John 9;1-41 (KJV)
I pray that we all are still together while on this journey of hearing all that Christ has for us through the story of this former blind man. The question came up yesterday, by way of text message, as to my calling him 'the former' blind man, "Why do you refer to him in such manner?"
The answer is: Once you experience the healing/conversion of Christ Jesus, you are no longer bound by that which you have been released from. If you quickly, we do not want to get off track, go over to Romans 5;19-6;2 and read, you will understand that most of what we (yes, me too) deal with after receiving salvation, and being filled with the Holy Spirit is nothing more than our slowness to REALIZE that we are no longer like who we were before. This man WAS blind! He is no longer in that state. I can be referred to, by those who encounter me, as the 'former' drug dealer, or that man that USED TO misuse and talk harshly to women. Prayerfully this answers the question. On to today's presentation.
THE ASSURANCE PROVIDED (FOR YOUR ETERNAL LIFE)
This section of our mini-series will bring with it the joy most of us already know and walk with on a daily basis. Which is, after being shown that most WILL fail you, the reassurance of your experience with Christ Jesus will push you into the constant assurance that you are no longer going to be left by yourself. No longer will you have to wrestle with self-doubt, dibilitating depression. Rocky relationships that lower your self-esteem, or deal with the life consuming effects of family drama. Now that you have the knowledge, "Jesus has healed me of all that stuff", you can freely and boldly walk oit the rest of your days no matter what comes.
v24-27
Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God praise: we know that this man is a sinner.
He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.
Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes?
He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?
Can you see this man's posture during this exchange with these Pharisees? I ask based on the obvious knowledge we have aboit him up unto this point. He has been abandoned by friends and family, questioned by a council of men who are more interested in being elevated themselves, more than God, and on top of all of this he has had to defend the one and only "good" thing to happen to him in whole entire life. How, my fellow child of God, do you think he stood in front of these men speaking? That's right: BODLY!!! He is now understanding that all he has in his life is that healing by Jesus. And, no one is about to make him recant.
Of course we also see that he is now starting to see something a bit off about these men who call themselves judging the matter. He sees that they are not holding any of the information, or they are just that much more interested in Jesus; to become his disciples.
v28-29
Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples.
We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.
Wow! When you step on the toes of those who have 'position' in their mind.... This shouldn't be too difficult to see. This council of men; men who are now pompous in their mind; proud men that hold an active belief that they are to not be questioned, have now been offended and must not allow the questioning to go forth. Oh I can feel their indignation towards this 'used to be' blind begger. This little, insignifigant, speed bump, within the town's marketplace. You can believe that these men were quite up in arms about this puny, mite of a man bringing into question their allegiance to the Law. What is even more ironic about this matter is that these men set out to "grill" the former blind man until he denied Jesus, but as we see these very same men are now standing the same position. Again, when you encounter Christ Jesus, you will be taken care of. Even your enemies will find themselves changing their viewpoint of who you are in their eyesight.
These next verses should show us that once we receive our healing/conversion of Christ Jesus that it wasn't just for us to walk about saying, "Look, I have been healed!"
I ask that you pay close attention to what this former blind man expresses, and then really grasp at it based on these Pharisees response.
v30-34
The man answered and said unto them, Why herein a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.
Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshiper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.
Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.
If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.
They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.
Isn't it gloriois to know that this man had opportunity to show that it was only his physical eyes that Christ had to regenerate?!?! What blows my mind is that to a degree, I have to think, based on this former blind man's knowledge, that he was probably not put out his parents house, nor was he ever outside the teachings of these same Pharisees. My thought is because this former blind man expressed exactly what the Pharisees should have been debating from the moment of his arrival before them. What his testimony did was bring to light, to any who would also be present during this exchange: and, yes, there were others present, that the Pharisees had another agenda by which they were operating. Doesn't this sound familiar to some you all? You have been brought out in the open, by those who are acknowledged as being more learned, experienced, capable, or just plain have more than you do, and when given opportunity to speak or act you show that you ain't no cromagnon. But, that is when these individuals jump up and call into question your ability. You must have gotten a copy of that report?! How did you find out what was on the test?! Did someone in this department show you how to do this?! How dare you upstage me in my own area of expertise?!
Now, if the flipside of this is true; this former blind man was without knowledge of the Law, or didn't have opportunity to hear it being taught, and was apart from his family for a considerable amount of time, then imagine..... well, you should be SHOUTIN' HALLELUJAH behind that anyway. LOL It cannot be said enough that when we have our encointer with Christ Jesus, he does place within us a desire. A desire to learn of him, learn from him, and share that learning. What also becomes very clear is the motives of those around us who find our new position to be a threat to their position (they know time is about up), that it may be time for them to move aside or give over. Rather than embrace this, they hiss at you like a snake and then take on the role of angry animal to snarl, paw, and tear away at you just to keep control of their bit of territory.
What this former blind man, and we also, can gather from this is that the boldness which is placed within us, after experiencing Christ Jesus, is present for reason and that WILL cause some to get a bit 'out of place', but that is none of our concern. Allow Christ to handle all of that, just like you must allow him to handle all of the other parts of your life now that you have had your blindness taken off of you. Now that you see clearly, it is time to see your way to walking with Christ. He will make sure to give you all that which is necessary for you. You will not be left alone, to try and figure out how to find him again, or hope that one of his disciples might come pass you so that you can find out how to get back to him. No, this is not what will happen. From this point forward, Christ knows about you: about all you have had to endure just to maintain your new position within him. He sees all of that and is moving for you and constantly moving you closer to his image.
v35-39
Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?
And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.
And he said, Lord I believe. And he worshiped him.
And Jesus said, For judgement I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
Holla,
Yer Brova Catalyst
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