Vision Impairment

With considerable interest, I read the story of the man who was born blind and was miraculously given his eyesight.  It was the first time in his life that he was able to see and it would have been an amazing day for him.  It was a day worth remembering and celebrating.  Besides celebrating the miracle of this man receiving his sight, it was an occasion for others to join with him in praise, to acknowledge the actuality of something considered impossible, but obviously, not for God.  To no one before had this happened, and it would be unlikely to happen again. 

Being an optometrist, I took a particular interest.  I’ve experienced joy with patients whose eyesight was considerably improved and I’ve joined with others, thankful to God that I was able to prevent them from becoming blind.  Never, have I witnessed anyone given perfectly good eyesight that had been blind from birth.  It would have been wonderful to behold.  Only God could perform such a miracle.

For this man, it was an exceptional day; one in which to be thankful, except, no one pondered the wonder of the miracle.  Instead, they questioned who did it and said that whoever it was that gave him his eyesight, did so on the Sabbath, which wasn’t good.  Can you imagine that?  They considered any individual who performed a miracle on the Sabbath to have committed a great sin.  Consequently, he could not be a prophet but instead, he must be from the devil.  That was their premise: if he took away the man’s blindness on the Sabbath, then he must be an evil person.

The priests had someone locate the man’s parents who assured them this was their own son who had been born blind.  Others assured them that they too, recognized the man who had been blind from birth.

Someone was sent to find the poor fellow so he could be questioned.  The priests learned that he had no idea who had given him his eyesight. This man who had been blind could offer little in the way of helping them to know who was his benefactor but to say, “Once I was blind and now I can see.”  We recognize his words from our hymn, “Amazing Grace.”  However, Jesus, who had been looking for him too, revealed Himself to him.  The man not only thanked Jesus profusely, but he chose to praise Him as a man of God.

One has to admire the man for his retort to the priests who questioned him incessantly.  He said he had told them but they wouldn’t listen and that they must want to praise the Person who performed the miracle, because of their repetitious questioning.  They excommunicated him from their church because he professed that his benefactor was a Prophet from God.  It didn’t worry him to admit his belief to the priests.  He knew it was better to praise the man of God who had given him his eyesight, than to belong to a church that put more emphasis on rules than it did on praising God.  He recognized that they were more interested in having people obey the rules set by the church, which included not helping anyone on the Sabbath, than they were intent upon worshipping God.  Ironically, they had the opportunity before their eyes, to worship God in reality. 

The man’s parents reacted differently, for they were non-committal.  They admitted that this was their son, and that he had been born blind, and now was able to see, but they were not ready to say that the one to be recognized was a Prophet from God.  They knew that if they were to say that this was what they believed, they’d be excommunicated too.  One feels badly for them, because it was plain for them to see that God had performed a miracle and they could praise the very One who did it but they would not.  Their faith could have been made whole if they were to praise God for performing the miracle. They were not unlike many others who are blind in spite of having eyes capable of seeing.

The actual story can be read in the book of John, in chapter nine.  You will enjoy the man’s response to the priests who he is in effect teaching, but who are so wrapped up in their own rules that they too, can neither listen or see.

More Than Meets The Eye

Jesus’ first miracle was to change water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana. Shortly afterwards, in Jerusalem, He chased moneychangers from the temple, along with cattle, sheep and doves, which were there for the convenience of buyers intending to make sacrifices. One might ask whether these two familiar stories in the Bible were simply to describe what Jesus did because He believed what He was doing was right, or if there was a principle involved? Actually, the two stories are very much related.

There were many guests at the wedding feast, including Jesus, His mother and His disciples. During the feast, the wine was depleted and in that culture it would have been a disgrace for the host, to have invited guests to the wedding and then be unable to serve them wine. Jesus’ mother asked Him if He could do something to correct the situation. When He replied, “Woman, what has this to do with me?” she took His reply as a “Yes.” He provided the wine and also used the situation as an object lesson.

Close by were six very large, empty earthenware containers used for “cleansing ceremonies,” a part of many rules and rituals considered necessary. He asked His disciples to fill them to the brim with water. He had one of His disciples take a carafe of new wine from one of the containers to the host so he could taste it. The host’s reaction was that it was the finest of wines and that it was exceptional to reserve the very best wine to the last rather than to serve it at the beginning of the celebration. Usually, the best wine would be served first, until depleted, and then the poorest wine would be served because the drunken guests would not know the difference.

Most people, upon reading this story of Jesus’ first miracle, which He performed at the wedding of Cana, would think, ‘wasn’t it wonderful, that Jesus used His power to change water into wine.’ However, He used this as an opportunity to show everyone that the Old Covenant of abiding by a set of rules for spiritual cleansing was to be replaced by the New Covenant, which rests on the blood of our Saviour being the cleansing agent. The clean, empty vessels represented His body and the new wine, His blood. He would also save the host from disgrace. His ‘blood’ would cover the difficult situation.


