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November 2006 

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The astonishing story of a blind man
 

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The astonishing story of a blind man
(John 9, 9-14)
 
aveugle de Jéricho When passing by, Jesus saw a man who had been blind since birth. This man asked nothing but Jesus healed him and is with him all along his story. Little by little the blind man's sight improves. 

The blind man experienced a metamorphosis. A complete change of his perception of the world: he saw, for the first time, his village, his parents rather than only touching them, He could make a relation between the odours of the soil and the growing grass, between the taste of the bread and this thing he was breaking before. He thanked God that the one who had healed him was a Prophet.

At this point he was going too far for the Pharisees. These touchy masters of the Temple did not accept that a beggar could know more than them. They called him a sinner and they withdrew into their beliefs.
And then the blind man was called on to say what he thought about it making him to find out his own response. The questioning was harsh. Did it really happen to you? And who did it? The blind man stuck to the facts: I was blind and now I see. But at the second questioning he started to become nervous and that aggravated his case towards the Pharisees: " If this man was a sinner, he could do nothing!". It is not yet an expression of faith but he is on the way.

The graduation of his evolution is indicated by the various titles he gave to Jesus: " a man named Jesus of whom he does not know where he comes from" Then "Jesus is a prophet" and finally in the presence of Jesus the blind man " believes in the Son of Man"
In consequence he was thrown out of the synagogue.

This story tells us some thing about our own experience. Some times we find out that "our eyes are open" and every thing is different. It is like a new taste for life, a speech that we could not understand before and now it makes sense. 

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It happens also, as to the blind man, to be thrown out of our own surroundings, that our relatives don't recognize us and let us alone. We have to face Jesus, alone. It is in these conditions that we progress in our" professions of faith" that will be shared by others, many others.

How to know that all that come from the Spirit or from the Evil?
"Of what we have heard, of what we have seen with our own eyes, of what we have contemplated and our hands have touched of the Word of life…." 1, John 1). And sometime after a long time we understand that all is not finished, that we need a new step, a new meeting with Jesus, like it happened at the end of the story when the blind man-that-can-see met Jesus again and said:" I believe in you, Lord!".