Sometimes the simplest demonstration of love, coupled with the power of God, is the very action unbelievers just cannot wrap their heads around. “What happened is merely good luck for you,” unbelievers say as they scratch their heads while their envious minds grapple with the truth that God is always at work on the behalf of those who love and follow Him. I’ve had these very words said to me, when God took care of a need we had financially in way we could not have imagined or dreamed!
I told the story, giving glory to God, with how He intervened in our lives at just the right time with exactly what was needed and was eventually helpful to others. The first response of many people was; “Lucky you”! Unbelievers along with a few who profess to believe in God had the same response—wait, what? Yep.
People who rely only on themselves become jaded, self-seeking, self-led, motivated by pride and arrogance. They demand an explanation for another person’s good fortune, especially when they have previous labeled the receiver as unworthy or undeserving.
True blindness, as Jesus will point out, is refusing to believe.
John 9, The Message
True Blindness
1-2 Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?”
3-5 Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world’s Light.”
6-7 He said this and then spit in the dust, made a clay paste with the saliva, rubbed the paste on the blind man’s eyes, and said, “Go, wash at the Pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “Sent”). The man went and washed—and saw.
8 Soon the town was buzzing. His relatives and those who year after year had seen him as a blind man begging were saying, “Why, isn’t this the man we knew, who sat here and begged?”
9 Others said, “It’s him all right!”
But others objected, “It’s not the same man at all. It just looks like him.”
He said, “It’s me, the very one.”
10 They said, “How did your eyes get opened?”
11 “A man named Jesus made a paste and rubbed it on my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ I did what he said. When I washed, I saw.”
12 “So where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
13-15 They marched the man to the Pharisees. This day when Jesus made the paste and healed his blindness was the Sabbath. The Pharisees grilled him again on how he had come to see. He said, “He put a clay paste on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.”
16 Some of the Pharisees said, “Obviously, this man can’t be from God. He doesn’t keep the Sabbath.”
Others countered, “How can a bad man do miraculous, God-revealing things like this?” There was a split in their ranks.
17 They came back at the blind man, “You’re the expert. He opened your eyes. What do you say about him?”
He said, “He is a prophet.”
18-19 The Jews didn’t believe it, didn’t believe the man was blind to begin with. So they called the parents of the man now bright-eyed with sight. They asked them, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? So how is it that he now sees?”
20-23 His parents said, “We know he is our son, and we know he was born blind. But we don’t know how he came to see—haven’t a clue about who opened his eyes. Why don’t you ask him? He’s a grown man and can speak for himself.” (His parents were talking like this because they were intimidated by the Jewish leaders, who had already decided that anyone who took a stand that this was the Messiah would be kicked out of the meeting place. That’s why his parents said, “Ask him. He’s a grown man.”)
24 They called the man back a second time—the man who had been blind—and told him, “Give credit to God. We know this man is an impostor.”
25 He replied, “I know nothing about that one way or the other. But I know one thing for sure: I was blind . . . I now see.”
26 They said, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 “I’ve told you over and over and you haven’t listened. Why do you want to hear it again? Are you so eager to become his disciples?”
28-29 With that they jumped all over him. “You might be a disciple of that man, but we’re disciples of Moses. We know for sure that God spoke to Moses, but we have no idea where this man even comes from.”
30-33 The man replied, “This is amazing! You claim to know nothing about him, but the fact is, he opened my eyes! It’s well known that God isn’t at the beck and call of sinners, but listens carefully to anyone who lives in reverence and does his will.That someone opened the eyes of a man born blind has never been heard of—ever. If this man didn’t come from God, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.”
34 They said, “You’re nothing but dirt! How dare you take that tone with us!” Then they threw him out in the street.
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and went and found him. He asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
36 The man said, “Point him out to me, sir, so that I can believe in him.”
37 Jesus said, “You’re looking right at him. Don’t you recognize my voice?”
38 “Master, I believe,” the man said, and worshiped him.
39 Jesus then said, “I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind.”
40 Some Pharisees overheard him and said, “Does that mean you’re calling us blind?”
41 Jesus said, “If you were really blind, you would be blameless, but since you claim to see everything so well, you’re accountable for every fault and failure.”
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
The disciples, who are walking with Jesus, don’t see the real need of the blind man. But Jesus does. These followers do not think first of the power of God that is in Jesus, His Son. Their first thought is “I wonder, what sin caused this man to be born blind.”
The blame game seems to be our “go to” when we cannot explain what occurs in life. Sigh.
We are born with a need to explain. It is our sin nature that demands an explanation (and judgement) for everything that happens in our lives and in the lives of others! We must know why something bad or good happens. If what happens is beyond human and unexplainable, we create scenarios of the “most likely” so the unexplainable and miraculous can be wrapped up in a tidy package of unbelief.
Jesus sees more than a blind man from birth. This man was known and labeled by society as “the blind man who begged in the street.” He had lived with that label since his birth. He grew from toddler to a boy to now a man who cannot see. His parents also lived with the label (and their guilt) that was given to their son. As a man unemployable, his only means of survival is to beg. Then God shows up—Jesus, His Son, intervenes.
Jesus had another view of the man born blind that is beyond the view of his disciples. Rather than see him as an opportunity for discussion, he saw him as an opportunity for God’s glory to be seen! Why was he blind? “That the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3, NKJV).
What a perspective! The man wasn’t a victim of fate; he was a miracle waiting to happen. “Look instead for what God can do.” Jesus didn’t label him. He helped him. Jesus was more concerned about the future than the past. Jesus spits in the mud, rubs it on the “now-sighted-but-doesn’t-know-it-yet” man’s eyes and sends him to wash in the pool (called “sent”). The man went, washed and now saw what he had never seen before!
As the Body of Christ, we must cease from the blame to explain game. We must stop assigning labels to people to compare and lift up ourselves. We all have been labeled at every stage of life by economists, sociologists, psychologist, family, friends, and enemies. It seems we cannot escape being labeled. I hate being labeled, judged forever, and not seen for who I am right now, don’t you?
Max Lucado helps us rethink our labels of judgement and relates it this passage:
“Some of you relate to the man born blind. You have been the topic of conversation. You have been left on the outside looking in. You’ve been labeled. If so, learn what this man learned: When everyone else rejects you, Christ accepts you. When everyone else leaves you, Christ finds you. When no one else wants you, Christ claims you. When no one else will give you the time of day, Jesus will give you the words of eternity.
Others of you will relate to the observers. You’ve judged. You’ve labeled. You’ve slammed the gavel and proclaimed the guilt before knowing the facts. If that is you, look at John 9:4 and understand what the work of God is: “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.”
What is the work of God? Accepting people. Loving before judging. Caring before condemning.
Look before you label.” –Lucado, Encouraging Word Bible
SENT-WENT-SAW is the best response to Jesus’ power at work in this man. We learn from him that our response is similar—
Believe, even when others do not. “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
Listen and Follow. “You’re looking right at him. Don’t you recognize my voice?” (“My sheep know and hear my voice for I am the Good Shepherd”, John 10)
Worship. “Master, I believe”
Still need an explanation? Here it is:
“But I know one thing for sure: I was blind . . . I now see.”
Lord,
Over the years of believing in you, when I falter in faith, you have opened my blinded eyes to see your Truth. You have done it again today. The world says one thing, but you reveal Truth. To believe is to trust, go where you send, do what you say, so we can see your glory at work and worship you! May our response to what we cannot explain be worship to you in all circumstances and situations. I was blind, but now I see. To you be the glory!
In Jesus Name, Amen
Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus) 