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The elephant in the room and a fly on the wall
The elephant in the room and a fly on the wall.
I would love to have been the proverbial ‘fly on the wall’ as the Jewish leaders conversed with the blind man of John 9. Of course, I would desire to have the ability to not only see but to hear and understand what was going on (some fly!).
The elephant in the room is the fact that the blind man is no longer blind. HOW can that be? The Jewish leaders try very hard to dismiss this evident miracle. They can’t. He WAS blind, but he NOW can see and Jesus did it.
The blind man had no axe to grind, no viewpoint to defend, no agenda to uphold. He does however hold to the one point of fact that neither he nor these Jewish leaders can deny and he repeats it three times.
"The man called Jesus … so I went, washed, and received my sight" (vs. 11).
"He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see” (vs. 15).
“whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see” (25).
Thus his spiritual eyes were also opened.
"He is a prophet" (vs. 17).
“If this man were not from God, he could do nothing” (33).
“Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him (38).
Meanwhile, the Jewish leaders are the real blind people in this story! (vs. 41). Theirs was a willful refusal to see the obvious! There indeed was this ‘elephant in the room’ and they refused to deal with it, even though the blind man repeatedly brought is up! Willful spiritual blindness is far worse than physical blindness. Their blindness would cost them eternal salvation. Can you see?
Hugh DeLong
