John 9:1-41
We have seen the theme of this passage over and over again during our study of the gospels. Christ heals a man on the Sabbath and the Pharisees are much more concerned about the day of the week than they are happy for the healing or more importantly convinced of Christ's deity because of the miracle.
CHRIST DOES THE MIRACLE: Christ comes across a man who had been born blind. His blindness was not because of his sin or his parents sin, but it was for this very day when Christ would demonstrate His deity by healing the man. This may not be a very popular thought, but we must realize that God's glory is always much more important than our comfort. There are times that God allows us to suffer great pain and hardship because He has a plan as to how He will eventually use this for His glory. We might never understand this on this side of eternity, but I am convinced that when we reach heaven all of these things will be made plain to us. Christ heals this man by putting clay on his eyes and then having him wash the clay off. This is not how He typically healed and should not be understood as some sort of a model. He had His reasons and chose to perform this miracle in this manner. We ought not question the methods of God in allowing suffering or providing healing.
PHARISEES DENY THE MIRACLE: At first they try to deny the fact of the miracle by claiming that they man must not have been blind in the first place. His parents finally settle this matter, but now they turn to a denial of Jesus who performed the miracle. They condemn the healing as sinful because it was done on the Sabbath and Jesus had "made" clay to put on his eyes. This making of the clay would constitute, in the Pharisees interpretation of the law, work. I think that is why Jesus decided to make the clay in the first place in order to be able to address this hypocrisy on the part of the religious leaders. They were so wrapped up in the method that Christ chose to use that they completely ignore the fact of what He did. Denial is a dangerous thing and we must make sure that we do not get blinded by our own preconceived ideas of how the work of God should be done that we loose sight of the work of God itself.
THE MAN DEFENDS THE MIRACLE: The Pharisees ask over and over again who and how the miracle had been done. He speaks so clearly and plainly about what happened and what he does and does not know. He does not pretend to know whether Jesus is a prophet or what, he has not yet been given that information. What he knows is that he was blind and now he could see. He could not only see physically, but could see the hypocrisy and inconsistency that the Pharisees were displaying. Finally they threw him out of the synagogue and he would not argue with them any more. He was wise to not want to associate with such men. He then goes to find out for himself who Jesus really was.
CHRIST DEFINES THE MIRACLE: We are all amazed and impressed with a blind man gaining his sight, but Christ defines the real miracle in this passage for us. It was not the fact that the man regained his sight, but the fact that the man's spiritual eyes were opened to recognize that Jesus was the Son of God and he bowed down in worship of Him. The man's sight might only last another few decades before death would close his eyes in the grave. However, the spiritual sight that this man gained that day would allow Him to have his spiritual eyes opened for all of eternity. Jesus wants us all to realize that the physical ailments that we are all called to endure, to some extent or another while we are on this earth, are but passing blips on the screen of our lives. The true miracle that Christ performs in our lives, and the desire of our hearts must always be the transformation of our hearts that we might experience the everlasting joy of worshiping God.
CHRIST DOES THE MIRACLE: Christ comes across a man who had been born blind. His blindness was not because of his sin or his parents sin, but it was for this very day when Christ would demonstrate His deity by healing the man. This may not be a very popular thought, but we must realize that God's glory is always much more important than our comfort. There are times that God allows us to suffer great pain and hardship because He has a plan as to how He will eventually use this for His glory. We might never understand this on this side of eternity, but I am convinced that when we reach heaven all of these things will be made plain to us. Christ heals this man by putting clay on his eyes and then having him wash the clay off. This is not how He typically healed and should not be understood as some sort of a model. He had His reasons and chose to perform this miracle in this manner. We ought not question the methods of God in allowing suffering or providing healing.
PHARISEES DENY THE MIRACLE: At first they try to deny the fact of the miracle by claiming that they man must not have been blind in the first place. His parents finally settle this matter, but now they turn to a denial of Jesus who performed the miracle. They condemn the healing as sinful because it was done on the Sabbath and Jesus had "made" clay to put on his eyes. This making of the clay would constitute, in the Pharisees interpretation of the law, work. I think that is why Jesus decided to make the clay in the first place in order to be able to address this hypocrisy on the part of the religious leaders. They were so wrapped up in the method that Christ chose to use that they completely ignore the fact of what He did. Denial is a dangerous thing and we must make sure that we do not get blinded by our own preconceived ideas of how the work of God should be done that we loose sight of the work of God itself.
THE MAN DEFENDS THE MIRACLE: The Pharisees ask over and over again who and how the miracle had been done. He speaks so clearly and plainly about what happened and what he does and does not know. He does not pretend to know whether Jesus is a prophet or what, he has not yet been given that information. What he knows is that he was blind and now he could see. He could not only see physically, but could see the hypocrisy and inconsistency that the Pharisees were displaying. Finally they threw him out of the synagogue and he would not argue with them any more. He was wise to not want to associate with such men. He then goes to find out for himself who Jesus really was.
CHRIST DEFINES THE MIRACLE: We are all amazed and impressed with a blind man gaining his sight, but Christ defines the real miracle in this passage for us. It was not the fact that the man regained his sight, but the fact that the man's spiritual eyes were opened to recognize that Jesus was the Son of God and he bowed down in worship of Him. The man's sight might only last another few decades before death would close his eyes in the grave. However, the spiritual sight that this man gained that day would allow Him to have his spiritual eyes opened for all of eternity. Jesus wants us all to realize that the physical ailments that we are all called to endure, to some extent or another while we are on this earth, are but passing blips on the screen of our lives. The true miracle that Christ performs in our lives, and the desire of our hearts must always be the transformation of our hearts that we might experience the everlasting joy of worshiping God.
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