Dear friends, I’ve been sharing insights the Holy Spirit has been giving me on certain passages of Scripture, specifically how Jesus first changed the perspective of the person before healing or restoring them. Honestly, the more I study it, the more my spirit and mind tune in to. I’m now seeing how these and other healings that Jesus did are almost like a partnership. Jesus is very intentional in how He talks to the person first, discerns their heart and need. Remember, Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:1), just like we are, so again, we can truly appreciate how our Savior came to truly walk “among us and like us.”

Today’s insight is brief, but I believe it will change our perspective this time. Take a look at the verse below.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” — Luke 4:18

We recognize this as a powerful verse, read by Jesus from Isaiah 61:1-2 at the synagogue in Nazareth as a bold and truthful statement of who He was and why He’d come. This was right at the beginning of His ministry and His proclamation was not a welcome one.

What I want to zone in on though is the word “blind.” In the Greek translation, the word is typhlos and means opaque, smokey, blind (physically or mentally).

I’ve always thought of it more as the physical blindness, especially in light of the blind men Jesus healed (John 9, Mark 8, Luke 18 - these use the same word). But this time the Holy Spirit wanted me to see more.

Even as I am writing this, I am struck by the fact that the very people listening to Jesus read this that day were probably some of the most “blind” people He encountered. They were truly mentally blind. 

Upon further investigation though, I discovered typhlos is related to the Greek word typhoo which means to inflate with self- conceit:— high-minded, be lifted up with pride, be proud.

And if we look back at this moment of history with Jesus standing among the men and rabbis in this synagogue, it is clearly pride that is keeping them blind. And I’d imagine fear as well—fear of losing their places of authority, which is so sad to think about, my friends, because they lost their true authority by rejecting Jesus.

Wow…even as I’m writing this, revelations keep coming. And I see our pre-believers in this same place. I for one am sure pride is part, if not most, of what keeps my husband from acknowledging Jesus.  

But this isn’t something we have to be discouraged about. I believe this is yet another insight the Holy Spirit is giving us to understand our pre-believers just a little better and to change our perspective too. We can pray for their spiritual and mental eyes to be healed, for pride to be rebuked in the name of Jesus and perhaps even ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the roots of fear in our spouses. What fear keeps them from seeing? Truly seeing…

What do you think, my friends? I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

And I love you like crazy!