John 9 - Missing the Messiah
John 9 - Missing the Messiah
In John chapter 9, Jesus heals a man born blind. This is the story of Jesus spitting on the ground, taking the dirt/mud and rubbing in on the man's eyes, and having him wash his face clean in the Pool of Siloam. This former beggar, who was born blind now can see.
The Pharisees, the religious leaders, heard of this and started grilling the man with questions. They were hyper-focused on this healing happening on the Sabbath and lost sight of the miracle itself. Here is one of the interactions:
“A second time, they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?” Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.” - John 9:24-34 NIV
This is fascinating to me. Here we have a man that was born blind, born into bondage, and a lifelong beggar due to his situation, and the religious ones are looking right past the miracle.
“Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”” - John 9:28-29 NIV
The religious were so focused on what they knew, their traditions, their upbringing, their view of God through Moses that they missed the Messiah’s Miracle right in front of their eyes. These religious ones could see, but they remained blind to what mattered.
How many times does this same situation happen to us? Our limited view of situations, our religious traditions that are just that, traditions and not truly about Jesus, our rootedness in the Law and not in the Grace of Jesus. Our inventory of things that move us into disciples of Moses and not Christ-followers. We so often can enter into blindness. Jesus addressed this.
“Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?” Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” - John 9:38-41 NIV
Jesus came to heal the sick, and pave a way to spiritual awakeness...for us to have sight. For those of us who have been healed, may we worship God and give Him glory. May we not fall into traditions, or get wrapped up in our own Moses followings that we miss the Messiah.