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Listen to John Chapter 9 
or read "John 9:1-41"
"... But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!"There is much one can come away with from this passage. Reading it this time I noticed a process and a moment. A process of going from not knowing much about Jesus to acknowledging that he was a prophet. A process that continued to a moment in time of belief. A belief that the man Jesus is the Son of God. That moment of belief leads to worship. I can relate, in my life, to this process and the moment.
Put yourself in his place a blind beggar on the side of a road when some guys come up to you discussing whether your blindness, which you were born with, was as a result of sin you or your parents had committed. You hear one of the men say authoritatively that no person's sin made you blind, but that you are blind so God's work can be displayed in your life. It is not recorded that the blind man said or did anything at this point. It doesn't say what was going through his mind at the time. Perhaps he was wondering who is this man? They are calling him Jesus. Is this the guy I have heard about? Maybe the blind man believed like many others in his culture that his blindness was automatically a result of sin and was surprised to hear someone say that there was another reason. He might of thought to himself how in the world was God's work going to be displayed in my life? Perhaps he felt as if he was a nothing in his community. People walked by all the time not even noticing me or saying one word to me. This man, Jesus, sounds like he is in a hurry to get work done while there is light. He certainly doesn't have time to give me anything. He hears the man refer to himself as being the Light. What is light? I have never seen light. What is THE Light? What does he mean? Is this guy crazy?
Whatever is going through his mind he hears the man spit and rub the dirt on the ground. What is this guy doing? Perhaps he was startled to feel this man rub mud on his eyes. Before he could resist the man tells him to go and wash in a pool. Jesus is silent about what is going to happen. What is the blind beggar thinking at this point? Having just had a stranger make mud from his spit and put it on his eyes. The scripture does not say but I could imagine he is puzzled, perhaps even a little irritated. Or maybe he is just glad that someone stopped and paid some attention to his life.
What goes through his mind after he washes off the mud in the pool and can see? Light floods his eyes for the first time. What would go through our minds at a moment like that? I am not sure I can even imagine an experience like his. Like most people I take the ability to see things for granted. It was probably overwhelming.
Jesus is not around at the moment the man first had sight. Since he was blind when he first met Jesus he didn't even know what Jesus looked like. For that matter he didn't know what anything looked like. He was experiencing sight for the very first time. Everything was new to him!
Everyone wants to know what has happened and how can he now see? He simply explains the facts. Jesus put mud on my eyes, I washed it off, and now I can see. He is brought to the experts of the Law, the local leaders, those who were suppose to know all about God. They don't want to accept the simple fact that he was blind but now isn't. There was no way they were going to acknowledge that something only God could do was just done by Jesus. In this encounter with the Pharisees the once blind man goes from knowing the man's name is Jesus to calling him a Prophet from God.
After he is thrown out of the synagogue, rejected by the leaders of his community, he runs into Jesus. Actually Jesus finds him. Jesus asks him face to face, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" The Christ? The Messiah? The Son of God?
The man answered, "Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him."Jesus then goes on to connect physical blindness to spiritual blindness.
"You have seen him," Jesus said, "and he is speaking to you!"
"Yes, Lord, I believe!" the man said. And he worshiped Jesus.
Later a Christ follower named Paul wrote the following:
For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6, New Living Translation)
There is no greater darkness than ignorance of God." (John Calvin)
Photo credit: The photo in this post is titled "Blind Man". It was uploaded to flickr.com by Michelle Brea on January 17, 2008.
22 comments:
I have question for you Brad.
What glorified God in this? That may have an obvious answer. Sadly, there are people who believe it is God's desire and will that people remain blind.
Sidharth
A long time ago I had an argument with a friend. I refused to believe that God put sickness on people for their good, or even so that God would appear good!
This is what he and so many churches and christians say. I meet them and obviously they are suffering. When asked how's it going, they declare that they know its God's will, they are learning so much about patience and suffering etc.
It must be God's will because he is God and he could heal anytime he wants. Therefore the sickness must be from God.
(Ask them if they take medicine, and then you can point out that they are in rebellion against god's will of suffering!)
This was not the Jesus that I knew and had met in the bible or in my life. Jesus healed all that came to him, and He only did what He saw the Father do, therefore healing is clearly also the Father's will.
