Introduction: I was reading through the Gospel of Luke this morning and, again and again, I was struck by Jesus’ teaching about spiritual blindness. It refers to when, in spite of all the clear evidence, some people just refuse to see and hear the truth. To use a cliche, it’s the ostrich burying his head in the sand. It’s the blind leading the blind. The result should be obvious: both fall into the pit. In other words, both parties are damned.

That’s heavy, right? Yes, and it’s straight out of Scripture, straight out of the mouth and Jesus and his apostles. As one example from the apostle Paul, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor 4:3-4, ESV).

Here’s another example from Jesus’ own lips: “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit” (Jn 15:13-14, ESV).

Here’s another example from Jesus’ own lips from Luke’s gospel: “You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?” (Lk 12:56, ESV).

Here’s another example from Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians: “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart” (Eph 4:18, ESV).

Over and over again in Scripture we (forgive the pun) see the motif of spiritual blindness. It is rooted in willful recalcitrance, unteachability, and suppression of the truth in unrighteousness. In other words, it’s not a physical problem but a spiritual disease curable only by the gospel of God.

Encouragement: When my family and I lived in another region, I was pastoring a small congregation as a bi-vocational pastor, teacher, and military chaplain. I had a friend in the congregation with whom I shared a strong Christian brotherhood. He, too, had been trained at a fine seminary, and he was one of the few people with whom I could speak about things without dumbing them down. One day when we were discussing this theme, he said something to me I’ve never forgotten: “Jon, Don’t take it personally. Our job is to speak and live the truth. Just cast the seed. Only God can till people’s hearts.” That was one of the best pieces of biblical wisdom I’ve ever heard, and, in sum, that is what all of Scripture teaches–namely, that spiritual blindness can only be cured by the truth of the gospel, not by any deep desire we have to see the scales removed from people’s eyes.