Seeing Clearly in Christ

John 9:1-41

Did you know some animals can see different colors than humans? Just like dogs can hear higher pitches than humans, other animals can see light that isn’t visible to the human eye. The lowest frequency of light we can see is red and anything below that is infrared. The highest frequency of light we can see and anything above that is ultraviolet. Some animals, like certain snakes, fish, frogs, and bats can see infrared colors. And some birds and insects like bees and butterflies can see ultraviolent colors—and, I found this one surprising, apparently reindeer can see UV light too. I’ve always been fascinated by what these colors not visible to humans might look like. And the fact there’s much more light on the spectrum than we can see shows just how much more there is to reality than meets the eye.

The Gospel reading we just heard tells the story of Jesus healing a man who was born blind. One very noticeable thing about this passage is that it seems like everyone except Jesus is confused in this story, blind in some way to what’s going on. After the man is healed, he doesn’t know how or why he was healed or who it was who healed him. And his neighbors are confused. They don’t know what to make of him. They used to pity him, give to him as a beggar, and now that way of knowing how to respond to him has been disrupted. So they bring the man to the Pharisees—and they don’t know what to make the man’s healing either. How could such a miracle not be a gift from God? And yet this healing was performed on the Sabbath! This raises lots of questions for the Pharisees about whether this healer is from God or not, whether he’s a sinner or not. After a lengthy back and forth, the man says: I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see!”

Eventually they throw the man out and Jesus finds him. Jesus invites him to believe in the Son of Man, that is Himself. And the man believes. Jesus concludes saying that he came to the world so that “those who do not see may see and those who do see may become blind.”

Obviously there’s a lot of confusion and lack of sight demonstrated by everyone in this story. The man, the neighbors, the Pharisees, all don’t know what to make of the situation. But the man who was blind receives his vision and as the chapter progresses he gains more and more vision and clarity about who Jesus is. Like a camera lens moving into focus, his ability to see and understand who Jesus grows and his eyes are opened both physically and spiritually. The ones who thought they could see clearly, the Pharisees, are actually blind to the work of God in Jesus. And the one born blind now sees clearly both physically and spiritually speaking.

Not seeing properly is alluded to in the first reading we heard this morning too. That text describes something that happened a thousand years before Jesus in ancient Israel when the prophet Samuel anointed David as king. And in anointing the boy David as future king, Samuel says something important “Do not look on his appearance or n the height of his stature…for the Lord does not see as mortals see” (1 Sam. 16:6). Then just a few verses later we hear that David was ruddy and handsome. Astute Bible readers wonder if that’s supposed to be funny or ironic, but it kinda is. But the main point of the text still stands: that appearances don’t matter, for the Lord does not see as mortals see.

Both scripture lessons point to the idea that we human beings lack the ability to see properly. We fail to see as God sees. We live in spiritual blindness and confusion. Our vision is often clouded by our own assumptions and worldviews. Or it is blurred by all the confusion and chaos in the world.

This theme of not seeing properly sums up so much of the human condition and the problems in our world. All human beings have clouded our vision in one way or another, and we don’t see things clearly or in the right perspective. And when the whole world is acting out of that sort of blindness or distorted perspective, our world ends up in quite a mess and it becomes even harder to see through the clouds. It was that way in Jesus’ time and it’s the same today. Unclear vision, and all the ensuring chaos and confusion it brings, wreaking havoc across the world.

News of ongoing violence in Israel and Gaza with war expanding to Lebanon. Fears about our own country’s war with Iran. Confusion about our motives and lack of clarity among leadership about our purposes and end goals. News of another shooting at a synagogue in Michigan this week, and yet another at Old Dominion University. Our nation’s recurring problems of antisemitism, gun violence, and terrorism. And in addition to all the anxiety we carry about our world, there’s all our own family or personal burdens to carry: the broken relationships, the intimidating diagnosis, the stress of unemployment, the concerns over finances, struggles with mental health, concerns about our loved ones on hospice, or the worries we have about spouses, parents, children or grandchildren.

All these things can make us feel like we can’t see a foot in front of us. Like we’re floundering in a mess of turbulent waves, lost in a cloud of chaos and confusion. Like the world is falling apart. We may feel tempted to just ignore it all. Or we may get caught up in the storm and throw our energy in a million different directions trying to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders.

But Jesus invites us to find a place of calm in Him. To have our vision reset. To receive the clarity and groundedness that the man born blind received in our Gospel reading today. Because we may not be able to navigate through all the smoke and clouds in our lives, but in Jesus Christ we will experience clarity of vision. We will find groundedness in unsettling times. We may even feel the peace which surpasses all understanding.

We may not ever be able to see everything perfectly. We’ll never be able to see the ultraviolet colors that bees and butterflies can, or the infrared colors like bats and snakes. But we are rooted in Christ, and He will steady our vision, provide us clarity, bring us into focus, and help us see the world in the way God intends us to.

This Lent let us make it our practice to offer our spiritual sight to be transformed. Trusting the Holy Spirit to heal our sight and sharpen our vision. To help us see through the clouds and mist and chaos of our times. To heal our vision and lead us on the right path. This Lenten season let us keep our eyes on Christ and on His journey to the cross. Let us keep our hearts set on God’s love for us and the new life we have in Christ. And let us trust the Holy Spirit’s power to transform our sight and make us whole.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Brian Rajcok | March 15, 2026 | Fourth Sunday in Lent