A church piper playing at a communion service might remember this miracle and choose for his hymn, “Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus.”

With His first miracle, which He performed at the Wedding of Cana, Jesus not only changed water into wine for the sake of replenishing the supply of wine and to save His host from the embarrassment of not being able to serve his guests. He also presented a very significant lesson to those who were able to understand the symbolism.

He, His mother and His disciples had been invited to the wedding. It would have been a disgrace to their host to have invited them and others and not show them proper respect by allowing the wine to become depleted. When Mary realized the supply had been exhausted, she appealed to Jesus, asking Him if He could do anything to rectify the situation. His response beginning with, “What has this to do with Me?” was respectful and Mary accepted His reply as if He had said, “Yes,” then turned to the servants, asking them to do whatever Jesus requested.

John, our narrator, one of the disciples present, tells us the story first-hand, and did not neglect to include such details as the description of the six earthenware jars. He noted they were “ceremonial jars” and could hold an abundance of water. Their purpose was to purify the Jews as they commenced their religious ceremonies. Jesus asked the disciples to fill the jars to the brim and then deliver a container of that water made into wine to the governor of the feast. He tested it and declared it better than that which had already been served. He complimented the bridegroom on having saved the better wine until the last, which he said was a different method of serving wine. Usually, the poorer wine was served after all had enough to make them less able to judge the quality.

The significance of this first miracle is the dramatization of The New Covenant or Promise. John saw a notable sign by the use of ceremonial jars, in that Jesus was demonstrating a significant principle. He was ushering in a new day in which the ritual covenant of washing for purification was going to be replaced by a New Covenant, the cleansing from sin by His own blood.

The problem with the Old Covenant was that no one could ever keep all of its conditions, and would always be reminded of sins committed and the need to be cleansed from them before beginning a religious ceremony. The New Covenant being introduced would involve ‘washing in the blood of Jesus,’ and it signified that we are to bring nothing as a sacrifice for our sins because the blood of Jesus will cleanse us from them completely. There is also the significance that the best was reserved for the last. Being washed in the blood of Jesus, far surpassed the constant purification according to rules.

The other story, the one about Jesus clearing the temple was told as if it happened immediately after the miracle at Cana. It may not have occurred in that order, but its significance caused John to write about it as if it did. Jesus scattered the moneychangers and their money, including doves, sheep and cattle that were located in the courtyard of the temple. They were there by the authority of the high priest, Caiaphas, and were for the convenience of those who planned to make sacrifices. At the sight, Jesus reacted suddenly with indignation. Flailing a rope, He cried out, “Stop turning my Father’s house into a market.” People asked who gave Him authority to chase out those involved and His reply was that if they destroyed this temple, He would restore it in three days. He was referring to His own body as the temple although the people didn’t understand.

Once again, He was making an important statement. Only a short time before, He made a significant statement by turning water into wine to indicate that it would be His blood that would henceforth be the means by which sins would be forgiven. He was not as much concerned about what people thought about cleansing the temple, as He was about the statement He was making. They would no longer need to make sacrifices as payment for their sins, because He would become the Lamb of God, to be sacrificed. His life would be sufficient payment for all people, forever, and would eliminate the need for a sacrificial lamb, calf or a dove. These two stories when combined, tell the complete story. The blood of Jesus is a sacrifice all sufficient to wash away our sins, when personally accepted.

Nobody tried to constrain Jesus when He exclaimed, “How dare you turn My Father’s house into a market.” The synagogue was a magnificent building and God had decreed that His glory would be sustained there. All would have recognized the temple’s magnificence, and Jesus’ rightful indignation, though they would not have liked to see the doves go fluttering away and the animals being chased from the temple. Instead of constraining Him, they demanded a sign of His authority. If He couldn’t answer their question, they would declare Him an imposter. He would not conform to their question, but would set His own standard for them to understand that His authority was given to Him by God.

The statements Jesus made were a prophetic claim. He was dealing with the situation that religion had become rotten. People should have been able to come to the temple to worship in a spirit of holiness. Instead, their situation had become corrupt. He was everything the temple was supposed to be and people didn’t realize they actually had a Saviour, the One who could enable them to come before God with no restrictions.

His response was to say, if they were to destroy this “temple,” He would raise it up again in three days. Unwittingly, by crucifixion, they did destroy that “temple,” which was His body. In three days, He restored it. The similarly is to Jonah being freed from the belly of the whale in three days; a Biblical story prophetic of Jesus’ resurrection. The whole of Christianity stands on the claim that Jesus arose after three days from having been crucified. His body was restored and it was not a false claim. Only God has mastery over death. This places Jesus at the beginning of John’s book of the Bible, which states, “In the beginning, was the Word.” “The Word was God.” There are not enough books in the world to adequately embrace our trust in Jesus. Embracing these two stories and their significant statements is sufficient to cause us to think of God’s plan, a promise to cleanse us from all unrighteousness by the blood of Jesus, who gave His life as the sacrifice for our sins. John, who was one of Jesus’ disciples, was there for both of these actions about which he wrote, and he told it as he saw them. We have every reason to believe him and to praise Jesus for absolving us from sin, to be clean vessels ourselves, able to come before God in prayer with confidence that our praises will be heard.

