Blindness

Henry Gray (1918) Anatomy of the Human Body – The Eye

Not displayed in this graphic is the bone structure surrounding the eye. If you are sufficiently interested, click here for information on the seven bones that make of the orbital structure protecting the eye.

Why the anatomy lesson? To help understand why our eyes are important. The Bible tells of the importance:

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matthew 6:22-23 KJV)

Losing one’s sight can happen in an instant, or over a long period of time. Macular Degeneration can take years for sight to be lost, but an accident takes second.  My son-in-law stepped into a door handle that hit the orbital bone below his eye, shattering the bone. When he got into the house, his first question was, “Is my eye still in?” The trauma was so great he thought he had literally lost his eye. Fortunately, there was no damage to the eyeball and eventually the muscles and bones healed without loss of sight. That quickly, an inch different, and his sight would be gone and at least half of his body would be as the Bible said, “full of darkness.”

However, the Bible speaks figuratively as well as literally and the light here also means:

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12 KJV)

John recognized this early in his gospel:

In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (John 1:4-5 KJV)

We have all seen examples of those who do not comprehend – those who will not see. The first quote that comes to mind isn’t from the Bible, though it is close to Jeremiah 5:21:

There Are None So Blind As Those Who Will Not See:

• According to the ‘Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings’ this proverb has been traced back to 1546 (John Heywood), and resembles the Biblical verse Jeremiah 5:21 (‘Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not’). In 1738 it was used by Jonathan Swift in his ‘Polite Conversation’ and is first attested in the United States in the 1713 ‘Works of Thomas Chalkley’. The full saying is: ‘There are none so blind as those who will not see. The most deluded people are those who choose to ignore what they already know’.

There is a reason for many not seeing what they read, not hearing what they’ve been told, nor accepting what they’ve been taught:

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2 Corinthians 4:4 KJV)

How are they blinded and deafened? By things that appear desirable and attainable. And we see those things everywhere we look, don’t we? Our entertainment is filled with images that too often look better to us than what God has to offer because the gratification is instantaneous. “We have what you want – buy it here – on sale!”

Jesus tells us differently:

The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. (Luke 11:34-35 KJV)

People around us see what we say and do – how we live. What is the light that shines from us – God or this world? Who sees it? Everyone in our lives at any given moment. That’s why we need to follow Peter’s advice:

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: (1 Peter 3:15 KJV)