The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good tidings preached to them. (ASV)

Imagine John the Baptist, imprisoned for his faith, hearing about the works of Jesus Christ and wondering if He was, indeed, the Messiah. The answer was clear: witnesses were testifying about everything that they heard and saw — Jesus was the Christ!

Step back several chapters to Matthew 3 and John the Baptist was urging people to repent for the kingdom was at hand. When Jesus showed up, John baptized Him and a voice from heaven called out saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Odd isn’t it? John had every reason to believe in chapter 3 that Jesus was the Anointed One, but it took until chapter 11 before he asked if Jesus was who He thought He might be. Wouldn’t he have asked Jesus about the voice or did it sound like thunder to him?

In many ways we are all like John — we know that God is doing a work, but we don’t always see what He is doing. Our preconceived ideas, false expectations, and lack of faith can get in the way. Even when something is presented to us directly, spiritual blindness can hamper us.

I’m not criticizing John the Baptist, rather I’m taking it all in that even someone as close to Jesus as John was, did not understand who He was at first.

Truly, God does give sight to the blind; although physical blindness visits some, spiritual blindness impacts everyone.

We all need the Savior’s touch in order to see clearly.

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