My faith in God

The Bible tells us that only a fool doesn’t believe in God and fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Scripture advises a person to look around and observe all of creation, for who could have created the world and all that is in it but God, and it is here for us to appreciate and study. If one cannot believe in the Creator, he or she has no excuse for not believing, because God’s existence is apparent from the design of all things in nature.

The subject can be approached from the miracle of reproduction, that is, from the fertilization of an egg cell, which is the union of sperm and egg cells to form the fertilized egg of an embryo destined to grow into an individual, whether an animal or person. All the necessary constituents are present in the embryonic cell that will determine its development “after its own kind.” It is remarkable that parental characteristics are apparent in the individual born from the organized growth of one cell into millions of others. At various stages of growth, anatomical features are formed. Remarkable similarities between offspring and parents result.

Attention can be drawn to the size of a fertilized egg cell, which is smaller than a period on this page. In the cell are all the necessary components that decide the characteristics of a mature person or animal. Chemical constituents are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorous, chlorine, potassium, iron, fluorine and iodine in the correct amounts. In addition, enzymes work in conjunction with complicated molecules to carry out reactions impossible in chemical laboratories. Tremendous magnification by electron microscopes enables study that reveals chromosomes containing genes, the keys that carry identifying characteristics of offspring. The wonder of it all is that new life is given even before the birth of a person or animal. Birth is so wonderful that it can be attributed only to God. Our world too, must be appreciated as the work of the Creator.

Just as we have peered through electronic microscopes to learn about the intricacies of reproduction, outer space can also be studied for its great wonders using magnificent telescopes. There, the distances can be so great that they are measured in light years rather than miles. The location of earth in this great outer space is so perfect, making it neither too hot nor cold, that it is ideal for sustaining life. All that is needed has been provided, including air, water, food and shelter, as well as minerals, gas and oil. One can observe the planets and marvel at the originality of their Creator. There are interesting things to observe, such as the rings that encircle Saturn, with its nine moons, one of which travels in the opposite direction to the others. Neptune’s two moons travel in opposite directions while Jupiter, with its twelve moons has eight that travel in one direction and four that travel in the opposite direction. One can assume that our Great and Wonderful Creator has a sense of humor. Why not include such originality, while creating the world and all that is in it?

We continue to elaborate upon Creation because it implies the Creator. Much can be learned about God by studying our world and its contents. It is not logical to disbelieve in God. More likely it is a person’s choice not to believe, because acknowledgement would require reflection upon one’s life and whether or not it is lived in accordance with God’s acceptability. If wrong choices have been made, ones that are sinful, then one would suddenly understand that he or she is separated from God and requires some way to be redeemed. What would be required to make things right? Enough good acts; would that be enough? More than anything, a sinful person needs a Personal Saviour. God provided Jesus, both God and man, willing to take upon Himself the sins of mankind that cause separation, enabling a person to enjoy communion with God, as if binding chains had been removed.

A person can continue to profess disbelief in God by being unobservant of the wonders of nature or reluctant to read. One who doesn’t read is no better off than another who cannot read at all. Scientific books reveal the wonders of God, while the Bible tells the story of God’s love, in that it is personal. One needs to read the Bible to know the love of God assures us that His Spirit is like having a Friend on whom to rely. My faith rests on what the Bible has revealed. I know that ignorant men crucified Jesus, the Son of God, on a cruel cross. Nevertheless, within a few days, two of his friends encountered Him as they walked along a country road. They least expected meeting Jesus because they had witnessed his death on the cross. They were so astounded by His living presence that it was as if their hearts burned within them. He has the power over death just as He has over life, which we observed earlier. I can imagine being one of those two men, in the presence of God. They had forgotten that He had already demonstrated His power over death and life, by having resurrected Lazarus from the grave as well as having restored the Centurion’s daughter to life.

Personal friends of Jesus have written for us to read in the Scripture. A person needs to read about what they experienced. Having been to Israel, even to have crossed the Sea of Galilee in a boat, caused the feeling in me that I had been there when Jesus’ disciples cried out to Him in the midst of a storm, “Master, do you not care if we drown?” His reply was “Ye of little faith, what does it take for you to believe?” Then, He calmed the storm.” They asked one another, “What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the waves obey Him?” The picture becomes even clearer to me when I play the hymn, “Master, the Tempest is Raging,” on the bagpipes. The song builds until it reaches its climax. Then one hears the Master calling, ”Peace, be still, peace, be still.”

I can tell you what Jesus means to me and who I know God to be, while you can determine for yourselves who God is. With some study and concentration, you will realize the great blessing to know God personally as you Friend, Jesus Christ.

Those who knew Jesus have written much about Him. His friend John wrote, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” John 21: 25