Sometimes we understand a subject best by a question. Now notice the questions of the Lord Jesus: “Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?” He did not explain the questions, but they are said to be “a parable,” so there was a lesson hidden in them for the people to learn, and for us too. We know if a blind man lead another, he might go too near the edge of the road, and stumble into the ditch, causing the other to fall too.
There were leaders among the people who would not believe that the Great Teacher was the holy Son of God, because they did not want to think of their sins. And they did not look at, or “see” God’s words, so they were “blind” to the wondrous Person who had come, and were leading others their way, and must all “fall into a ditch,” or into trouble.
Blindness
It is the same now. There are people who do not believe that the Son of God came to earth; they do not listen to God’s words, or think they need the Saviour, and they try to lead others to think the same. Jesus’ questions were a warning not to be led by the “blind.”
This is another question He asked: “Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceivest not the beam that is thine own eye?”
A mote is a very tiny particle, as dust; a beam is a piece of wood. If you had a large substance in your eye, you could not see to remove even a tiny bit of dust for another, could you? But what lesson can this teach? Both the mote and the beam hinder good sight, so they teach of wrong things which we say or do, that keep us from seeing God’s way. So first we must “take out” the wrong in us; to do that, we first realize and say, “I was wrong,” then, “I am sorry,” and cease from the wrong; then we will be able to help another to be rid of his wrong.
Building on the Rock
The last words of the Lord’s talk we can easily understand. He said, “Whosoever cometh to Me, and heareth My sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built a house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it; for it was founded upon a rock.”
Those who hear the Lord’s words and believe Him, have a safe place on the “Rock,” which we know is the Lord Himself.
“But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation, built a house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.”
When we hear the Lord’s words but do not believe, we are the same as the man who built his house on the sand, and not on the “Rock,” Christ. We will have no safe place, and the storm of judgment from God will overwhelm us.
Further Meditation
1. What keeps us from seeing God’s way?
2. No sensible person would build their house on a foundation of earth instead of rock. How do we practically build on Christ the Rock in our lives?
3. You might find the booklet From Blindness to Worship by E. P. Corrin based on the story of the blind man in John 9 to be a helpful if challenging meditation on how we receive our spiritual eyesight.