Skip to main content

201. All for God's Glory


John 9 & 2 Corinthians 12:7-12
Key Verse: "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."
John 9:3

In this event John records my personal favorite from all four gospels. I love it for its detail. I love it because it demonstrates so much of our human frailty. It shows us how powerful our fears can be in the midst of God's amazing grace and glory.

First, we have the disciples who are suffering under the misconception that sickness and unfortunate circumstances are the result of sin only. They are thinking like Job and his friends. If you obey you will always be blessed and if you sin, God will punish you for it. They couldn't imagine that God could have possibly designed this man, blind, for His own glorious purposes.

Then we have the neighbors who are all amazed, but then what? What do you do when the mold has been broken? This man was blind and now he's not. How should they deal with this change of reality?

Then there are the parents, who should have been rejoicing, but fear of the religious prevented them from doing so. It was more important for them to remain upstanding members of the Synagogue, than to praise God for their son's new found freedom. What would it be like to live like that under such religious tyranny?

Finally, we gain a clearer understanding of just how the cruel and powerful leadership had twisted the Jewish religion. First of all, Jesus healed on the Sabbath. Well, we've heard that before. Then, Jesus made mud, which is work so that adds to the complaint. Next, we see them, once again calling Jesus’ paternity into question when they tell the healed man, "We know that God spoke through Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where He comes from." (John 9:29) Then, instead of rejoicing over this man's healing, it is more important to kick him out of the synagogue so that he can't proclaim what Jesus has done for him. How can any of this be for God's glory?  Instead of God's work being on display, it only seems to have been trampled on and discredited.

But then, there is the blind man himself. He was just sitting and doing his daily work, begging for a living. Along comes Jesus, who doesn't even ask, but just spits on the ground, smears the mud on his eyes and tells the man to go wash at the pool of Siloam. The man obeys, whether out of faith or the need to clean up, we don't know. When he does wash, however, his sight is restored and he becomes an unshakable witness for Jesus. This humble, broken man becomes bold before his parents, his neighbors and the leadership and God's work is on display to the shame of all the others.

When Jesus finds the man, he is already resolved to become a follower. Amazingly, he doesn't recognize Jesus by sight. He was healed outside of Jesus' presence, but he believed and recognized him when Jesus approached him in the end. "Who is He, sir? Tell me so that I may believe in Him."

"You have now seen Him; in fact, He is the one speaking with you."

"Lord, I believe." (John 9:36-38) Forsaking all others that day, he took up his cross and followed Jesus. Belief is for our soul no matter the opinions of others. May we be as bold for Him when our turn comes. May we never let fear of others silence our praise and gratitude to our loving Creator.

Hymn: Blessed Be the Name of the Lord

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

October 27 Save the Glaze for the Bunny

Like a coating of glaze over earthenware are fervent lips of an evil heart. A malicious man disguises himself with his lips. But in his heart, he harbors deceit. Though his speech is charming, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart. His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it. If a man rolls a stone, it will roll back on him. ~Proverbs 26:23-28 For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. Even one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth. T...
Post a Comment
Read more

July 16 Thick Skinned Love

Whoever covers over an offence promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. ~Proverbs 17:9 If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. ~Matthew 18:15  The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ~1 Peter 4:7-8  Being offended seems to be the battle cry of the day. Instead of freedom of speech, everyone has the right not to be offended. If one is offended, then one has the right to exact vengeance on the offender because, of course, the offender KNEW that he or she was being offensive and just didn’t care. Is that how you see much of society behaving today?  There seems to be all of this offending and finger pointing that just keeps growing and growing. Nothing is being resolved, just more blame that grows louder a...
Post a Comment
Read more

211. The Sons of Thunder's Request

Matthew 20:20-28 , Mark 10:35-45 , Key verse: "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." Mark 10:43B-44 In our readings for yesterday, in which Jesus outlined what was about to happen to Him, for His disciples, the passage in Luke ends: "The disciples did not understand any of this. It's meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what He was talking about." ( Luke 18:34 ) Now, we see just how truly clueless they were. Jesus had laid out a plan before them of pain and suffering and death and now James and John are focused on a promotion. The disconnect is so obvious. It's really not important to know whether James and john came up with this request on their own or if their mother put them up to it. The request was made and James and John thought that they could handle the responsibility that would come with it. What is that saying, "Fools rush in where angels fe...
Post a Comment
Read more