"Boy! I don't know how you blind folks do the things you do!
If I was blind, I'd just want to curl up into a ball, and die!"

     Most of us blind people have had some variation of that
statement said to us, by a sighted person. We usually answer the
person with words to this effect: "if you went blind, you'd do what
you had to do to survive." 

     Sighted people have always looked upon blindness with fear. In
Biblical days, it was thought to be a result of sin, either in that
person's life, or in the life of the person's parents. Since the
eye was considered "the lamp of the soul," anyone whose eyes were
in any way defective was considered either demonic, or, at
least,someone to be avoided. Today, the "Word-Faith" movement,
using, what I call, "the theology of discomfort," says that if
you're sick, or handicapped, it'as because you just don't have
enough faith!

     So, what about blindness: is it a handicap? Indeed, it is.
Anyone who says that lack of sight is not a handicap, has either
never experienced it, or is under a great delusion. But, is it the
biggest handicap? Absolutely not!! It is not the lack of physical
sight,but rather, the lack of spiritual sight, which is the biggest
handicap a person may have. This is wonderfully demonstrated in the
gospels of St. Luke and ST. John, both of which give accounts of
the healing of a blind man.

     In Luke's gospel, (Chapter 18, verses 35 to 43, we find Jesus,
passing through Jericho, on His way to Jerusalem. There is a blind
man, by the side of the road, crying, "Jesus, son of David, have
mercy on me!" The more the people tell him to be quiet, the more he
yells! (Some would say, "Typical blind guy.") Jesus stands still,
commands the man to be brought to Him, and asks him what he wants.
"That I may receive my sight!" is the reply. At this point, Jesus
says two things to him. One is, "Receive your sight." The other,
more interesting, thing is, "Your faith has saved you." The second
statement has nothing to do with eyesight: it is a theological
statement. He is telling the man that, although he now has physical
sight, his spiritual eyes have now also been opened; he has met his
Messiah, and believed! The man does not go on his way, talking
about what he'll do, now that he can see, but, instead, glorifies
god. Truly, he has received his sight, in more ways than one.

     John, Chapter 9, will be the subject of a separate study. For
now, we'll just say that, while the blind man received his physical
sight, he also became spiritually sighted. The Pharissees, on the
other hand, though physically sighted, wer exposed as being
spiritually blind.

     Blindness is a handicap. But, it isn't the biggesst one we
have. Ourt biggest handicap is the same one which everyone has:
we're all sinners, in need of a Savior. Thanks be to God, for
sending His only Son, so that we wouldn't have to be handicapped
any more.

     Amen.