The Holy Martyr Basiliscus.
Acts 14:20-27; John 9:39-10:9.
Read John 9:39-10:9
John’s reference to the blind and those who see continues his powerful theme of light and darkness—one of his defining elements. Due to its rich use of light imagery, the Fourth Gospel has been called the Gospel of Light.
A poignant 19th-century account from a French prison helps illustrate our deep need for light. A prisoner, placed in total darkness—perhaps even blindfolded—began exhibiting strange behavior. Guards found him staring intensely into nothingness. He explained he saw flashes of light. These weren’t imagined; they were phosphenes—flashes generated by the eyes themselves when deprived of external light. The eye, starved, tries to produce light on its own.
Likewise, we were made for God, created with an inherent desire to know, love, and follow Him. And as a gracious provider, He gives what we need: certainty for our minds, stability for our steps, and a goal for our hearts. He is the tranquil, eternal light for which our darkened spiritual eyes strain.
But seeing this “light-show” (epiphany) has an admission price: the humble acknowledgment of our blindness. Who is turned away from the theater of divine light? Those unwilling to pay admission price—Pharisees who claim sight without understanding. They exist in families, schools, workplaces, and even churches.
Our pagan instincts lead us to manufacture our own light, forming judgments from spiritual phosphenes—fragmented impressions mistaken for truth, spiritual Rorschach tests. These mental images become distorted mirrors through which we misperceive God, others, and ourselves.
To confuse flashing flickers for Lasting Light is madness. The truly blind man is not the one who cannot see—but the one who refuses to. Who then will see? The one who asks Jesus to remove the blindfold and lead him from the dark prison into the paradise of light.