Gospel Doctrine: The Light of the World

Healing the Blind
By John A. Tvedtnes

[Supplement to Gospel Doctrine New Testament lesson 16]

Early in his mortal ministry, while visiting the town of Nazareth, where he was raised, Jesus took his turn reading the scriptures in the synagogue.

And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. (Luke 4:17-20)

The passage derives from Isaiah 61:1-2, long held to be a prophecy of the Messiah or “anointed one,” [1] who would preach, comfort those who mourn, free the captive dead by means of the resurrection, and provide sight to the blind. [2] Similar passages are found in other portions of Isaiah:

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing (Isaiah 35:5-6).
To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house (Isaiah 42:7).
Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see (Isaiah 42:18).

Psalm 146:7-9 describes the Lord: “Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the prisoners: The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind: the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down: the Lord loveth the righteous: The Lord preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow.”

One of the reasons Jesus performed such miracles was to demonstrate that he was the promised Redeemer and to emphasize his divinity. When two of the disciples of John the Baptist came asking, “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them” (Matthew 11:2-5; Luke 7:20-22).

When the Savior healed a man who was both blind and dumb, “all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David?” (Matthew 12:23), alluding to a title of the Messiah (cf. Matthew 15:30-31).

Healing of the blind was perhaps the most common of Christ’s miracles. [3] Those who would not accept him, he termed “blind guides” who misled the people (Matthew 23:16-17; 23:26). He, on the other hand, was the source of light by which both physical and spiritual blindness could be cured.

The Lamanite prophet Samuel referred to spiritual blindness when he told the inhabitants of Zarahemla, “O ye wicked and ye perverse generation; ye hardened and ye stiffnecked people, how long will ye suppose that the Lord will suffer you? Yea, how long will ye suffer yourselves to be led by foolish and blind guides? Yea, how long will ye choose darkness rather than light?”( Helaman 13:29). The question is as applicable to our day as it was in Samuel’s time.

In D&C 88:5-13 describes Christ as “the light of truth; Which truth shineth. This is the light of Christ,” the power by which the worlds were created, “And the light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings; Which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space — The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed, even the power of God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things.”

The Lord truly is the light by which even those who are physically blind can see that which is spiritual and of divine origin.

For additional material relating to this lesson, see “The Blind God,” posted on the Meridian Magazine web site at http://www.meridianmagazine.com/ancients/050503blind.html

For an introduction to the books of the New Testament and in-depth discussions of each verse in the New Testament, see Kevin L. Barney (ed.), John H. Jenkins, and John A. Tvedtnes, “Footnotes to the New Testament for Latter-day Saints,” go to: http://feastupontheword.org/Site:NTFootnotes

[1] The Hebrew term Messiah means “anointed” and is behind the verb employed in Isaiah 61:1.

[2] One of the Dead Sea Scrolls cites the Isaiah 61 passage in its description of the divine Messiah. See the discussion in John A Tvedtnes, The Most Correct Book: Insights From a Book of Mormon Scholar (Salt Lake City: Cornerstone, 1999, later reissued by Horizon), 330-1.

[3] Matthew 9:27-30; 20:30-34; 21:14; Mark 8:22-25; 10:46-52; Luke 18:35-43; John 9:1-9; 11:37.