John 9:35-41

John 9:35-41

Jesus heard that they threw him out and after finding him He said, “Do you believe into the Son of Man?”  That one answered and said, “And who is this, Lord, in order that I should believe into him?”  Jesus said to him, “Even you have seen him, and the one who speaks with you is that one.”  And he was saying, “I believe, Lord.”  And he worshipped Him.  And Jesus said, “Into judgment I came into this world, in order that the ones who do not see should see and the ones who do see should become blind.  The ones out of the Pharisees who were with Him heard this and they said to Him, “We are not also blind?”  Jesus said to them, “If you all were blind, you all were not having sin.  But now that you all say that ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

This is one of my favorite moments with respect to seeing compassion in Jesus.  What I love about this passage is that it isn’t a display of compassion in healing or feeding people.  It is a passage about community.  Jesus hears that the man has been cast out of his community for the truth.  So Jesus comes to him and gives him a new community to which he can belong.  That’s what Christianity is all about.  We should expect that people will not want to hear the truth.  So when we see people being ostracized because of the truth, we need to be there for them.  For me, I think this is one of them most tender-hearted moments in which we see Jesus work.

Is your community based on human distinctions or spiritual truth?  How can you tell?  Do you think many people in the world evaluate community on this premise?

Second Thought:

I love Jesus’ comment that “the ones who do not see should see and the ones who do see should become blind.”  Listen to what Jesus is really saying here.  Jesus is saying that those who recognize their blindness, ignorance, and inability have a chance.  They merely need to recognize it, confess it, come to Christ, and God will open their eyes to faith.  However, Jesus is also saying that those people who do not see their own blindness and who think that they see will actually have no hope of truly seeing.  This verse is about submission and humbleness.  Those who are willing to submit have hope in God.  Those who have no desire to submit will continue to go through life blind.

Do you submit?  How easily does submission come to you?  Why is this true?

Third Thought:

Jesus’ final comment in this passage should give us pause.  He’s saying that those who know more are held more accountable.  To those whom much has been given, much is expected.  Those whose eyes are open and who can see God’s hand at work are expected to respond!  God doesn’t expect much of a response from the person in some south-eastern tropical island who never gets an opportunity to hear about Jesus.  But those of us who grow up with ready access to God’s Word and ready availability to godly teaching have the responsibility to respond.  We have a responsibility to put ourselves in places of listening.  We have a responsibility to discern what we hear and submit to what is godly.  We who grow up in America where there is ready access to God’s Word have no excuse for puny faith!

Do you agree with Jesus in that more is expected from those who have the greatest opportunity?  How does this speak into your life?

Passage for Tomorrow: John 10:1-6