Now I See! Series

Several years ago, sightless restaurants became a growing trend across Europe. So what is a sightless restaurant?

John Bohannon experienced it firsthand. Bohannon plunged into what he called the “inky blackness of Unsicht-Bar, a restaurant named for the German word for invisible.” To get to his table, it was necessary to place his hand on the shoulder of Magid the waiter, then allow his dining partner to put her hand on his shoulder. In single file, they carefully maneuvered to their chairs, with the waiter as their guide. Magid needed no light. Like most waiters in these restaurants, he is blind.

Bohannon felt panicked by the utter darkness and the inability to see his own hand while waving it in front of his face. He heard a glass crash to the floor from a nearby table. His reaction, he said, was “more desperate than the situation would merit under normal (well-lit) circumstances.”

Since no lights of any kind are allowed in the dining room, a staff member must lead patrons to a candlelit bathroom when the need arises. Bohannon's unease over the situation began to build to the point where he wanted someone to lead him to the bathroom, just so he could see something again. He pushed aside the nervousness when Magid arrived with the food and Bohannon soon discovered the difficulties of using a fork you can't see.

At the end of this unique dining experience, the waiter arrived to lead Bohannon and his guest back out of the restaurant and into the light (“The Best Food I've Tasted but Never Seen,” The Christian Science Monitor, 10-13-04; www.PreachingToday.com).

In a dark world, sometimes your best guide is blind. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to John 9, John 9, where a blind man shows us the way even in our own dark world.

John 9:1-2 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (ESV)

Now, that was the theological debate of the day. The scholars taught that sickness comes from sin. So, if you’re sick, you must have sinned in some way. But what do you do with a man BORN blind. He certainly could not have sinned before he was born. So, perhaps, his parents had sinned.

Jesus’ disciples missed seeing the blind man as an object of mercy. Rather, they focused on him as a subject for theological discussion. So Jesus sets them straight.

John 9:3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” (ESV).

Not all sickness is the result of sin. Sometimes, God allows sickness just so He can demonstrate His power, just so He can glorify Himself in your life.

In his book Hinge Moments, college president D. Michael Lindsay talks about the birth of his oldest daughter, Elizabeth. They quickly knew something was wrong with her developmentally. When she was four months old, their pediatrician said, “Well, I don’t know what to say, but something is definitely wrong with your little girl.” Lindsay says, “I found it difficult to breathe. Grief overtook us and made it hard to get out even basic words. We prayed hard that our worst fears wouldn’t live themselves out, but we dreaded they would.”

After three years of tests and specialists, doctors diagnosed Elizabeth with an extremely rare genetic disorder. She is only one of 500 people or so known cases in the world. There is no cure. It involves profound cognitive disability, legal blindness, and many challenges with internal organs.

Lindsay says that parenting Elisabeth has been what he calls a “heavy joy”—filled with profound challenges but also lots of happy moments. It has also taught him and his wife key lessons about being transformed by Christ. Lindsay writes:

“Elizabeth is not drawn to fame or self-advancement. She reflects a more authentic way of Christian living, one that is less interested in appearances or achievement. She takes pleasure in simple things—the taste of vanilla ice cream, the thrill of reaching heights in the backyard swing, the delight of listening to songs with a good beat and familiar melody. And Elizabeth is genuinely happy when she pleases her father, clapping for herself when she hears my affirmations.

“Having Elizabeth in our family has helped us see the importance of vulnerability and simple obedience to Christ. More importantly, she has demonstrated that “walking in a manner worthy of the Lord” (Col. 1:10) doesn’t rely on superior [knowledge or performance]. Instead, it is a way of being that opens us up to fully pleasing the Lord in our respective callings (D. Michael Lindsay, Hinge Moments, IVP, 2021, pp. 120-121; www.PreachingToday.com).