God told me to share my faith on Fridays and call it Fuel for the Weekend. It's my desire that the posts I put up on Fridays will give you something to think about, ponder, consider, and reflect on throughout the weekend. If it leads to discussions with your family and friends, even better!
Have you ever thought about how miraculous it is for a person blind from birth to see? It is mind-boggling. We have an account in John chapter nine that I want to dissect. I broke this chapter into ten parts and I could do a ten week series on it but since this is in written form, I want to just keep the points only in this post and you can then study it on your own and chew on it a little longer, if you want.
The Healing (verses 1-7)
So to get started, we are going to look at the first seven verses. The text starts out with Jesus seeing a man as He passes by and the man was blind since birth. The disciples, much like many people today, were quick to ask which parent was the sinner that caused him to be born blind. It was a common thought that if a child was born with an infirmity it must be the mom or dad's fault. Jesus was quick to say that it was neither the blind man, nor either of his parents that sinned. This particular man was born blind and grew up in that manner so that God could do a miracle in his life and help others to believe in God. Jesus states that He is the Light of the World and in the next two verses He spits on the ground, making a clay eye mask, and places it on the man's eyes. He then tells the man to go to the pool of Siloam, which is interpreted to mean Sent and the man did that and he came back with eye sight! It is incredible! That could have been the end and that would have been a wonderful account of God's goodness, love, and mercy and miraculous power, but we have so much more to read.
The Doubting (verses 8-9)
Imagine the neighbors the blind man grew up around. Many knew him and could attest that he was blind. Now that he came back seeing, it startled everyone. People started to doubt. Some said, "This is the blind man that sat and begged." Others said, "No, it is not him, but it sure looks like him." There was doubting and people going back and forth. Finally the man said, "Yes, it is me. I once was blind, but now I see!" What an incredible testimony he had!!!
The Questioning (verses 10-15)
They did not rejoice with the boy. There was no celebration. The interrogation began. Everyone wanted to know how he got his vision when he never had it before. He told them how Jesus made clay, anointed his eyes, sent him to the pool called Sent, and that he went and washed and received his sight!
They demand to know where Jesus is. They were not seeking Him out to thank Him for healing the man. He said he did not know where Jesus went. So they drag the young man to the Pharisees. You see, this was no ordinary day, it was the Sabbath and the Pharisees made up a bunch of impossible-to-follow rules about the Sabbath and even they were not able to avoid breaking the rules.
The Accusing (verses 16-18)
The Pharisees demand to know how he received sight. The young man rehearsed it all over again so they could hear it. They immediately speak lies against Jesus. They said, "He is not of God because He does not keep the Sabbath." But others spoke out and said, "How could he be healed if Jesus is a sinner? Sinners do not have this kind of authority and power." So there was a division among them. They could not even agree whether or not God did this powerful, miraculous deed. Who else opens the eyes of the blind but God?
They want to know what the man thinks about Jesus who has healed him. The man said, "He is a prophet." The Jews heard that and decided the man was making the whole thing up and that he was not even blind until they asked his parents.
The Fearing (verses 19-23)
They asked the parents if this was their son and they confirmed it was. They asked them how the man was able to see now, even though he was born blind. The parents said that he had indeed been born blind but they had no idea how he was able to see now. They said, "Further we do not know the man that did this but our son is of age, so let him answer himself."
We need to understand what is going on here. They were about to be kicked out of the synagogue. They were scared of the religious leaders at that time because they had boasted, "If any man confesses Jesus is the Christ, they will be put out of the synagogue." This was especially meaningful because of the power that came with the religious leaders of that day. They were too scared to answer anything, so they throw their son under the bus and say, "Ask him!"
The Interrogating (verses 24-26
Now they are trying to intimidate the man. They demanded, "Give God the praise! We know that this Man is a sinner." The man spoke up, "I do not know if he is a sinner or not, but one thing I know, that I once was blind and now I see." That should have been cause for jubilee and celebration! No one was moved by the boy's answer.
Now they are applying the pressure. "Who was He? What did He do to you to cause you to see? How did He open your eyes?" They wanted to find something amiss, or shady, that they could say, "See? I told you He was a phony!" But they could not do it. They were speaking despicably of the Son of the Living God.
The Enlightening (verses 27-33)
You can feel the tension in the air as these men demand answers and the former blind man is telling the same thing over and over and over and they refuse to believe it. They want to find a reason to hate Jesus more. They want a reason to kill Jesus and they are not able to find anything against Him because Jesus is the Son of God.
The healed man said, "I have told you already, and you did not listen. Do you want me to repeat myself? Are you interested in being His disciples?" This man has had enough. Something incredible and marvelous has happened to him and instead of enjoying his sight and being able to look at things he has never seen before, he is being berated by these religious, heartless men.
They countered, "You are His disciple. We are Moses's disciples. We know God talked to Moses, but we do not even know where this Man comes from." They opened their mouth and openly confessed that because they did not know enough about Jesus, they were going to condemn Him. They felt they had the authority to judge King Jesus!
I have no idea what religious teachings this man had heard or studied, but watch his reply to the religious leaders.
"This marvelous thing happened, and you don't know where He comes from, and yet He has opened my eyes. We know that God does not hear sinners: but God does hear from those that worship God and do the will of God. Since the world began it was never heard that any man could open the eyes of one that was born blind. If this Man were not of God, He could do nothing."
I don't know about you, but I want to stand up and start cheering. Yes! This is wisdom. This is truth! But for those who would rather have rules and rituals than a real relationship with Jesus Christ, they will never be convinced.
The Casting Out (verse 34)
Now they look down their nose on this man. They insult him and banish him from their clubhouse. "You were born in sin and you dare teach us?" Such arrogance! They refused to even listen to the man who has been transformed and given the gift of sight. What a shame!
The Saving (verses 35-39)
It's okay if others kick you out of their church, their Bible study, their cliques. Let them! They are doing you a favor. Watch God put you in higher places because of it. He has not forgotten you. Watch how He treats the man who now can see and is an outcast.
The Bible says Jesus heard they kicked him out of the synagogue, and Jesus went looking for him. Jesus did not stop until He found him and this is what He said. "Do you believe on the Son of God?"
The man said, "Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him?"
Jesus answered, "You have both seen Him, and it is He that is talking to you."
The man said, "I believe." He worshiped Jesus. He was thankful for the sight; not just the physical sight, but the spiritual sight as well.
Jesus's beautiful reply is, "I came to this world for judgment, so that they that do not see might see, and they that see might be made blind."
What a beautiful expression. He came to open all of our eyes to His wonderful truth. But He knew that some would profess to see truth, and would remain blind. They refuse to hear what Jesus has to say. They failed to trust what they saw Him do. If it did not match their cookie cutter mold of what religion should be, they did not want any part of it.
The Clarifying (verses 40-41)
Of course there were some Pharisees that watched this whole thing. They asked Jesus, "Are we blind, also?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you should have no sin: but now you say, 'We see,' therefore your sin remains."
If we go to Jesus and we think we are good enough, kind enough, religious enough, then we are blind to our need of a Savior. We will miss out on having our sins washed clean by His blood. If we can open our eyes to see that we are wicked and inherently evil creatures and left to our own devices we would destroy one another; and if we can see we have flaws and failures only Jesus can fix, then we will go from blinded eyes to seeing clearly.
How is your sight? I hope you are like our friend in today's text: I hope you once was blind but now you see!
God bless you!
~Bridgett Owens
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