In John 9, Jesus heals a man born blind and a hilarious controversy ensues where the Pharisees are trying to figure out how this happened. The man explains himself a few times, and eventually asks the Pharisees if they want to become disciples of Jesus, and they heap abuse on him and kick him out of their presence.
It becomes obvious that the blind man “sees” more truth about who Jesus is than the Pharisees can, because of their prior commitments to their own honor (which is threatened, in their minds, by Jesus’ authority and popularity). This is the irony of the story.
Jesus hears the man has been expelled and finds him, and at the end of their conversation, delivers the punchline of the story:
I came into the world for judgment, that those without sight may see and those with sight might become blind.
Jesus still seems to be doing this kind of work today, in that those who profess no faith at all (secular critics, proponents of critical race theory) are able to see the idolatry of white supremacy in the church more clearly than those who claim to hear from and speak for God (charismatics and evangelicals).
Those who claim to be doing God’s work are desecrating the image of God in others, while those who shrug at theology are doing justice and loving mercy: advocating for the poor and oppressed, putting their bodies on the line to lift up the needy.
Those who claim to see visions have been captured by a lie and become blind, while those who simply see with compassion the oppressed person in front of them look upon the face of God.
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