17
The Blind Leaders
| Bro Gordon Ochieng (Madiany, Kenya)
J
esus spoke a parable to them: “A blind man
cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they
not both fall into a pit?” (Luke 6:39).
Who are the blind leaders in this
scripture? What were they to see
and hear in Messiah’s day? The
leaders of Israel closed their
eyes to the truth and after-
ward, in Jesus’ day, presumed
to declare their superior
discernment in pronouncing
Jesus a sinner (John 9:24). In
the controversy which arose
upon this, Jesus declared that he
came into the world both to give
sight and to make blind. The Pharisees
promptly asked, “Are we blind also?” The
Lord’s response is striking: “If you were blind,
ye would have no sin; but now ye say, we see,
therefore your sin remaineth.”
There are none so blind as those who won’t
see. The Pharisees evaded their duties to
their parents and so made void one of
the ten commandments. Jesus very
severely condemns their meaning, by
which they put the doctrines of men in
the place of God’s law. They were astute
enough in argument but perverse in their
ways; and a blindness of heart and mind
had overtaken them. They cleansed the
crockery they used at a meal, but were
unconcerned that the food that they ate
off that crockery had been obtained by
graft and fraud.
The world is full of such ‘blind’, where
presumption is not bounded by the
desire to ‘lead the blind’ but extends
even to the endeavour to direct those
who can see. It is the ‘word’ to which
people are blind and deaf (Isaiah 29:18).
It is the knowledge of God that is lacking
on the earth. Men are keen on matters
of medicine, science, arts, commerce
and even literature; but not on the true
knowledge of God.
If we cannot discern that the world is ‘blind’
and ‘deaf’ and is ‘deceived’; then it proves
that we ourselves are ‘of the world’. If anyone
fails to examine self, he is blind and, seeking
to teach, is ‘a blind leader’ (James
3:1). Jesus by restoring the sight of
the blind, proved that he was
the Messiah. “The blind receive
their sight” was one of the
evidences given to the disci-
ples of John the Baptist in
response to his question from
prison: “Art thou he that
should come? Or look we for
another?” This confirmed the
message of the prophets (Isaiah
35:5; 42:7; Psalm 146:8).
Isaiah speaks of blind people that have eyes
(Isaiah 43:8). In them was fulfilled the
prophecy of Zephaniah 1:17. What a truly
spoken parable. What a lesson it contains for
us in the brotherhood today.
Bro Gordon Ochieng