“He answered and said, ‘Whether He be a sinner or not, I know not; one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see’.”
John 9:25
When Jesus has changed us—truly transformed us—we won’t have any problem letting others know.
He was blind. Stone-cold blind. Born blind and had never seen his mother’s face, a sunrise or sunset, a dew-laden, crimson rose, etc. But, all that changed that day when Jesus passed by—and his life was unmistakably, indelibly, irreversibly changed.
It’s interesting the disciples tried to engage Jesus in a theological discussion as to why the man was blind (vv.1-2). Such still happens today. We’re so into cause-and-effect that we end up trying, as some called it years ago, to “put God in a box.”
A tiny, tidy, little theological box.
And, then we wonder why He won’t fit.
Jesus threw them a curveball by telling them the man wasn’t blind because of his sins or his parents’ sins. He was born blind so “the works of God should be made manifest (Grk. ‘phaneroo’—‘obvious, apparent, openly displayed, etc.’) in him” (v.3).
Simply put, our omniscient God knew the man would be blind from birth and that Jesus would be passing by that day at that specific time. And, He was going to use this as a teachable moment for His disciples and the sneering, fault-finding Pharisees.
The method of healing the man’s blindness was a bit unorthodox (vv.6-7); but, God has a way of coloring outside the lines at times—just to “confound the minds of the wise” (I Cor. 1:27). And, it didn’t seem to matter to the blind man.
He just knew he could see. And, everything else paled in comparison to that.
When the Pharisees heard about the miracle, they had the man brought to them (v.13). And, they began interrogating him as to what had happened (vv.14-17); yet, “there was a division among them” over the man’s testimony (v.16c).
Even so, they continued trying to discredit him by various attacks and subterfuges. They even called in his parents to give an account, but they passed the ball back to their son “for fear of being put out of the synagogue” (vv.18-23).
So, they continued their hassling of the former blind beggar. And, he finally grew tired of it, told them what had happened and then showed some true spunk by asking, “Will you also become one of His disciples?!?” (v.27). Needless to say, this didn’t set too well with the proud Pharisees and they rebuked him for talking to them that way (vv.26-29).
That didn’t even faze the animated recipient of healing and he continued lecturing them on the things of God—which got him kicked out of the synagogue (vv.30-34). How wonderful to read that Jesus heard about it, found him, revealed Himself to him and the man said “Lord, I believe” and began worshipping Him (vv.35-38). Hallelujah!! May the Holy Spirit help us to also be bold believers by telling others “This one thing I know!”
August 12, 2011
