 | |
| Photo Credit: JesusMafa.com |
Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from
birth.
There is a
pervading darkness in the human soul; an inability to see or discern the
manifestation of divine things. Psalms 51:5 gives support to this conclusion:
“Behold I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me.” Numbers
14:18 states that “The Lord is long-suffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving
iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.” These two verses give credibility to the question
raised by the disciples in John 9:2, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his
parents, that he was born blind?”
The response
of the Lord dismisses the notion that the blind man’s condition was based on
generational sin. Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but
that the works of God should be revealed in him” (John 9:3). The blind man is elevated to an iconic
position given the Lord’s response. It
is no longer a question of his sin or the sin of his parents, but the sin of
anyone in any generation who cannot see the “works of God” in Jesus Christ.
The Jews and
the Pharisees are an example of blinding disbelief. They were blinded by the
legal structure of Judaism. They could not accept eye-opening evidence of a
predestined act of God to reveal Jesus as Lord of the Sabbath (Matt. 12:7).
Even after rigorous examination into the nature of the blind man’s healing,
they could not see beyond the darkness in their own souls (John 9:13-34).
Divine
perception is difficult for many postmodern thinkers. Like the Pharisees, we
tend to dismiss the notion of things we cannot explain; things that don’t fit
neatly in our empirical world of observation-based belief. The secularization
of our thoughts blind us from seeing the transformational character of divine
healing, whether it is physical, spiritual, social or psychological. We
sometimes miss the simplicity of God’s actions through the blinding complexity
of religious dogma or doctrinal purity. Too often we do church and miss Christ.
When we do
Christ, people get healed. Sacrificial
acts of kindness and love unhinged from selfish motives and religious
institutionalism bring healing. Tearing down walls of systemic injustice bring
healing. Stepping outside the bounds of
expected protocol bring healing. The Good Samaritan is a primary example (Luke
10:33). Jesus broke with the religious
norm of His day by healing on the Sabbath.
The blind man
had no political or religious agenda. He was blind from birth. Jesus anointed his eyes with mud made from
His saliva and told him, “Go wash in the pool of Siloam.” Unlike the paternal
blindness that prevented the Pharisees from seeing the goodness of God, the
blind man expressed the simplicity of faith in God’s works through Jesus
Christ, “One thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
Have you
checked your eyesight lately?
Pastor Jones
Photo Credits: LSW Wilson, JesusMafa.com and Google Images
No comments:
Post a Comment