John
9
Seeing Jesus (1)
Seeing Jesus (1)
To
set the scene for this chapter I want to go back into John 8:59 where we
find that the hardened scholars had become so incensed that it says
“they took up stones to cast at him; but Jesus hid
himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them
and so passed by.” This verse
leads us into John 9 where we will uncover an unfolding story of a
man who was given the opportunity to see Jesus all because Jesus was
prepared to stop and engage with him as he passed by.
The
first thing to note in this passage is that Jesus stopped and engaged
with this man who was born blind in response to a question that his
disciples asked him. John 9:2 says “Master who sinned?
This man or his parents?”. The
understanding in Jesus day was that if you were ill or in-firmed then
the conclusion was that God must be displeased with you or
someone close to you and therefore you had to carry the evidence for
all to see. What Jesus says in response is both revolutionary in it's
concept and liberating in it's application,
He says in John 9:3 “Neither has this man or his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” What Jesus is saying is that you don't need to be like this, in this state of blindness, God can set you free so you can see Him and worship Him as Lord. I wonder what is going through this man's head as he is listening to this conversation? His primary reason for being by the gate of the temple was so that someone may just stop for a second and drop a meager amount of loose change at his feet in order that he could, at least, get some food to sustain him for a little while longer. Yet here he is listening to a conversation that seems to be saying he, nor his parents, had sinned and that he was in this state in order that the works of God could be made manifest, what on earth does that mean and was he prepared for what was about to happen? I suspect not, I wonder if we would be?
He says in John 9:3 “Neither has this man or his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” What Jesus is saying is that you don't need to be like this, in this state of blindness, God can set you free so you can see Him and worship Him as Lord. I wonder what is going through this man's head as he is listening to this conversation? His primary reason for being by the gate of the temple was so that someone may just stop for a second and drop a meager amount of loose change at his feet in order that he could, at least, get some food to sustain him for a little while longer. Yet here he is listening to a conversation that seems to be saying he, nor his parents, had sinned and that he was in this state in order that the works of God could be made manifest, what on earth does that mean and was he prepared for what was about to happen? I suspect not, I wonder if we would be?
In
some sense we are all in this state of blindness, not because of
anything we have done or anything our parents did, we are born in a
spiritual state of blindness because of the fallen state of mankind,
a fallen state that has spiraled out of control to such an extent
that we are reduced to a life whereby we are spiritually forced to
exist on meager handouts in order to survive. The great thing for all of us is that
in all of life's business and it's complications, the worlds heady
arrogance and it's feeble explanations about life and our
existence, in steps God in the form of Jesus, and as He passes by, stops, and speaks words that will revolutionise our lives to such an extent
we will never be the same again.
What we witness next is Jesus
stepping down and making clay from the ground beneath his feet and
anointing the eyes of the man born blind, this was Jesus demonstrating
that this man was being sanctified, being set free, in order that he
could worship and testify to the greatness of God. When
Jesus steps into our space and engages us in conversation we must be
prepared to act in order for His words and his actions to be
fulfilled. This action is called faith. Jesus says to the man “Go
wash in the pool of Siloam.”
The anointing on it's own was not enough to make this man see he had
to believe that something supernatural had taken place and move from
a place of begging to a place of freedom in order for him to be free.
At this point it is important for us to recognise and acknowledge
that if we want to be healed from our spiritual blindness then we
have to act on what God has accomplished through Christ and move our
lives in the direction that Jesus points out for us.
In our story, the blind man was pointed to the pool of Siloam and what we see is that this man's obedience resulted in him not only being able to see but also that other people started asking questions, what we begin to see is a fulfillment of Jesus words in John 9:3 “that the works of God should be made manifest.” This miracle was not just for one man but for mankind, in the same way that our salvation is not just for ourselves but for all of us collectively.
So the question that gets asked is “is this he who sat and begged?” some said yes, some said no he is like him, but the man said I am he, one thing we will be certain of when Christ steps into our lives is that we will know who we were and more importantly who we have become.
In our story, the blind man was pointed to the pool of Siloam and what we see is that this man's obedience resulted in him not only being able to see but also that other people started asking questions, what we begin to see is a fulfillment of Jesus words in John 9:3 “that the works of God should be made manifest.” This miracle was not just for one man but for mankind, in the same way that our salvation is not just for ourselves but for all of us collectively.
So the question that gets asked is “is this he who sat and begged?” some said yes, some said no he is like him, but the man said I am he, one thing we will be certain of when Christ steps into our lives is that we will know who we were and more importantly who we have become.
No comments:
Post a Comment