JOHN 9:35-38 – Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.”
THEME OF THE DAY: ARE WE BEING LIKE JESUS? Please take time to read the entire chapter from which today’s scripture is taken. We must get the “feel” for what is happening to see the compassion of Christ serving as a model for each of us. But for now, let’s paint the picture.
We have a young man born blind. No fault of his own or his parents, though Jesus’ disciples thought otherwise (John 9:1-3). Already the story begins to go south for the young man. Jesus gives the man sight, and his neighbors and those who knew him begin to question what happened (John 9:8-12). Not satisfied, the man now seeing is taken to the hard-hearted Pharisees who gang up on him about Jesus. This is not a light grilling, and it will get worse (John 9:13-17).
The young man’s parents are brought into the religious arena and questioned about his blindness. Instead of defending their boy, they actually “sold him out” with these words – The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him” (John 9:18-23).
But there is one more blow to the young man. This is intense and so painful. We read of it here – And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out (John 9:28-34). The boy is all alone. Literally thrown out of the synagogue, walking down a lonely street, maybe kicking a can, and thinking of all that happened to him. Why? All he did was tell the truth and the wonderful lesson for us unfolds in today’s nugget scripture in Jesus’ response – He sought the young man out, pointing him to Himself, and gave the comfort of all comforts – the Lord Himself.
Friends, are we like Jesus to the hurting and abused people around us? They are everywhere; in our homes, churches, neighborhoods, our workplaces, and maybe even ourselves needing a believer to be Jesus to us. We must pray for the hurting but also be an answer to our prayers by going to the hurting as Jesus did the young man. Our Christianity is worthless if it isn’t marked by active sacrificial service of love to those needing it!
PRAYER: “Father, don’t let me only pray for Your people but reach out to encourage and help Your people.”
QUOTE: “We are not only commanded to take the Gospel to the lost, but Christ’s love and comfort to His people.”
In the affection of Christ Jesus,
Pastor Jim