Text for the upcoming sermon/conversation: John 9
Well, give Jesus points for using a variety of methods to heal people... but this one is kind of gross! A paste made of dirt and spit? Eeeewwww! Have you ever wondered why Jesus never seemed to deal with anyone in need exactly the same way? Sometimes he would touch them, and other times he would just say the word. Sometimes he was gentle, and at other times he seemed downright rude. Either way the people were healed. But it's almost as if he wants to prevent us from having a formula to follow... cause you know we would if we could, right?
"Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg?" Wow, can you imagine the change that came about in his life? And he wasn't even healed a full day before the Pharisees wanted him to claim it was all just an elaborate hoax. But how could he? Just hours before, the man was reduced to begging, and now he could see the amazing beauty of the Temple. But that's not all he could see... he could see that the Pharisees were a bunch of pompous idiots! “God should get the glory for this, because we know this man Jesus is a sinner.” His response to their stupidity...? Ya, right! (Well, I kind of paraphrased him there). His parents weren't willing to go against the authority figures, but the man born blind could "see" right through their hard hearts.
He tried to answer patiently, but pretty soon he delivered one of the best lines of the whole story: “I told you once. Didn’t you listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” Ouch... ouch... and ouch! By that point, I don't think the man really cared if the Pharisees allowed him inside the temple or not... he had sight for the first time in his life, and he wasn't going to let those clowns take away his remarkable testimony... "I was blind, and now I can see."
Amen. I can see too... but all too often, I become blinded by pride and arrogance. Geez, just when I think I'm so different from the Pharisees... I find myself stumbling around in the darkness wondering who turned out the lights!
yep, yep, and yep...sight is a funny thing...it allows you to see. but seeing is not all it's cracked up to be. actually, it gets kind of bothersome when the light is turned on...i notice my impefections when i look in the mirror, my mess in the living room, my effect on other people as their countenance changes, and notice yet another well-intentioned, but unfinshed project cluttering the garage. you know, seeing is not all it's cracked up to be. it is so much easier to imagine what our lives are like...yep, yep, and yep...much of the time i choose the make-believe world of my own imagination...with my eyes wide shut i can face anything. but when jesus opens my eyes, it kind of makes sense that he uses his spit to make the mud...it gives me a good picture of what he has to wipe away so that i can see myself and the world as they actually are...
ReplyDeleteExactly, Steve... The man in this story was born twice-blind. Jesus didn't just open his physical eyes. In the process of showing him mercy and compassion, he also opened his spiritual eyes to the grace of God. We are all blind at birth, regardless of whether we can physically see. But the Great Physician beckons us to come to him... and offers to cure our sightlessness. In those cases, the "spit" is our tears, and the "dirt" is our brokenness... together they make a paste called faith, enabling us to "see" that God is good - and Jesus is Lord.
ReplyDeletewow Jeff that was fricking profound!!!!! the spit is our tears and the dirt is our brokeness and together they make a paste called faith enabling us to see that God is good. Holy cow--im kinda reeling from that statement.
ReplyDeleteFirst off- Jeff, is that a picture of you when you were a kid?
ReplyDeleteI find it odd that the man did not believe until after he had an encounter with Jesus. Is that the way most followers are? If so, when is mine coming? It is interesting to think that I go around life with my eyes open for opportunity (good and bad some might say). But my eyes have not been opened too Jesus. Why is that? I want too believe. I am trying to believe. I surround myself with believers. yet I am blind. If someone wants to spit in the mud and make paste on my eyes, i am all about it, if that is what it takes to find Jesus.
Maybe its humility? If being a begger and having spit and mud rubbed in your face is not humility, it has to be close to it. Do we need to have humility bring us too our knees to find God, I hope not. that seems in just.
I am glad this is called the ramblings because, i guess thats what i just did.....
Glenn, is this story a picture of when I was a kid...? No, I don't think so. To me as a kid, Jesus was boring. Not offensive per se... just completely irrelevant to my life. I went to church but it had no impact on my life other than I had to dress up, I had to be quiet, and I had to close my eyes when the preacher prayed his outrageously long prayers. The people were great, and the potlucks were awesome... but overall it simply wasn't worth my time. So when I turned 16 and got a license and a job, I left and never looked back until many years later.
ReplyDeleteYou may be spiritually "blind" right now, but you're seeking to know God because he seems real and approachable and good to you. Here's the irony in all this... once you do cross over and know that Jesus has opened you eyes by his Spirit... you at that point will "see" better than all of the rest of us. Just like our physical eyes that weaken with age... requiring contacts and glasses and surgery to see properly... our spiritual eyes tend to weaken over time as well. It's only by continually immersing ourselves in the Word and the Community of God that we gain new opportunities to "see" and therefore serve the Lord. Does it require humility? Absolutely, completely and unequivocally. If you can't be humbled then you can't be given eyes to see the reality of grace... and by extension, the thrilling (albeit dangerous) adventure of living by faith with Jesus as Lord.
Jeff- I must say, I was refering to the photo on top of this weeks blog.... but I do appreciate your insight:)
ReplyDeleteOhhhh... well in the immortal words of Gilda Radner... "Never mind!"
ReplyDeleteLooking at this more as a metaphor...I totally started blindly. I love the goggles in the picture because they too mean something to me. As a young child my eyes were opened. Over the years my "goggles" tend to get a little muddied up....and you know what? A little spit will do you good. More than seeing the spit as disgusting, I see it more as grooming. It may sound bizarre, but as a mom, there have been hundreds of times that I've caught the sight of my children's dirtied faces right before we go into the store/doctor/church. The first thing many moms do is like their thumb and wipe the smudges away. Maybe Jesus was just cleaning things up a bit :)
ReplyDeleteThat reminds me of my son Andy when he was little. He was always dirty it seemed and I was always finding myself using my thumb to clean his face. One time when he was about 4 he said "eww mommy,I dont like your licks" .... hmmmmm.....I often find myself saying "eww Jesus, I dont like your licks" when he tries to open my blind eyes so I can see Him and His kingdom clearly. If I would only hold still and cooperate I would love the results.
ReplyDeleteI have, first of all, read that the ancients considered spit to have healing powers--we all recognize that the fastest healing tissue is the mucous tissues of the mouth. Also, there are no real OT healings of sight. It is always associated as a miracle from God, as witnessed by the Pharisees in vs 32. The formerly blind man goes from referring to Jesus as a man, to a prophet, to believing. The Parisees are debating the same thing and convincing themselves that Jesus is not sent from God. It is a process, this getting to know Jesus as the Son. Yes Glenn, it takes the open mind and heart the Holy Spirit provides, and the humility to accept that there is a Creator and he is so, so much greater than we. Then that He so loved us, why?, I have no real understanding, but He proved it in Jesus. And life is so much better.
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