For many it seems that Jesus came to kill steal and destroy rather than Satan.
After my disagreement with my friend, he emailed me gleefully with John9.
Aha, get out of that one! He was born blind so that God might be glorified.
I felt sick at that point, my faith crushed.
I imagined a skilled doctor grabbing an unfortunate child and breaking his leg, so that people could see how skillfully he could heal him. We would never regard him as compassionate if we knew that was how he worked.
As I read Jn9 God kept saying for me to read it again, and again. Suddenly the light of the Holy Spirit started to dawn.
The key is in the sentence structure. The original Greek gospel had neither punctuation nor verses. These were added in medieval times.
Normal translation--
Joh 9:2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, Master, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?
Joh 9:3 Jesus answered, Neither has this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God might be revealed in him.
Joh 9:4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me, while it is day. Night comes when no man can work.
Removing some punctuation.---
And His disciples asked Him, saying, Master, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither has this man nor his parents sinned,
But that the works of God might be revealed in him I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day.
Night comes when no man can work.
ie.The works of God are traditionally connected with why he is sick. The simple reordering of punctuation gives a true compassionate response by connecting the works and glory of God with his healing.
This is the Jesus I know.
Brad this is my response to Sidharth. The man had been blind since birth. Jesus comes along (who he can not obviously see) he could hear Jesus' voice. He restores the blinds man site which makes him a believer in God. He then goes and tells everyone (people who have known this man has been blind since birth) how his site was restored. Some will ask questions. Some will simply shrug it off. Some will believe.
Only God to restore sight to the blind. Only God can heal a disease. When one tells of how God healed or restored them to everyone they see some believe and accept Christ as their Savior and some don't. God is glorified in that when you tell someone of what God has done for you and they have seen you in some situation and now your not. They want to get what God gave to you. To do this they must believe and accept Jesus into their life. When they do this a soul has been saved! God is then glorified. I hope this helps explain it for you.
Awesome post Brad! Blessings!
Wow a lot has been said here. Thanks guys, it has got me thinking. It may take me a little while to focus my thoughts on these great questions and answers.
Sid asked "What glorified God in this?" For me it is simply that THE truth was proclaimed in action (John 9:6-7, 11) and word (John 9:38): Jesus is Lord! I like Valerie lynn's answer. When people turn, to Christ and believe in Him THE truth is proclaimed.
I believe it is God's desire for all people everywhere to turn from spiritual darkness to the pure light of Christ. Christ died for all. God's desire is that all people would "see", turn, and proclaim THE truth, here on this earth.
I want to think more about all of this, especially what Francis Drake wrote ... I will be back...
I am always a little shy to comment here for some reason ...
But I so love this passage in the Bible.
The blind beggar didn't complicate the miracle, he accepted the gift of sight & believed - to me it's very pure and simple and I like that.
It IS that simple with God for us all. Accept THE Gift & believe! Excellent point Dawn and please do not hesitate to comment here. Please know I want this blog to be a safe and encouraging place for anyone to share and discuss the words given to us by God in the Bible.
I am really not sure about your interpretation of this passage Francis Drake. At this point I am not willing to reject or embrace your reasoning and conclusion on John 9. Perhaps a further study of the Greek here would help me. I will continue to look at this as I have time.
I have to admit I come to this passage perhaps from a somewhat different perspective. We see God's original design for humans and the world in the Garden before the Fall in Genesis. The Garden of Eden was the world right side up and uncorrupted by sin. As a result of the Fall we live in a corrupted world. An upside down world and backwards world. Not how God desires us to live for eternity and God has a plan for making things right again. Here on earth everything has been effected by sin. Our bodies, our relationships, nature, weather, animals, etc. have all been infected in some degree by the Fall. To me within this context it is not hard for me to accept the fact that sin could effect a human life immediately after conception. In my view the baby in the womb is not protected from the curse or corruption. Many things can go wrong. So I am not sure one has to jump to the conclusion from this passage that God caused this man to be blind in order to display his work. One could say that anytime sin and corruption is reversed and something is made right the work of God is being displayed. To me it is like a preview of that day coming when all wrongs will be made right. All evil and corruption will be destroyed. ... continuing to think and look to the Word concerning all of this ... thanks Francis.
