GEMS FROM THE GOSPELS - JOHN 9 - #52days

GEMS FROM THE GOSPELS

JOHN 9

John 9 – The disciples saw a man who was blind from birth and asked Jesus, “Who sinned? This man or his parents?” Jesus replied that no one had sinned but this had happened so that God’s power might be seen at work in him. He stated, “While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” Then Jesus spat on the ground and put the resultant mud on the man’s eyes. He told the man to wash in the pool of Siloam (sent). The man obeyed and came back seeing! Neighbors saw him and said, “This guy looks like the blind man.” He told them it was, indeed, him and testified how Jesus had healed him. They took the formerly blind man to the Pharisees who were all up in arms because he had been healed on the Sabbath. They told him the person who healed him could not be from God because he violated the Sabbath. Others countered, “How could a sinner do these miracles?” When they asked the man what he thought he said that Jesus must be a prophet, the highest thing he knew to call Him. The Pharisees summoned the man’s parents who testified that this was their son who was born blind, but they didn’t know how it was that he could now see. They referred the question back to him because he was of age, and they were afraid of being kicked out of the synagogue for believing Jesus. The Pharisees question the man again and told him they knew Jesus was a sinner. The man said that all he knew was that he was blind and could now see perfectly. The man concluded that if Jesus was not from God, he could do nothing; and healing a blind man was a historical first. They tossed him out saying essentially, “How dare you lecture us!”  Jesus heard they threw the formerly blind man out and found him. He asked, “Do you trust in the Son of Man?” The man said, “Tell me who it is so I can.” Jesus made it clear by saying, “He’s the one speaking to you now.” The man knelt before Him and declared his faith in Him. Jesus stated that he came into the world to judge so that the blind might see and those who see might be blind. The Pharisees were indignant and said, “So we’re blind too, are we?” Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin. But sine you still say ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.” No matter your challenges, God can use them when you LET HIM GET THE GLORY.

The disciples made an assumption that the man’s blindness was caused by sin, his or his parents’. Jesus shut them down immediately. I have been greatly encouraged by His reply that the man’s blindness had been given to him in order that God might be glorified through his testimony.

I was born with cerebral palsy affecting all four of my limbs but, praise the Lord, not my intellect. Many times well-meaning people while praying for my healing, have made the assumption that demons were at work in my body and started trying to cast them out. God and the devil cannot co-exist in the same vessel. God is my Father, so I knew that every time this was done, they were wrong. When healing did not immediately manifest, there was always a blame game where I was the one lacking faith, or having the presence of sin. Sometimes sin is the source of sickness, but sometimes it is not. When people pray judgmentally, the person being prayed for disappears and feels spiritually violated. It took me a long time to be brave enough to tell people in a loving way that they were in the flesh and needed to go back and discuss it with the Master. When someone comes to the altar for prayer, they are demonstrating faith. We need to be careful to encourage that faith which comes from God rather than accuse them of having too little faith. (by Susan Slade, dedicated to Nick Vujicic, Jennifer Bivens, & Brandie Nealey)

Testimony of the Man Born Blind

By Susie Hale in 1983

I’ve a story to tell and I hope you will hear

Of the day in my life when the Savior drew near.

I was only a blind man begging in the street,

But then the day came when the Lord I did meet.

He spat on the ground, put the clay on my eyes.

Not knowing who he was, to my feet I did rise

To go forth and wash in the pool as he said.

I came back seeing! Even I who had begged!

My neighbors inquired how my eyes had been cleared

And took me to the Pharisees, their opinion to hear.

They asked me again how I received my sight.

I told them the same that I tell you tonight…

“He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and do see.”

But since they knew not the Lord, they would not believe me.

They called in my parents to question them, too.

But they said, “He’s of age. Let him speak to you.”

“This man is a sinner,” the Jews tried to tell me.

I said, “one thing I know; I was blind, now I see!”

They asked me again how he opened my eyes.

They had already heard it, so I asked him why

they would hear it again. Did they want to be

disciples of this man who caused me to see?

They said they followed Moses whom they knew spoke to God.

That they knew not from where Jesus was, I thought quite odd.

A marvelous thing the Pharisees didn’t know

The evidence of God this man’s works did show.

They rebuked me for teaching them and then cast me out

Of the synagogue forever, but ‘twas a good thing, no doubt.

For when Jesus heard it for lowly me He sought

Ad asked if I believed on the Son of God.

“Who is He, Lord, that I might believe?”

He said, “it is He that talketh with thee.”

I said, “Lord, I believe.” And I worshipped Him there.

For He was the Messiah, the answer to prayer.

And this is my story. I hope you have heard

Of the day in my life when I met the Lord.