Dusty Gifts

Darkness. That’s all I’d ever seen. I’d heard countless people’s voices. I’d tasted numerous kinds of food. However, I didn’t actually know what humans looked like. I’d never seen one. I’d never seen the fruit I ate or the money I begged. But I knew the weight of the thin, round coins, and I could identify the fruits from their different shapes and sizes and textures. As you can see, I was blind, but one day all that changed.

It was just an average day. I was sitting at the city gates on my cot, begging. I listened carefully when I heard people talking around me, and it sounded like they weren’t moving away anytime soon. From what I gathered, one of the men was their Rabbi. This teacher said something about “night is coming†and “light of the world.†I scoffed. That was nothing I was interested in. I focused my attention on the busy noise all around me. Then, the strangest thing happened. I felt gentle hands put something pasty over my eyes.

What was happening? At that moment, the familiar voice of those people’s teacher said those words I will never forget: “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam.†Shocked, I did as he said and, somehow, slowly I got there. At least it wasn’t that far. I ducked my head under water, and then the most extraordinary thing happened. I saw the clear blue sky and the blazing sun. I saw brown donkeys and tan camels. I saw all sorts of humans and the murky water I was standing in. Best of all, I could finally see light. I could see! No words could explain my joy that day. Truly, that teacher had the power of God. • Teah Wipf

• This story is how one author imagines Jesus’s encounter with a man who was born blind. (You can read the rest of the story in John 9:1-41.) This man didn’t ask to be healed, and he didn’t know who Jesus was, but Jesus healed him anyway. What does this show us about Jesus?

• How did Jesus reveal Himself as the Light of the World to this man in particular? (Hint: Not only did Jesus heal this man, but He also found him later and had a conversation with him.)

This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 1 John 1:5 (NLT)

Read Verses:

Matt.25.14-Matt.25.30|1Pet.4.8-1Pet.4.11