“As Jesus went along, he saw a man blind from birth” (John 9:1). No one else saw him. The disciples saw only a theological case study. “‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’” (John 9:2). They didn’t see a human being. They saw a topic of discussion. Jesus, by contrast, saw a man who was blind from birth, a man who’d never seen a sunrise, who couldn’t distinguish purple from pink. He dwelled in a dark world. Others had reason to hope; he had reason to despair.
But then Jesus saw him. And he sees you. The first lesson of this miracle is a welcome one. You and I aren’t invisible. We aren’t overlooked. Jesus spots us on the side of the road, and he makes the first move. Remember my friend, you are never alone.