Read: John 9
If you
remember back to John 6 you will recall that the people were physically hungry
so Jesus performed a miracle and supernaturally provided food for 5000
people. He then went on to teach them
about spiritual hunger. The same sort of
thing happens in John 9. As a masterful
teacher, Jesus uses a miraculous healing to prove a spiritual point. He heals a blind man and then teaches about
spiritual blindness. It is interesting
to note that in many ancient cultures, hardships in life were seen as the
result of personal or group failings (v. 2).
Jesus responded that nobody`s sin was responsible for the man’s
blindness but that the man’s blindness would be used to reveal the works of God
(v. 3-5). The Pharisses could not believe
that Jesus was from God because He healed on the Sabbath (v. 16). They had to find an explanation for what
happened that did not prove that Jesus was from God. Their first explanation was that the man
wasn’t born blind (v. 18) until the parents refuted that (v. 20). Then they refused to give Jesus credit for
the miracle, saying that He was a sinner (v. 25), yet the blind man testified
that it was obvious Jesus was from God (v. 32-33) as he believed (v. 38) and
worshipped Jesus.
JOURNALING AND PRAYER
1. In this biblical account, the blind man endured
hardship even though He was innocent of any sin. The reason was so that “the works of God might be displayed in him”. What hardship(s) has God allowed in your life
in order to bring Him glory? Have you
been cooperating with God in this situation or have you been grumbling and
complaining about it? Are you sure that
this situation isn’t a consequence of a past sin or failure in your life? Ask the Lord to speak to you about this
hardship, ask him to give you a word of encouragement that will help you
persevere through it.
2. Sometimes when we pray for our unsaved family and
friends, we pray for a miracle hoping that it will be the key that unlocks the
door of unbelief in their life. Yet
Jesus performed astonishing miracles and the Pharisee’s still did not
believe. The Pharisee’s hardheartedness
prevented them from seeing even though the evidence was clear. Spend some time praying for the people in
your life who struggle believing – ask the Lord to remove their hardheartedness
so that when the evidence is put before them, they will believe. Ask the Lord to show you other things that
you can pray for these people.
3. The climax in this entire encounter comes in v.
38 when the blind man responds saying, ““Lord,
I believe,” and he worshipped.” This
response is extremely significant. Jesus
is worthy of our worship. This is the
fullest proof of the sincerity of our faith – to fall down and adore Him, to
glorify Him. We may read a lot about
Jesus and talk a lot about Him, we can even believe all sorts of right things
about Him but at the end of the day it is all worthless if it doesn’t get us to
fall on our knees in complete submission and worship of Him. Spend some time in prayer asking the Lord to
touch your heart so that you can worship Him on a deeper level. Confess your lack of worship of Him, that we
have turned Him into academic study, belief and doctrine. Ask Him to fill you with His Spirit so that
you can worship and glorify Him in a deeper way.
