Blind

          Colorful images danced across the big screen.  They looked like formless blogs meshing together like amoebas under a microscope slide.  I gazed about the store from my vantage point pretending that I could see perfectly.  A family of three walked around the corner, glancing my direction. I smiled at their blurry faces not knowing if they were returning my grin. I sought to appear normal despite my inability to see beyond two inches in front of my face.  I wondered what it might feel like to remain this blind, to be incapable of seeing clear, definite faces and objects--ever. Without corrective lenses, my world would appear exactly like this permanently. My physically blind state led me to ponder spiritual blindness.

            Jesus condemns the blindness of the Pharisees.  In Matthew 23, he calls them blind guides, blind fools, blind men and blind Pharisees.  These men are consumed with washing cups and dishes to the neglect of their greedy and self-indulgent hearts. They seem completely oblivious to their blinded hearts unlike my contactless eyes are to my foggy surroundings. I realize I can’t see; it’s obvious the objects around me are indiscriminate and unfocused.  Perhaps this is why I find myself so critical of the Pharisees.  I can see they are completely focused on laws and regulations, dos and don’t’s.  Why can’t they? 

            I’m proud of my clear vision.  Does that make me as blind as they are?