John 9:35-41

“Notice what you notice.” Jesus makes two statements that were confusing to me: First, he says …so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind. (v. 39b) Then, he adds If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains. (v. 41). Confusing! So I looked up the passage in The Message. Here’s verse 41: If you were really blind, you would be blameless, but since you claim to see everything so well, you’re accountable for every fault and failure. In verse 39 The Message makes the point of people …who have made a great pretense of seeing. The verses are much clearer (obviously) in this modern adaptation.

I have said in the past that I have never doubted Jesus and His love for us and His substitutionary death on our behalf. But if my faith is that firm, if I have never doubted, am I “seeing everything so well” that I am really blind? I feel that my faith is firmly rooted, but could it be that, in reality I have some level of “blind faith”? I don’t think so, but all too often I identify with the Pharisees in their mistrust of this “new prophet” who sees everything so differently than the norm. If I had been a Pharisee, I would have had a hard time in my confrontations with Jesus. But as I said a couple of days ago, I think this miracle of Jesus’ healing a man born blind could have won me over. It truly is a great miracle – and a great story throughout.

Slava Bohu!

John 9:24-34

“Notice what you notice.” Except for the Resurrection and raising Lazarus from the dead, I believe Jesus’ healing a man born blind is His greatest miracle. And I’m even arguing with myself about Lazarus, since Jesus had brought others back to life. I rate Lazarus higher because he had been three days in the tomb. So, this incident is #3.

The man’s words are powerful: Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. (v. 32) The man’s words are powerful, but the Pharisees’ opposition was so strong that they could not hear him. They could dismiss him because of their “belief” that his blindness was because he “was born entirely in sins”. They were so locked in with their judgment against Jesus that nothing was going to change their mind. I feel sorry for them. Up to this point I have had some sympathy for them – Jesus was certainly a challenge to them as He was turning their world upside down. But now, this miracle… Never in history…!! How could their opposition remain??!!

Listen to the Pharisees: …we know that this man is a sinner. (v. 24); …we are disciples of Moses. (v. 28b); …as for this man, we do not know where He is from. (v. 29b); You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us? (v. 34) I just feel sorry for them. Their prejudice and their pride – their vision is so completely blocked…! We are blessed to live on this other side of history!!

Slava Bohu!

John 9:13-23

“Notice what you notice.” …the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. (v. 22b) How could the Jewish leaders have been so hard-headed that they would completely pre-judge Jesus in spite of the works/miracles that they had seen him perform? Yes, the Pharisees were divided (see v. 16), but clearly the leadership held Jesus in contempt. Was it because of His being able to dominate them in their disagreements, to weaken them in the eyes of the onlookers? Was it their perception of His “arrogance” (…before Abraham was, I am.) that blinded their eyes? Or was it simply a power move on the part of the leaders, not wanting to admit (or SUBMIT!!) to a Messiah for fear of losing their own positions?

That last question above hits home with me. What am I not willing to admit (to Jesus)? Or maybe even more importantly, what am I not willing to SUBMIT to His leadership? And if I, a follower, am not able to admit to my faults or submit to His love, how difficult it must be for non-believers to take either of these two steps? So maybe non-believers’ unwillingness to follow Jesus hinges on their perceptions of my own unwillingness to follow Him completely? Ouch.

Slava Bohu!

John 9:1-12

“Notice what you notice.” It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. (v. 3) This verse intrigued me, but not in the sense in which it was written. That is, the following verse seems to explain that the man was blind so that Jesus could heal him – We must work the works of Him who sent Me… (v. 4) That never made sense to me, that a man could be blind from birth until adulthood just so Jesus’ works could be displayed. So there must be some confusion there.

However, as I read that verse this time, what I saw was that each of us is created exactly as we are so that the works of God might be displayed… in US! We know that we all have gifts that are to be used to God’s glory, so it must be the case that we also have handicaps or limitations that are to reflect His glory. None of us is perfect – not in our physical, mental, or emotional makeup. But we move on in spite of those shortcomings. Isn’t it strange that so often when we see the phrase “in spite of”, it is used to reflect something that someone has done “in spite of” his or her physical limitations?! For example, she ran the marathon in spite of wearing a cast on her foot to heal a broken ankle.

But more to the point, to reflect God’s glory… Carol and I once met an old man who had terrible tremors that he had had for many years. As I recall, he may have been a preacher or a missionary. However, in spite of his tremors, the markings in his Bible were perfect – straight underlines, words written perfectly legibly!! This man reflected God’s glory – in spite of his handicap!

We are made just as we are, folks, to reflect God’s glory, in both our gifts and our limitations. GLORY!!

John 8:48-59

“Notice what you notice.” The rise and fall in this chapter is intriguing. It begins with Jesus’ encounter with the adulterous woman. My sense is that His failure to judge the woman or to point specifically to the Jews and their faults led many to honor Him – if only in some small way. Then as He spoke to them over the next twenty verses, many came to believe in Him. Then He challenged them a bit and they got defensive and began to argue more extensively with Him, to become more hostile, again for another twenty verses.

