Healing of the Man Born Blind is a c.1573 painting by El Greco, showing the healing the man blind from birth. It is now in the Galleria nazionale di Parma. (Public Domain Photo)
Special to United Methodist Insight | Jan. 26, 2026
There are none so blind as those who will not see. I resemble that remark. You probably do, too.
The Gospel of John records that after restoring the sight of a man born blind, Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see and those who do see may become blind.”
Was he talking about us?
Helen Keller, who was born both blind and deaf, said, “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.”
At the tip of Argentina there is a region named Tierra del Fuego, "land of fire," discovered by Magellan's sailors in 1528. As their ships were passing by, they noticed fires burning on the shore. The natives tending the fires however, paid no attention to the great ships as they sailed through the straits.
Later, the natives explained that they had considered the ships an apparition, so different were they from anything seen before. They lacked the experience, even the imagination, to decode evidence passing right before their eyes.
What do we miss seeing in our lives that should be obvious, but we do not have the capacity or the will to see it? What is it that God is doing right in front of us that we cannot or will not see; that our cultural assumptions, and our basic understanding of reality, do not allow us to see?
A life-saving difference
Not seeing can have devastating results. How often have you kicked yourself because you didn’t see something that was “right there under your nose.” Seeing clearly can make a life changing difference.
Our neighbors, Leonard and Dorthy Follmann, invited Jo and I over for lunch one day shortly after we moved into the neighborhood. As we were getting acquainted, Dorthy told the story about how she and Leonard met on a blind date.
Dorthy said, “When I was in high school, and dating, I asked the Lord concerning my most interesting dates, "If this is the one, let me know." I heard nothing. I was in college on October 23,1954, when two of my classmates lined me up for a date with a young man from Iowa State College, a fellow named Leonard Follmann.
“We went bowling, had supper, went to a movie, and all was going well. We got back to the dorm before the deadline, so we had time to talk. I knew this fellow wanted to kiss me, but I was not sure if that was proper.
“Then, this voice said, "I brought him to you, now do something." So I let him kiss me. The rest is history. We were engaged on February 12, 1955, and married August 12, 1956. Dorthy said, “We plan to celebrate our 70th anniversary this August.”
We sang an old familiar hymn in church last Sunday: “Open My Eyes That I May See.” It is a prayer.
“Open my eyes that I may see
Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me
Place in my hands the wonderful key
That shall unclasp and set me free”
If you pray this prayer, don’t be surprised if God answers. Pay attention! Open your eyes!
There are many kinds of blindness: physical, emotional, social and spiritual. The story of the man born blind is, on the surface at least, about healing physical blindness.
Now, I need to say, yes, I believe in physical healing. I believe Jesus truly healed people. Walking on water? Changing water into wine? I have serious doubts. There are other explanations besides divine intervention.
Hey, I’m retired! My pension is vested! I can say these things!
Rising from the dead? I firmly believe that really happened. Just ask and I will send you an old Easter sermon.
I believe Jesus truly healed people, not because I have blind faith in the scriptural accounts; I believe because these kinds of healings have happened throughout history and still happen today.
A spiritual experience
The late Gail Ingle, a teacher I knew from Waukesha, Wisconsin, told me about what she called a “meta cosmic healing light” that came as an answer to prayer:
“On May 19, 1989, I had a spiritual experience that I will never forget. I was at my friends’ home to participate in a prayer/healing circle. We were all standing in a darkened room lit only with candles. My arms felt weightless and they involuntarily began to rise until they were above my head. Suddenly, I felt something like a bolt of lightning enter my head and go through my body. I began to cry. My friends asked me if I was all right and I nodded silently. They told me they could see the colors violet and green surrounding me. I must have stood there for about five minutes with my arms straight up in the air before they slowly returned to my side. I felt extremely peaceful long into the night,” Gail said.
We, all of us who pray and follow Jesus, have access to more power than we know. Divine energy can flow through any one of us as it did through Jesus.
There are people in the world who are gifted healers. I know people who can put their hands on you, and you would feel warmth and energy flowing into your body.
Jesus told his followers that they would do greater things than he did: "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”
Some of you reading these words are healers. Some of you may not know it yet, but you are being called to be healers. Be forewarned. If you become a healer and begin to heal people as Jesus did, it is possible, indeed it is very likely, that you will make a lot of people mad.
No one who knew the man born blind rejoiced when Jesus restored his sight. The neighbors who watched him grow up were incredulous. “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” He kept telling them, “Yes, it’s me,” and they could only respond, “Then, how were your eyes opened?”
It was just not possible for them to believe that little blind Sammy, who had grown up to be Samuel the beggar, could now see.
Dancing around the truth
The Pharisees are only concerned that Jesus has done this healing work on the Sabbath, thus making him a lawbreaker: “How could a man who is a sinner perform such signs?”
They ask the formerly blind man what he believes about Jesus, and when he tells them, “He is a prophet,” they insist on an investigation.
Where are his parents?
The blind man’s parents will only confirm that he is indeed their son but will say nothing else. The Gospel writer says they feared the religious authorities would cast all of them out of the synagogue, something they knew happened to anyone “who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah.”
Everyone is dancing around the truth. No one can see what is plainly true, as the blind man states matter-of-factly: “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
It was the plain truth, and it was a dangerous thing to say.
The religious authorities said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen.” Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes… If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sin, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.” (John 9:26-34)
They drove him out! THEY DROVE HIM OUT!
The Pharisees, who are shown not only to have relinquished their authority, arrogantly belittling the truth that a man who was blind could now see, also give Jesus one of the great set-up lines of all time:
“Surely we are not blind, are we?”
Well, duh, Jesus says to them, “If you were blind you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see’ your sin remains.”
Is it possible that anyone could be so blind?
A clergywoman's story
Rev. Nancy Bauer King, who like me is a retired United Methodist pastor, recalls how at age 13, in 1953, she was told she could "... serve Jesus by being a missionary or a minister's wife, but not a minister. Three years later," Nancy said, "the men in authority in the Methodist Church granted full ordination to women."
By the time she got around to going to seminary 25 years later, Wisconsin United Methodists had a woman bishop and Nancy knew several clergywomen.
When she was appointed to her first church in 1985, Nancy said, “I foolishly thought the battle – at least in the United Methodist Church – had been won. Ha!
“My first meeting with the church board included a verbal attack by a very angry woman citing scripture. People left the church. Two men from the small town stopped in because they ‘wanted to see what a lady minister looked like.’ I quickly got used to the stares, questioning criticism, and warnings that I was going to hell. I was told the souls of the people I served were in peril, too.”
There are none so blind as those who will not see. I resemble that remark. You probably do, too. We are all affected by the systems of sin into which we are born.
And it is why our only hope is to humbly pray with an open heart:
“Open my eyes that I may see
"Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me
“Place in my hands the wonderful key
“That shall unclasp and set me free.“
"Silently now I wait for thee,
“Ready, my God, they will to see,
“Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit Divine.”
(“Open My Eyes, That I May See,’ No. 454, United Methodist Hymnal)
John Sumwalt
The Rev. John Sumwalt is a retired United Methodist pastor and author of “How to Preach the Miracles.”