Psalm 146:8 – The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord raises those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. (NKJV)

In my Bible class at the local Long Term Care Centre, I usually take sections of the Bible to study for a number of sessions in a row. I have done a series on the Psalms, the first part of the book of Acts, Jesus' parables, and the story of Joseph, from when he was sold by his brothers until they met up with him again in Egypt. Recently, I revived the idea of doing a series on the miracles of healing that Jesus performed. But as I started to study, the images of the people who come to my class began to enter my mind. Some of them are in wheelchairs; others have to use walkers. There are several who have extremely bad vision or are totally blind, and some who are hard of hearing. Although miracles of healing in Jesus' name do still occur, at the residents' age, they are rare, and I wondered how I could talk to them about instant healing without raising false expectations.

When I had considered such a series before, there was a 104-year-old lady who was very bright and totally blind. Knowing the questions that she asked and the observations that she made persuaded me not to do a series on the miracles Jesus performed, because I knew that she would ask me some very pointed questions to which I had no answer. To this day, I have not yet done a series on the healing miracles of Jesus.

Then, as I was studying the Bible one day, I came across the passage where Jesus was preaching to the people in Nazareth, His hometown:

Luke 4:17-19 – And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (NIV 2011)

All of a sudden, it came to me. Jesus came to preach the gospel not just to the poor, but to the poor in spirit: those who are searching, but just cannot find peace in their hearts. He came to heal those who are suffering from a broken heart, the loss of a loved one, a broken marriage, and difficulties at home, within the family, or at work. He came to set free those who are captives of bad habits. Then these words caught my eye: "Recovery of sight for the blind".

He came to open our spiritual eyes. When we are obsessed by the things of this world, we may be spiritually blind. There are so many people to whom having fun is more important than matters of the faith. We are assured through the words of Scripture that we can all come to Jesus and He will comfort us and heal us spiritually. These are the words of good news that are up to us to tell people about.

Prayer: Our Father in heaven, as we see the lack of faith in so many people all around us, we pray that You will give us the ability to tell them about You, each one of us in our own way. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

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About the author:

Joel Jongkind <austria67@bmts.com>
Meaford, Ontario, Canada
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