Luke, the beloved physician, wrote about Jesus healing people. He mentioned Jesus talking about healing the blind (Luke 4:16-18). Jesus did do this, but it was more than just physical blindness that He healed (Luke 18:35-43). He healed the blindness of ignorance, tradition, prejudice, superstition, and idolatry. Blindness is akin to darkness, which all through God’s word is contrasted to the Bible, Christ, the gospel, and Christians—all of whom are called lights. The Father Himself is called Light (1 John 1:5), and Jesus is referred to as “the light of the world” (John 8:12).
Blindness is throughout all the Bible. Of the Jews, Isaiah said, “We grope along the wall like blind men, We grope like those who have no eyes; We stumble at midday as in the twilight, Among those who are vigorous we are like dead men” (Isa. 59:10). Jesus spoke of the people in His lifetime: “For the heart of this people has become dull, with their tears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eye otherwise they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears and understand with their heart and return, and I would health them” (Matt. 13:15). Paul said of the Jews in his day, “But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ” (2 Cor. 3:14). Christians may be blind. “For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins” (2 Pet. 1:9). Also, “But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes” (1 John 2:11).
There are some similarities between physical blindness and spiritual blindness: cannot see light, so stumbles; cannot see beauties, so loses part of joys of life; cannot get correct conception of things; depends on others to lead him. There are some ways where they are different: the physically blind know they are blind; the physically blind have almost no chance to recover; the physically blind want to see.
There are various causes of this kind of blindness. Regarding the original cause, “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:4). Another contributing factor is man’s unwillingness to see. “For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false” (2 Thess. 2:11-13). We need to be careful that we don’t fall blind to the service we need to render to the Lord.
We can get along if we are physically blind. If we are blind spiritually, we are in grave danger of losing what is most precious to us—our souls.