I love the perspective from which this was written. I still wrestle with these questions myself, Brad. My latest post at Sonflower touched on it a bit.
Joni Eareckson Tada has spoken a great deal on her state of being wheelchair bound after breaking her neck in an accident. If that had not happened, or if she had rec'd a healing, she says with certainty that she would not have been used so mightily of God. Perhaps what sometimes seems to be a tragedy due to sickness or injury, can actually be something used to bring glory to God in an unexpected way. These are things to think about.
I am in a wheelchair since I was 8, there was a time i was paralyzed from the neck down, couldn't speak and couldn't even turn a book page.
Now I'm still in a wheelchair but I can move, I've sung in church concerts and I paint now. From someone who is handicap, may I say, that I don't think I'd be the stronger person that I am now if God had not allowed this thing to happen to me.
I'd seen God's faithfulness all my life, and though I can't do all things physically, I'd say and seen I'm better off than most walking people, even just for the peace I have in the Lord.
God's perspective is so different than ours. God is Holy. We are so focused on the physical that I think we overlook to easily the work God is doing in our heart & soul. That is where God is focused. God is focus on the long view - eternity.
Thank you Angie & Thess for reminding me that it is not all about the physical.
A lot to think about ...
First and foremost, sin and sickness are the works of darkness.
Now, considering sin... there have been times I've sinned and learnt something from my fall. However, this did not mean that it was God's will for me to have sinned. The same thing applies for sickness. Just because I am sick, and I learn something because I went through my sickness does not make it God's will.
One of the main problems among Christians today is that people judge God's Word by their experiences.
Let's take the incident where the disciples of Jesus COULD NOT heal the epileptic boy. Jesus could have sounded like many Christians today and said "God is going to be glorified through this epilepsy". But sadly His response was different, because He SAW things from a higher standard of faith. Jesus said "O you unbelieving generation! How long shall I be with you?..."
That says it all.
Sidharth
God is NOT the source of sin, sickness, and disease. Excellent point Sidharth.
As we see from the miracles Jesus performed here on earth God has the power to heal any one of these for any person at any given moment (Luke 7:21). This leads one to ask the question - why doesn't God heal some people here on this earth?
We have the confidence that one day, on a "new earth", all of these will be gone, (Revelation 21:4) all will be healed. No more tears, no more pain, no more sickness, no more disease ...
One of the most awesome things to me about God is that he heals, redeems, restores people. This may be today, tomorrow, or in the incredible life to come on a new earth. He changes people physically, mentally, spiritually. He changes souls, hearts, bodies. Our God is the God of Change. Real Change. God is glorified in the change.
I would love to continue to hear more of what you guys think about these things. Keep looking to the Word of God to understand some of these tough questions. Please continue to comment.
Very interesting post and comments. This is a topic i too have many questions about but always feel guilty when thinking or uttering them because i feel I have no right to question God. Yet, the questions are there and sooner or later they will be uttered. In the case of the blind man I found the following and maybe you would like to look at it too: http://www.victoryword.100megspop2.com/glorify.html He does bring healing and it does glorify Him. But like Francis Drake I can not believe that sickness is the will of God - healing is though.
Amazing to know too that God loves us deeply despite our uncertainties :)
dropping by!
gagay
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Brad: "As we see from the miracles Jesus performed here on earth God has the power to heal any one of these for any person at any given moment (Luke 7:21). This leads one to ask the question - why doesn't God heal some people here on this earth?"
Is it interesting to see that Scripture says that Jesus/Yeshua COULD NOT heal where there was ACTIVE unbelief. The key to this answer can be seen in what God spoke and decreed that only spirit beings in dirt bodies had legal authority over the earthly realm (Gen 1:26, Psalms 115:16). The very reason why God had to place His own Seed (Christ) in an earthly body. I hope to deal with this in an upcoming article.
It is the answer to many questions we have.
love Sid
such a very wonderful entry..
God is indeed great and makes us go through trials and tribulations for a reason. I live in Zimbabwe and have been going through a lot of suffering because of the economic situation in this country which has deteriorated because of political turmoil but just like the blind man whom God made blind for a reason I think God is making me go through this suffering for a reason and a good one too.
Excellent post and a great discussion. It brings to mind the trials and tribulations of Job.
Roxie
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Roxie
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