John Newton’s words in the famous hymn ‘Amazing grace…’ include the line: “I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.” John Newton was not physically blind. The blindness he refers to his slave trade and the immense suffering he inflicted on others. His sight was restored when he came to see the truth of his actions and the grace of God. 

In many ways, our world today encourages a similar blindness: a blindness to truth, and a willingness to see only what is politicised or shaped for economic gain. In such a context, speaking the truth becomes a subversive act.

The reading from 1Samuel presents, God asking Samuel to perform a deeply subversive act—to undermine Saul’s reign by anointing a new king. Samuel protests, saying, “If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” God then instructs Samuel how to proceed under the pretext of offering a sacrifice. Samuel anoints David as king over Israel. Saul is rejected because he fails to see as God sees.

The passage from the letter to the Ephesians is a call to the Christian community to live as children of light. In Christ, who is light, they are no longer darkness but are called to reflect that light in the world. 

The Gospel reading tells the story of the healing of a man born blind. When questioned by the religious authorities, he says with remarkable clarity,

“One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

At the time, religious teaching commonly linked illness with sin. Exodus 20:5 states:

“I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents to the third and fourth generation.”

This sounds like a harsh and unfair understanding of God. Yet Scripture itself shows a development in this thinking. In Jeremiah 31:29–30 we read:

“They shall no longer say: ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ But all shall die for their own sins.”

Against this backdrop of conventional religious teaching, Jesus heals a man born blind on the Sabbath. He refuses to accept the automatic link between sickness and sin. This act of healing becomes a source of controversy and division.

In both the readings from Samuel and the gospel we encounter a challenging truth. Even the deeply faithful cannot always discern the rationale behind God’s actions. Those who had known this man as the blind beggar, are confused about his new identity. The Pharisees debate not the miracle itself, but whether someone who breaks the Sabbath can truly be from God. They weigh the good of the healing against their strict interpretation of Sabbath law. Their assumption is that anyone sent by God must observe the Sabbath as they understand it.

Yet the Pharisees who view Jesus as a sinner according to the law handed down to them fail to recognise the God who established the sabbath in the first place. God continues to act, deepening the meaning of Sabbath observances beyond rigid legalism.

The man born blind stands firm, repeating his simple testimony: “one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

On the other side stand the people, who are religious, faithful, and observant —yet unable or unwilling to see God’s action. This is not a matter of physical blindness, but of refusing to see. It is the condition of saying, “I am not blind, but I do not see.”

Hymn writer, Fanny Crosby, an American Missionary became blind during her infancy due to a doctor’s mistake.  She wrote “Pass me not O gentle Saviour.”  She wrote over 8000 hymns and the two famous ones are, To God be the glory, great things he has done, and Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.   Fanny was blind, but she saw; she recognised God’s presence and action throughout her life. Born in 1820, died in 1915, her contribution to the life of the church continues to inspire people around the world.

True blindness, then, is not the impairment of vision, but the failure to see reality as God reveals it.

Our sentence today: For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light—for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.

If we fail to live as children of light, we are blind—even if our eyesight is perfect. The challenge before us is, are we seeing the world as God sees it. When God prompts us to act in ways that may seem subversive to the powers and authorities of the world, are we willing, like Samuel to obey God’s command? In a world where truth is often obscured, do we have the courage and discernment to recognise it?

Many people believe themselves to be open-minded, intellectual, and curious—willing to follow the facts wherever they lead. Yet when those facts challenge their settled worldview or their assumptions about what is possible, they are often dismissed. This is precisely what the Pharisees did when confronted with the healing of the man born blind.

The intrusions of the divine always call us to see beyond what is made visible. Once we were darkness, but now in Christ we are light. Therefore, let us live as children of light—for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.