El Greco’s Christ Healing the Blind
(1Sam.16:1b,6-7,10-13a; Eph.5:8-14; Jn.9:1-41)
El Greco was a 16th Century Greek artist who studied under Titian in Venice and eventually settled in Spain.
In 1570, he painted a scene from today’s Gospel in his classic work, Christ Healing the Blind.[i] Set outside the Jerusalem Temple, this artwork depicts the man born blind kneeling and begging for help, while Jesus reaches out to touch and heal his eyes.
In the Mannerist style, El Greco has subtly elongated the figures, giving them a surreal appearance. Here, he’s showing how faith stretches us, how grace takes us beyond ourselves. Indeed, the blind man is being drawn upward into a new existence.
That’s what happens to us when we encounter Jesus. His grace helps us reach and do things that were not previously possible.
Now, note how calm and radiant Jesus looks; he exudes divine authority by being the only figure facing forward. Note also the contrast between his stillness and poise, and the sense of movement and uncertainty across all the other figures. The blind man is drawing towards Jesus, while the crowds shift, lean, question and judge.
In a world full of distractions and conflicting voices, Jesus offers us a fixed point of reference, a steady place where sight is restored and truth is revealed.
But if Jesus is the focus point, then why is he not at the centre of this painting? It’s because so many of us don’t hold him front and centre in our lives. We prefer him kept on the margins. And yet, we know that Jesus is drawn to the margins of society, for that’s where the poor, the weak, the homeless – and the blind – are to be found.
Now, on the right is a group of Jesus’ disciples, keenly observing his actions. Peter is the older bearded man on their left, while John is the fresh-faced young fellow towering above them. [ii]
In the foreground are the blind man’s parents, fearful they’ll be expelled from the synagogue if they’re seen to be too close to Jesus. Their presence highlights the tension between physical sight and spiritual blindness.
And on the left is a group of Pharisees and other passers-by, so distracted that they completely miss this miracle.
El Greco produced three versions of this painting. This one, from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, is the only one with the dark, almost ghostly, figure looming just to the left of the blind man.
One interpretation of this brooding figure is that he reflects the turmoil of the Reformation and the temptation to abandon the Church for popular culture, rather than accepting Christ for who he truly is.
However, in his book Pilgrimage to the Museum, Stephen Auth says this shadowy figure could be an evil spirit, being exorcised from the blind man. The healing Jesus offers is primarily spiritual, and that’s what’s happening here. The blind man is being lifted up and restored to the perfect human being God created him to be.
Each of the figures in this picture in some way mirrors the reactions to Jesus in today’s Gospel. But they also reflect us today, for we are all busy doing things while God is in our midst. And El Greco is asking: which figure is you?
Are you the blind man, desperate to see? Are you too distracted to even notice Jesus? Or are you holding back, sceptical, cautious or afraid?
Notice how Jesus has been placed close to the foreground, so that we are within reach of his hand. El Greco wants us to step into the scene, to become part of it, for Jesus is waiting for us.
And finally, notice how simple the foreground is, with Jesus encountering the blind man, while the background is crowded with people and detail. This background reflects our noisy and confused world today, while the foreground represents the essential moment of grace.
The point is that healing happens not in noise and confusion, but in the quiet space of encounter.
So, this week, take a moment to imagine yourself inside El Greco’s painting. Where are you standing? Are you the blind man, ready to let Jesus touch the darkness? Are you a cautious onlooker? A distracted bystander? Or a loyal disciple?
Let Jesus draw you closer to him. Let him touch you.
And pray the simple prayer of the man born blind: ‘Lord, help me to see.’
[i] El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) Christ Healing the Blind, 1569-1570, oil on canvas, 119.4 x 146.1 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
[ii] Stephen F Auth, Pilgrimage to the Museum, Sophia Institute Press, Manchester NH, 2022:98-103.