Monday, May 22, 2017

May 23, 2017

You have undoubtedly heard of the saying, "None is so blind as he who will not see." I am not sure if that originated from John 9, but it certainly could have.

The chapter is dominated by the story of a blind man who was healed by Jesus. But when Jesus healed him He not only opened his physical eyes but his spiritual ones as well. That is a good thing because his newly found faith was quickly tested by his neighbors and by the Pharisees.

Imagine if you had a neighbor who had been blind all of his life and he leaves in the morning to go begging and comes home at the end of the day seeing. Would that not make you a bit curious?

When it became obvious that he had been the recipient of a miracle, rather than celebrate with him over his incredible blessing, they chose to question the miracle. If they accepted his explanation of his healing at the hand of Jesus, they would have to accept two other truths - that miracles DO happen and that Jesus was the Source of the miracle. These men where not prepared to accept either truth. In the light of tangible evidence that this man had been miraculously healed, they chose not to see it that way. Notice how hard they worked to deny the obvious:

1) They tried to claim that this was not their neighbor, but someone who looked like him - V. 9 - "Others said, 'No, he only looks like him."

But, the formerly blind man would not allow it - "I AM the man!" He insisted.

2) The still doubted him and demanded an explanation - "How then were your eyes opened?"

Not daunted, the formerly blind man took the opportunity to tell his story, "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!"

3) Still refusing to accept his simple story, they demanded that he show them this man. But he would not back down under their assaults, so then went after the big guns - the Pharisees, to see if they could break him down. They came and asked him to repeat his story, so he gladly recounted it. Again, rather that rejoice in his good fortune, they under -minded it by accusing the validity of the miracle since it had been performed on the Sabbath. Since it is a sin to heal on the Sabbath, that would make Jesus a sinner and sinners can't perform miracles.

But again, the man would not be intimidated, he continued to insist, "He is a prophet!"

4) Their next tactic was to question whether he had actually been blind to begin with. So they sent for his parents to get them to vouch for him. They hoped that perhaps the parents would feel intimidated and invalidate the claim of their son. But they artfully avoided the controversy, "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."

The encounter ends with the formerly blind man presenting a crystal clear picture of what had happened to him, but the spiritually blind antagonists refusing to see the truth. They continued in their efforts to discredit him, his story and Jesus.

We tend to believe that miracles force unbelievers to believe. This incident debunks that notion. Here was a clear and undeniable healing and the spiritually blind religious leaders were the ones who were leading the charge to discredit this man and his miracle.

"No one is as blind and he who will not see."

In this ironic encounter, the blind man became the one with 20/20 vision while the acknowledged spiritual leaders proved that the were blind leading the blind.

Will you approach God with eyes wide open? Will you read His Word with eyes wide open? 

Will you ask Him for 20/20 spiritual vision to see the miracles that God is working in your heart and life each day?