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May Our Sight May Us Whole (Part 3)
From John 9: 35 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" 36 He answered, "And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him." 37Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he." 38 He said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind." 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, "Surely we are not blind, are we?" 41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, "We see,' your sin remains.
Groucho Marx, noted comedian of ages past, said, "I don't want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member." The end result of yesterday's encounter with the Pharisees for this once blind man, was that he was thrown out of the temple. The Pharisees decided they did not want someone like him as a member of their faith. Yet, he gained entrance into something much bigger and far better, the Body of Christ, those believers in the Lordship of Jesus. Jesus hears that this man's testimony about Him gets him thrown out and so Jesus looks for him. There is nothing greater in all creation than to know that God cares enough and loves us enough, to go and search for us. Jesus finds him and asks him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" The man had probably heard about this notion and so asks the question, "And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in Him." Jesus answers with the response that before this encounter would have been impossible to say, "You've seen him." Imagine the joy overarching all the political turmoil that this man possessed in having sight. Sadly, his eyes were open and he sees robed, bearded angry men, but he could see! He sees his mother and father for the first time, albeit in the temple part of DoYouMeasureUpToBelongHere, but he could see! And then he gets shown the door of this temple where on the Sabbath God did a marvelous thing in restoring his sight, but he can see! Jesus continues, "And the one speaking with you is he." Wow. The Son of Man came looking for me and now here I am looking at him and He is speaking to me. People matter to Jesus. You matter to Jesus. No matter what you have gone through, you still count to the Lord of Lord and King of Kings. It should be enough for you to say, as this once blind man said, "Lord, I believe." And it should drive your heart and entire being to kneel before Him and worship Him just as this man did. What an encounter and what a day for this man. His vision brought him to a better place in his life; the knowledge and vision of the Messiah. He closed his eyes, I believe, to worship Jesus, but opened them with a new vision of life and that in abundance.
Jesus then states, loudly enough for those Pharisees standing nearby to hear, "I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind." Those Pharisees standing close enough to hear this then ask, "Surely we are not blind, are we?" Jesus responds, "If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, 'We see,' your sin remains. These men saw the man they knew to be blind from birth now a seeing man and did not believe. They saw the man who was credited with restoring his sight, and they did not believe. Their sight only served to anger them; the Sabbath law was broken, this man speaks about God in different ways than we do. Their sight led them only to sin not to life. Jesus' declaration is that His purpose was to open the eyes of all humanity to reality and presence of God, to share the love of God that was sadly missing in the worship and traditions of the Jews at this point in their history. Jesus came at the right time to make right the relationship that God desires with us.
I remember the song we learned in Sunday school, "O be careful little eyes what you see, O be careful little eyes what you see; For the Father above is looking down with love, o be careful little eyes what you see." The song covers hands, feet, ears, the whole body, but I loved the song and know now that the message is a special one. God has given us sight. What we do with it matters a lot. Some can walk outside today and see the splendor and beauty of nature, others will walk out and complain that it's raining or too cold or too hot, and miss out on all that God has shared with us. Those with vision see the things of God regardless of anything else; their eyes will lock on to the beauty of God and care nothing about what could take them or their spirit down for the day. "Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine."
PRAYER: LORD, Because of You, I am blessed. I am thankful for all that You have shared and are sharing with me. Grant me vision to look beyond the pale of this day and that which could bring my spirit down, and lift my eyes to You. This I pray in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
