Monday, November 23, 2015

We’ve been looking at John 9 in recent visits, seeing what happened on this day in the life of Jesus. A man born blind was miraculously healed by Jesus. What followed was confusion, curiosity and criticism, but no faith in Jesus, except for the healed man. Questions can lead to clarification, but if answers are followed with relentless questions, the outcome often is confusion and conflict. Finally, the Pharisees, wanting to avoid being exposed as frauds, suggested the man’s parents should be questioned. When asked, they responded, “We know he is our son, and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” Was this a valid answer? Maybe they weren’t present when the healing took place. But John explained, “His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews.” They knew, if anyone “acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ (they) would be put out of the synagogue.” That’s why his parents said, “He is of age, ask him.” Many people avoid taking a stand for Christ, not because they don’t have enough information. They don’t want to face the consequences. They’re not willing to pay the price. The Pharisees now found themselves needing to take a stand, even though the facts were against them. They again questioned the man. His response showed he was more rational than they were. This infuriated them. They declared, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” With this they threw him out. He was healed, but abandoned by all, until Jesus reappeared to fulfill His objective for all that happened that day. We’ll look at this in our next visit.