How Can I Aim If I Can't See?

The past few weeks we have been going over the Gospel of John, specifically chapter 9. I ask that you take a few minutes and read the whole chapter to catch the context of what it is I’m about to share. Beloved, I want to focus on a few things Jesus does and says and how it applies to us.

The general overview of the chapter is that Jesus heals a man born blind from birth. This makes this man unfit to worship God in the Jews eyes of the time, and it makes him unwanted in others lives. The man had a radical encounter with Jesus. Jesus spits on the ground, makes mud, puts it in the man’s eyes, and after the man goes to the pool of Siloam he recovers his sight! As Jewish culture would have it, the man would then have to go see the Jewish officials in his area to go and show how he was now fit to worship. Now the Pharisees of that area missed the point and start to argue about if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath. Now as both awesome and strange that this story gets, lets focus on some things Jesus says!

“4 We must do the works of Him who sent Me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John 9:4-5 HCSB

His disciples have just looked at the blind man before the miracle happens and basically ask, “What caused this man to be blind, something his family did or did he cause it?” Jesus basically says, “The man is blind so that God can be glorified in him.” Then he states the above verses 4-5. If Jesus is the model of Christian living, then what do these verses mean for us? What does he mean night is coming when nobody can work? What does he mean he is the light of the world only if he is in the world? Does it mean he is no longer the light of the world?

For starters, when talking about the night he is foreshadowing his on the cross, and the three days he’d be in a tomb and everyone would think all was lost. We know that on day three he rose and appeared to many, but those days are when no one could work. Furthermore, I thought verse 5 was a strange verse and hard to apply, but check this out. Jesus is showing a side of himself that any reader of John has noticed by now. Jesus is all knowing and sovereign. He is making a proclamation that he knows not only that God has sent him, but because of that he has a mission and plan to fulfill and he’s going to step up in this moment and be the light in the darkness. We know he still is the light of the world but it’s different now.

See as the church we are now the light of the world. Scary thought huh? See when he was in the world he was the light of the world. He died, He rose, and He gave us His Spirit, the Holy Spirit. We are now called to share the light in the darkness.

“11 And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through His Spirit who lives in you.” Romans 8:11 HCSB

It’s time we do something about it Church! Time to stop walking like a worldly zombie, dragging our feet! “Okay Bryan, I get it. I get we need to do something, but what exactly should I share with others?” Funny, Jesus says something to cover that question too!

“39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, in order that those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind.” John 9:39 HCSB

Whoa, what’s going on here? Jesus wants both people to blind and see at the same time? No, Jesus says he is here on the earth to live and minister is such a way that those who can’t see God, due to the spirit of religion and the desire to follow their fleshly desires, could actually see God through Jesus. Further, He came so that those who claimed to see God, and really didn’t, would see how blind they really are.  So check it, Jesus says that this is what he was here for. So wouldn’t it make sense to say that this should be the call of our heart?

Imagine if we asked God that we could open spiritually blind eyes to his glory, and asked that the way we live would show those fakers how fake they really are. When is the last time someone told you that your faith and your walk with Jesus revealed to them how they misinterpreted Jesus? Maybe we are to comfortable with our Christian bubble of friends that we aren’t reaching people who need Jesus to. Maybe we are to self-obsessed to care about others. Maybe we are the blind ones sometimes? Maybe this passage was meant for you to see how you misinterpreted Jesus. The beauty of the story is that God has shared His Holy Spirit with the world, so that if you are the blind that you can seek after his presence and be a part of the story as He intended! Beloved, Jesus has a plan for you, just as the Father had a plan for Jesus. The night is coming for us Church, when we can no longer work…. So will you be the one who chooses to be the light as long as you are in the world? Or would you rather be blind by choice?

Make your choice Beloved!