Part 16a – John 9
Seeing Jesus (1)
To set the scene for this chapter I want to go back to John 8:59 where we read that the hardened scholars had become so incensed that it says “they took up stones to cast at him; but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them and so passed by.” This verse leads us into John 9 where we will uncover an unfolding story of a man who was given the opportunity to see Jesus all because Jesus was prepared to stop and engage with him as he passed by.
The first thing to note in this passage is that Jesus stopped and engaged with the man who was born blind, in response to a question that his disciples had asked him. John 9:2 says “Master who sinned? This man or his parents?”. The understanding in Jesus day was that if you were ill or in-firmed then the conclusion was that God must be displeased with you or someone close to you and therefore you had to carry the evidence for all to see. What Jesus says in response is both revolutionary in its concept and liberating in its application, He says in John 9:3 “Neither has this man or his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him”. What Jesus is saying is that this man is in this state of blindness for one reason, so that God can be glorified. By the same token we don’t need to be in a state of spiritual blindness either, God can set us free so we can see Him and worship Him as Lord. I wonder what is going through this man’s head as he is listening to this conversation? His primary reason for being by the gate of the temple was so that someone might just stop for a second and drop a meagre amount of loose change at his feet in order that he could at least get a bit of food to sustain him for a little while longer. Yet here he is listening to a conversation that seems to be saying he, nor his parents had sinned and that he was in this state in order that the works of God could be made manifest. What on earth does that mean and was he prepared for what was about to happen? I suspect not and I wonder if we would be either!
In some sense we are all in this state of blindness, not because of anything we have done or anything our parents did. In truth we are born in a spiritual state of blindness because of the fallen state of mankind, a fallen state that has spiralled out of control to such an extent that we are reduced to a life whereby we are spiritually forced to exist on meagre handouts in order to survive.
This encounter shows us that God is interested in us and our existence and is prepared to step into our lives, in the form of Jesus, in order to enhance our experience of life. Just as we read that as Jesus passes by he stops and speaks words that will revolutionise this man born blind in the same way He will stop and speak to us in our hour of need. These encounters will change our lives to such an extent we will never be the same again.
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