On Easter Sunday 2017, “60 Minutes” ran a story about two doctors, Dr. Sanduc Ruit and Dr. Geoff Tabin, who have helped reverse blindness in more than 4 million around the globe. The doctors work in Burma, also known as Myanmar, performing surgery on people who have lost their sight due to cataracts.Dr. Ruit uses a technique that requires no stitches. The surgery involves making a small incision and the lens inside the eye which has become cloudy is removed and replaced with an artificial lens. The two doctors started a lens factory that produces the artificial lens implants — for a fraction of the cost in the United States — and they have a hospital in Nepal that has trained hundreds of doctors and nurses in their technique.
The surgeons have operated in more than 20 countries, including North Korea and Ethiopia, and restored sight to 150,000. Four million others have regained their vision through surgery performed by doctors trained by the duo.
“For these advanced cataracts, I'm performing the same quality of surgery that I would be doing in America,” says Tabin, a professor at the University of Utah Medical School in Salt Lake City.
I find this story quite interesting since my wife and I have both had cataract surgery on both eyes and I can attest to the miraculous improvement the surgery made in our vision and we were nowhere near blind. The people these doctors are operating on are literally blind!
We cannot help but think of the healing power of Jesus when we hear stories such as this. We are reminded of the story of Blind Bartimaeus who sat begging on the streets of Jericho when he heard that Jesus was passing by. As Jesus passed by, Bartimaeus began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
"What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus replied.
Bartimaeus answered, "I want to see."
"Your faith has healed you," Jesus said — and immediately, Bartimaeus received his sight.
Jesus was filled with compassion for the physical needs of people, but he was even more concerned with their spiritual needs. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you and I would point others to the one who said, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." (John 8:12)
