Scripture Scribbles: March 15, 2026

the Gospel

John 9:1-41

As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth.
His disciples asked him,
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, 
that he was born blind?”
Jesus answered,
“Neither he nor his parents sinned; 
it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.
We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day.
Night is coming when no one can work.
While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
When he had said this, he spat on the ground
and made clay with the saliva,
and smeared the clay on his eyes,
and said to him, 
“Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” —which means Sent—.
So he went and washed, and came back able to see.

His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said, 
“Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?”
Some said, “It is, “
but others said, “No, he just looks like him.”
He said, “I am.”
So they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”
He replied,
“The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes
and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’
So I went there and washed and was able to see.”
And they said to him, “Where is he?”
He said, “I don’t know.”

They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees.
Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a sabbath.
So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see.
He said to them,
“He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.”
So some of the Pharisees said,
“This man is not from God,
because he does not keep the sabbath.”
But others said,
“How can a sinful man do such signs?”
And there was a division among them.
So they said to the blind man again, 
“What do you have to say about him,
since he opened your eyes?”
He said, “He is a prophet.”

Now the Jews did not believe 
that he had been blind and gained his sight 
until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight.
They asked them,
“Is this your son, who you say was born blind?
How does he now see?”
His parents answered and said, 
“We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.
We do not know how he sees now,
nor do we know who opened his eyes.
Ask him, he is of age;
he can speak for himself.”
His parents said this because they were afraid
of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed 
that if anyone acknowledged him as the Christ,
he would be expelled from the synagogue.
For this reason his parents said,
“He is of age; question him.”

So a second time they called the man who had been blind 
and said to him, “Give God the praise!
We know that this man is a sinner.”
He replied,
“If he is a sinner, I do not know.
One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.”
So they said to him,
“What did he do to you?
How did he open your eyes?”
He answered them,
“I told you already and you did not listen.
Why do you want to hear it again?
Do you want to become his disciples, too?”
They ridiculed him and said, 
“You are that man’s disciple;
we are disciples of Moses!
We know that God spoke to Moses, 
but we do not know where this one is from.”
The man answered and said to them,
“This is what is so amazing, 
that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes.
We know that God does not listen to sinners, 
but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him.
It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind.
If this man were not from God,
he would not be able to do anything.”
They answered and said to him,
“You were born totally in sin,
and are you trying to teach us?”
Then they threw him out.

When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out,
he found him and said, Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
He answered and said, 
“Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”
Jesus said to him,
“You have seen him,
the one speaking with you is he.”
He said,
“I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped him.
Then Jesus said,
“I came into this world for judgment, 
so that those who do not see might see, 
and those who do see might become blind.”

Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this 
and said to him, “Surely we are not also blind, are we?”
Jesus said to them,
“If you were blind, you would have no sin; 
but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.

the scribble

Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not also blind, are we?”
Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.

How deep and enigmatic is this last part of the gospel. For a moment, I wondered how blindness can make a person sinless and how having sight can make one a sinner. After several meditations, I then realized that in life, there are times when we should SEE and times when we should NOT SEE. However, can we do both and avoid committing sin? I believe so.

Let’s dive first into when we should SEE. In the passage today, Jesus Christ was not referring to physical blindness alone. More often than not, the worst kind of blindness is spiritual blindness or playing blind, to which Jesus wants us to pay closer attention. 

The self-righteous Pharisees asked Jesus if they were blind. Well, they were too self-absorbed and they acted so high and mighty. Didn’t they really see that Jesus is the son of God and Jesus can heal the sick? They did, but they were too proud to acknowledge Christ. Didn’t they realize that Jesus can make exemptions to certain rules (such as healing the blind man on Sabbath)? They did, but they wanted to challenge Jesus with every rule and dogma there is in the book. 

Hence, isn’t playing blind a terrible sin, because the people doing this have managed to close not only their sight but also their hearts? In this day and age, we have an overwhelming number of modern-day Pharisees who pretend to not see. Are we any different? How? 

Random things, big or small, should be reasons to celebrate God’s unfailing love and mercy. These are exactly the reasons why we should see. We need to do so and acknowledge the Lord. Looking properly and reacting kindly are the best ways to show that we can indeed see. Stopping to smell the flowers, thanking and smiling at strangers whenever they press the elevator button for us, complimenting a colleague for helping us get a job done, acknowledging the driver of the car who lets us cross first during rush hour, praising God for a beautiful day, and so on and so forth. 

The beautiful things that happen every single day are countless. But just because they happen daily anyway doesn’t mean we can stop being grateful and can start being indifferent. Thinking that they will happen anyway is not an excuse for apathy. It never was and never will be. 

May we learn to allow God to witness our incredible “sight”, our ability to express profound appreciation.

Here comes the second premise. When should we NOT SEE? This is a bit tricky, but sure, we can do this. To “not see” in the real sense, means just closing our eyes or looking the other way when things don’t go well. 

Sometimes, we experience some unwanted incidents in life. Some examples are missing our bus by one second only and yet the driver still left us there, hanging. Or getting served the food that we didn’t order at a restaurant, stepping on some gum some kids playfully spat out at every block, receiving a ticket for some traffic violation we didn’t see coming, getting blamed for a mistake we didn’t do, and so on and so forth. 

If we know we’re innocent and didn’t do anything wrong, the said unwanted incidents can make us angry and frustrated. Consequently, we may tend to blame the ones who did us wrong because it’s simply not fair if we’re the ones to suffer from others’ wrongdoings. Someone’s small mistake involving us could blow out of proportion and if we keep looking only at people’s faults, we might end up being so unforgiving, as if we are blameless, sinless (BUT the truth is, we’re not perfect, either). It is precisely during these moments that we have to forgive, to overlook, to look the other way, to let go, and to “not see”, so that God will be pleased to be our witness. 

May we learn to allow God to witness our “blindness”, our ability to extend compassion and forgiveness.

Dear Lord, may we always remember when to see and when not to see. Amen.

Today’s devotion was written by Edwina Yu