Then in today’s reading Jesus levels two charges at them: (1) … I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you… (v. 55), and (2) Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. (v. 58) He first hits them on a personal level (effectively, “…you are liars…”), then on a higher theological level (“…I am!”). Their fury is now fever-pitch and they are finally ready to do to Him as He had said they were wanting to do – to kill Him.

If I read this entire chapter anew, like I had never really done before, listening to Jesus from the beginning telling about His heavenly origin, then the entire dialogue between Jesus and the Jews makes sense. But it’s only in smaller bites, digested daily, that I have come to appreciate Jesus’ part in the dialogue, especially His responses to their charges and questions.

It’s a good thing (the smaller readings) that we’re doing this year.

Slava Bohu!

John 8:37-47

“Notice what you notice.” Wow! It is becoming more clear to me that when John mentions “the Jews” that he is speaking of the religious leaders. So effectively from yesterday, a few of the Jews had begun to follow Him, but had turned away again when Jesus talked about them being “free indeed”. The Jews only speak two short sentences in today’s passage, but in each of those sentences they are again defending / justifying themselves. Their antagonism toward Jesus will reach a new level tomorrow!

I’m not sure I ever noticed the link between Jesus’ claim that the Jews wanted to kill Him and His claim of the devil being a murderer from the beginning. When He says You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father… (v. 44), He is connecting them directly to (1) the devil being a murderer, (2) the devil being their father, and (3) their desire to kill Him. Interesting.

It’s a late evening – enough for today…

Slava Bohu!

John 8:31-36

“Notice what you notice.” Today I’m still confused, but less so and for a different reason. We left yesterday with some from the crowd believing in Jesus. Today begins with Jesus speaking to those Jews who had believed in Him: If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. (vv. 31b-32). So Jesus has gone to “teaching mode” and is now sharing with a friendly crowd. However, that friendly crowd turns mildly hostile, arguing that they have never been enslaved, how can He make them free?? In the next few days we will find them increasingly arguing with Jesus about their Abrahamic lineage, such that their antagonism toward Him rises substantially.

But look, folks, at what started it all. PRIDE!! The Jews: “We are from Abraham” (we are “the chosen ones”) and “we have never been enslaved” (so the Romans are only an “occupying force”, they are not our masters). Their pride erupted at one phrase in Jesus’ teaching and it all went downhill.

Let’s be careful, folks, that our pride not get in the way of Jesus’ lifting us into His glory!!

Slava Bohu!

John 8:21-30

“Notice what you notice.” Yesterday I chatted about “the Father” and Jesus’ comments about His Father. And it was all very confusing to me, this talk of Jesus about His Father when the Jewish leaders knew that He had come from Galilee and that His father was the carpenter, Joseph of Nazareth. I regularly try to “put myself into the story”, to imagine what His listeners thought when they heard Him. That’s how I came up with yesterday’s comments.

Today, just now, I thought of a different approach. What if His listeners knew (or at least imagined) that Jesus was claiming that His Father was God? (Verse 30 says that “many came to believe in Him.”) That would make Jesus the Son of God (which He was) and the words that He was speaking would make a lot more sense to His listeners: …where I am going, you cannot come; You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world; …unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins (vv. 22b, 23a, 23b, 24b, all respectively). Once His listeners took that first step of faith, the rest of what Jesus said would simply reinforce what they were beginning to believe.

And that’s the way it is for us today – that first step of faith is typically the most difficult. Father David has a favorite line that He asks “seekers”: “Are you willing to be willing?” If Jesus’ listeners back then were willing to imagine that He was speaking as if His Father were God, then His statements would follow through more clearly. And today if someone is willing to take that first step and imagine that Jesus could be God and to read the Bible as if Jesus’ statements were true, faith can follow much more easily.

I just thought of an alternative phrasing for “Are you willing to be willing?”: “Is it possible for you to stop being stubborn?” Ouch!! I like David’s softer approach!

Slava Bohu!

John 8:12-20

“Notice what you notice.” If I were a Pharisee in Jesus’ time I would probably be angry with Jesus for what I would perceive to be a high degree of arrogance. I would also be confused, in that those very words that seemed so arrogant were also consistent with the miraculous deeds that He was accomplishing. Knowing myself as I do, I might be astonished by what I was seeing, or I might suspect some sort of trickery behind those deeds – like He was working with someone who was faking blindness or being lame, then being healed. But soon we will see Jesus heal a man blind from birth and astonishment would again overwhelm me.

Still, His words are demanding to the ear! I could go along with His claim that “I am the light of the world” (v. 12), but His talk of His Father would be mind-boggling: …it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me; …the Father who sent me bears witness about me; If you knew me, you would know my Father also; (vv. 16, 18, 19, respectively). I would wonder, “Who is this Father of Whom He speaks? Isn’t this the man from Galilee whose father is Joseph?” He would leave me confused. Yet there is also hope in His words…! I would continue to follow at a distance!

Slava Bohu!