiritual blindness. I know that You are concerned for my physical well-being, but You care most about my spiritual well-being. Help me to love others as You continue to love me.

  5. Julia says:

    I’m going through a difficult breakup and this series has been carrying me through it. God removed this rocky relationship only to fill that space with His love and healing, and to gently show me how unhealthy it had become. He changes my perspective with love after I spent months fighting against the truth that He wanted me to know. I am so thankful.

  6. Tricia Bertrand says:

    These readings all spoke to me deeply. This especially had me very weepy eyed…

    “Jesus came so that “those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind” (John 9:39). His miracle of sight is alive in all who believe because salvation is a miracle of resurrection. Our eyes have been opened; we were dead, but now we’re alive in Christ Jesus. Faith in Him is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:1-5,8).”

    Loving this Bible study journey!

  7. Kylee says:

    Just after reading this yesterday, I drove to my office and passed two blind people crossing the street. They were feeling out in front of them, sensing the crosswalk and curbs and potholes, and as I saw them I realized that’s how I must have looked to God, feeling out in front of me in the darkness on my own path, before He gave me spiritual sight. The truth is there are far more spiritually blind people everywhere we look than we even realize. I prayed in that moment to see the ones right in front of me who are spiritually blind to the things of God, and that with my speech and conduct I would point consistently to the One who gave me sight (so I could see others where they are at). I was lost once, too; I was blind, but now I see.

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