Ken Inspired…”Kid Eccentric” by Kendall Lyons
Whenever I can, I enjoy revisiting shows I used to watch on a regular basis. Earlier this week, something moved me to search for a clip from the anime series, Dragonball Z. The specific clip I was thinking about was a boy who was blind.
I began watching that clip, where the evil Majin Buu was flying around. While flying, he spotted a boy who was walking along a trail with a cane. Buu landed in front of him and had every intention of harming the boy. Buu wonders why the boy is not afraid of him, but the boy, whose totally oblivious to how dangerous and evil Buu is, explains calmly that he’s blind and couldn’t see him to begin with.
This surprises Buu, and at the same time, seemed to irritate him. Buu stretches his arm over to the boy’s face and covers his face completely. A surge of energy travels from Buu to the boy, and Buu explains to the boy that he just gave the boy the ability to see. The boy doubts and says that’s impossible. Buu tells him to simply open his eyes.
The boy opens his eyes. He can see the ground. He can see Buu’s feet. He drops his cane. He can see the sky…he can see his hands. He’s becoming more and more overwhelmed about his newly restored vision. He’s seeing everything. Its all clearing up for him. Buu asks the boy to look at him. The boy with tears streaming down his cheeks is overcome with emotion. He’s thankful.
This is one of my favorite non-action, non-fighting scenes out of the entire “Buu Saga” for Dragonball Z. This scene made me reflect on how much my vision, my health and my life means to me. I have to admit, my eyes filled with tears a little as well.
This is by far the hardest article I’ve had to write, so with open mind and careful understanding of where I am coming from, grant me an opportunity to explain two major observations compared to this scene from the show and the scriptures. John 9, where Jesus healed the blind man came to mind and verse 25 stuck out to me the most as I watched this series and as I read the scriptures:
“He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!””
If you look into this part of the text, its not that the man knew whether or not Jesus was a sinner or not (which certainly he KNEW that Jesus was righteous and without sin). If anything, he wanted the Pharisees who were trying to trap Jesus to understand that if there is one thing he could say about this man named Jesus is that He in fact DID give him his sight.
Now, the problem with the comparison to the story of the little boy in Dragonball Z and the story of Jesus healing this blind man is this…Majin Buu was neither righteous nor perfect. He had a stroke of good from time to time but still did bad things in order to accomplish his good. Sounds like humanity right!? Jesus, however, full of compassion and righteousness, healed the blind man but did it for this reason…John 9:3.
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Jesus had work to do for the Lord. Majin Buu was trying to scare the boy. Jesus is the light of the world. Majin Buu is an example of our desire to be in the spot light in a “its al about me” world. Let’s step back over to the clip from Dragonball Z for a moment! Notice the boy was not afraid of Buu at all. He wasn’t even worried about his look…his appearance…or anything like that. The boy was more excited and emotional about the fact he could see. He’s seeing what he’s missed. He’s restored. Now, how often do we focus so much on things that don’t matter, rather than on the simple, rich and powerful blessings that God has given us. For starters, he wakes us up every morning and blesses us with a new day. We should be as excited and joyous as that little boy was. He’s set many of us free from bondages. He’s given us purpose. He’s given us more chances then what we really deserve. His Grace and Mercy keeps following us!!! Did I mention that we also have life in Christ…and Jesus came that we may have it more abundantly.
