On our faith journey, we experience new revelations and insights as we walk with Christ Jesus. Things aren’t always as they seem. The unexpected can happen right before our very eyes. At times our faith journey is filled with challenges. How do we respond to those challenges? Have you ever been in a position where standing strong in your faith could affect your closest relationships? What would you do if you were challenged to boldly speak out in your faith against authority? Would you speak out or simply go along to get along? Let us draw strength from one who boldly took a stand even before he fully understood that Jesus was Christ.
“As he [Jesus] went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.” “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked. He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.” “Where is this man?” they asked him. “I don’t know,” he said.
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided. Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.”His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?” Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will.Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?” Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains’” (John 9:1-41 NIV).
Let us take a moment to meditate on this story to draw out some deep biblical truth. The Pharisees were the religious leaders, the teachers of the Law of Moses. Jesus said, “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach…Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to…Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath. ’You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?” (Matt 23:2-17 NIV). Isaiah tells us: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish” (Is 29:13-14 NIV).
Jesus tells His disciples that this man was born blind “so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3 NIV). Jesus miraculously heals the blind man and the Pharisees are unwilling to accept this truth. Instead of rejoicing for what the Lord has done, they rebuke the one born blind for testifying that it was Jesus who healed him. Even before he knows that Jesus is the Son of Man, he stood strong and boldly proclaimed what he knew to be true. His parents “were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue” (John 9:22 NIV). He was not intimidated but stood steadfast in faith, explaining biblical truth to the Pharisees. “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor 1:27 NIV). Wisdom from above was spoken through the one born blind, not the Pharisees. “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will.Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.If this man were not from God, he could do nothing” (John 9:30-33 NIV). Once a beggar, now finds himself teaching the teachers. And when they threw him out, Jesus found him and revealed His identity to him. He believed and worshipped Jesus as LORD!! He gained his sight both physically and spiritually that day!! Praise be the God!! Sadly, the Pharisees remained spiritually blinded. It’s hard for some high ranking religious leaders to see. Remember Paul, “a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee… as for righteousness based on the law, faultless” – Jesus had to physically blind him so he could spiritually see (Phil.3:5-6; Acts 9:1-22). To God be the glory!! Stand strong in your faith and proclaim His holy name!! Jesus Christ, our Rabbi, the Son of Man, Master Healer!! Amen.
