Last night we had our usual group of teens over for our dinner and discussion. We had great burritos or soft tacos depending upon your taste. Our discussion was a continuation from our Sunday night lesson on being brain-dead. How is it possible for someone who is able to see be blind? How is it also possible for someone who is blind actual be able to see better than a person with sight?
It was an interesting discussion as we talked about ways that someone could be blind to the truth around them. We also did some role-playing and asked what it would be like to be literally blind. How would this impact the way you live and do things? Obviously you can’t see and would need help getting around. We discussed how certain other senses would improve and compensate for your blindness. We talked about the sensation to all of a sudden be able to see. Wow! We also talked about what it would be like to be deaf. How would you know when the phone rang or the doorbell rang? Clearly there are ways to compensate for any of these difficulties.
So the real question was why would Jesus say that he came into the world to make those who see blind and those who are blind able to see? We dialogued about how it is possible to see but not really be able to see. We talked about how some people truly think they know everything and don’t need anyone or God. We also talked about what life is like without God – you are blind and as one of our teens said, “Life is pointless!” Yet, the other experience in life is that when you can see, truly see, then life is priceless! Imagine what it would be like to have never seen a sunrise and see an awesome Arizona Sunset. You have been to the beach before and could feel the breeze and smell the ocean but all of a sudden that smell turns into a visual image of sand, seaweed, greenish blue water and the sight of a fin sticking up in the water.
The key we really talked about was how is it possible to experience any type of redemption or reconciliation in life when you are spiritually blind? What I thought was amazing was having an older couple help out with their grandson. The grandpa made an interesting insight into a conversation at work about making fun of an older lady whose hair was all ‘poofed up’. It is so easy to be part of something that leads you into spiritual darkness without even realizing it. The teens were quick to say that you can be ‘sucked’ into thinking and acting a certain way that you truly are brain-dead and clueless.
My hope is to challenge my group, whether it been teens or 50 something’s with an appeal to look at your life and see how you ‘tick’. It is so easy to always be making fun of someone else or be one to critically slice someone and not realize that you are just as much in the dark. It is clear from Jesus’ life story that after healing this one man who had been blind from birth that the religious experts who were threatened by Jesus’ work attacked the family and man. The obvious came back at them, ‘We don’t know who it is that healed our son but he was born blind and now he can see!’ I have to come back with a similar statement that those who all of a sudden have spiritual sight can see life in the fullest context whereas those who are spiritually blind think they know everything and can fix someone else, yet the reality is that their life is a mess and they don’t know it.
So back to my teen that was asked what was it like to live before knowing God – Pointless! Yes to be blind to the real beauty and purpose of life is to be pointless.
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