A blind man is healed physically and spiritually
| A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God, " they said. "We know this man is a sinner." 25 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!" 26 Then they asked him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" 27 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?" 28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this fellow's disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from." 30 The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." (John9:24-33) |
Jesus immediately turns this on its head, correcting their theology and pointing to how this encounter will lead to God being glorified. He then creates mud with his spit, puts it on the man's eyes and sends him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. The man is healed.
As you can imagine this creates great consternation in his community and so they take him to the temple where he is harassed by the priests to account for what happened. Our reading today covers just some of what he says.
His logic is flawless.
-I was blind. Now I see.
-No ordinary person can do this.
-Therefore this man must be from God.
The second part of verse 25 is what strikes me most: "One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"
This man had at this point not seen Jesus with his newfound sight. Other than the instructions he had received from Him, he had no other previous encounters with Jesus that we know of. But through this one encounter everything had changed.
"I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see…"
I think sometimes as we grow in faith we lose the simplicity and wonder of that first encounter. That moment we realised that everything had changed. The moment we realise that we have been sought out by a God who loves us enough to reach out to us first. To love us first. To die for us.
I pray that this day you stop for a moment and remember with clarity what it was that made you stand like this man did and say – "One thing I do know…."
- One thing I know? Jesus cares enough that he encountered me.
- One thing I know? Jesus knew me enough to reach me where I was and continues to reach me where I am.
- One thing I know? An encounter with Jesus changes everything.
- One thing I know? People can encounter Jesus through me.
May we go into our day with clarity- knowing this one thing. And then may we have the courage to live as differently as this man did. I once was blind but now I see.
------------------------------------------
Jackie Barker is serving the congregation of Emmanuel Presby in Pretoria. She is married to Tim and mom to Christine (2) and Jesse (7months) - beautiful children who keep her busy and laughing!
