John 9:8-12

John 9:8-12

Therefore the neighbors and the ones who saw him earlier since he was a beggar were saying, “Is not this one the one who sits down and the one who begs?”  Others were saying, “It is.”  Others were saying, “No, but it is one like him.”  Yet that one was saying, “I am.”  Therefore they were saying to him, “Therefore how did your eye become opened?”  That one answered, “The man who is being called Jesus made clay and smeared my eyes and said to me, ‘Go into Siloam and wash.’  Therefore after departing and after washing I saw.”  And they said to him, “Where is that one?”  And he said, “I do not know.”

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

There is one thing that we can say about humanity.  We are insanely curious about other people.  We want to know what they are doing.  We want to know their business.  In fact, we’re often better at scrutinizing the lives of others than we are at scrutinizing our own life.  Thus, when this blind beggar’s life changes, there is a huge buzz in the air.  Their natural curiosity comes out.

When can our humanity curiosity be a bad thing?  How can we as Christians use this natural curiosity for spreading what God is doing in our life?

Second Thought:

Notice that the man is not hesitant when it comes to telling the people what happened.  When he is asked, he tells them.  Even though it seems improbable – although receiving one’s sight back is pretty improbable anyways – he still shares.  He becomes a part of the solution.  God enters into his life and he embraces the change and the call to give God glory.  He points other people to Jesus.

How is this passage a great witness for us with respect to pointing people to Jesus?  What has Christ done in your life that you can use to point others to Him?

Third Thought:

Although the man was a willing witness, that doesn’t mean the people around him were willing recipients.  This is a great point to set us up in anticipation for the next few sections of study.  We’ll see the people around this blind man ask repeatedly how it was that he was healed.  We’ll get a good look at how some people are not willing to receive the testimony of Jesus’ influence in life.  However, that’s a point for another day.  For today, we’ll focus on the man’s willingness to testify.  Regardless of the reaction of the people around him, the man continues to testify to the power of Jesus.  He displays great perseverance in continuing to lift up Jesus as the agent of God.

Are you persistent in the faith?  What allows you to be persistent?  What attacks and erodes your persistence?

Passage for Tomorrow: John 9:13-17