March 30, 2012 (Today's "Got Word?")                                                                    

Good morning my son,

Good morning my daughter,

The Lord took me on a roller coaster ride this morning in His word. So . . . if you sit beside me, you can ride along.

John 9:39-41

“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.”

Ouch! We Christians like to beat up on the Pharisees, those teachers of the law that seem to always be on the wrong side of the story. They seem to always be screwing up what God really wants for them to do, and to understand. By beating up on them, we just get to ride along and feel ever so protected. God is talking to them, not to me. Wow! How could they be SO very stupid?!

How could we be SO very stupid to think that God is only speaking to them? Or are we simply choosing to be so blind to the message so as not to get our own feet stepped on – not to hear God looking at us.

Okay, I can almost hear you saying, but I am not a teacher of the law. I purposefully refuse to be. How is my opinion better than any other? I believe in letting everyone live by their own light, by their own beliefs. I am not teaching anyone. I know the truth for myself, and myself alone. So He, Jesus could not be speaking to me. . . . or could he?

Did I hear you right? You know the truth as for yourself? Do you? Did you teach yourself what you know by constantly reaffirming your own beliefs and ideas in your head? Are you claiming, to yourself, that you know the truth? That you can see things as they really are? You and I are not blind, we can see . . . right? Or is it that in claiming to see we actually become incapable of truly seeing what God has in store for us, the truth of His word, so that indeed, we are more full of “protected sin” then the biggest sinner himself?

I say “protected sin” (or “protected evils”) because since we claim to see, while really missing what's in front of our eyes, our secret and maybe not so secret sins and evils are protected from having to be dealt with. We have the unique ability to pronounce we are clean. Well since I am vested with that power I guess I will use it right now and say enough with this “Got Word?” I am okay with God. Or am I . . . see those were the words which leaped out at me. So maybe, just maybe, I should take a closer look.

Context, context, context. In seminary it was drilled into us to study the context of a scripture. You can not interpret it absent such. So, we have to look at what built up to this statement. And it all started with a healing of a blind man on the Sabbath.

Take a look at John chapter 9 . . .

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. . .”

Jesus starts off by throwing out a strong belief of the day . . . all physical ailments were the result of sin. Jesus says no. In fact we might at first want to think that he is saying that it is almost just the “luck of the draw” that we experience illness, disease or a particular physical ailment or problem. But that is not the case. He makes it clear that the purpose is that “the work of God might be displayed in his life.”

Is that how we view illness, disease or ailment. I have diabetes. Is it a curse? Or is it so to allow for the work of God to be displayed in my life? The scientist keep telling us of all this stuff that seems to be controlled by genetics. Cancer, diabetes, mental illness, depression, ADHD, heart disease, etc. It just seems like God has just released his plagues on humanity. Or has He? What if, it is not a release of plagues that God desires, but instead that we allow Him to display His work in our lives? What if we see our illness, our calamities in that light? What if we see Jesus as He goes on to say:

“As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:4-5)

Then Jesus healed him. Now we see that God expects of us to be the hands in which the work of God is displayed. See Jesus is still in the world. He resides in our hearts and in our relationship with Him. It is in that relationship that we do and experience the seemingly impossible work of God in our lives and the lives of those we live and work around; our community. Jesus wanted them to see and experience the glory of God! And He wants the same for us.

But the lesson does not stop there . . .

The healing took place on the Sabbath. Now that may not be a big deal to us in our day and time but for the Hebrews back then, this was indeed a VERY big deal. Like me you may be thinking the healing was the big deal. But that was not the focus of the Hebrew law. If God healed you, that was great! In fact that was more than okay. As long as the healing did not occur on the Sabbath. See only emergency work could be done on the Sabbath and healing a blind man, who was blind from birth, well that simply did not fit into the definition of an emergency. And the fact that Jesus did this healing on the Sabbath became the criteria for judging him (John 9:16).

“Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath”

But before we get too hard on our Pharasitical brothers:

“But others asked, “How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?” So they were divided.

One of the things I have said to you before in discerning the voice of the Lord is for you to compare what that voice is telling you to do in light of the word of God. But to do that you must know and understand the word of God. I can not please Momma P in cleaning the house if I do not know the standard by which she says the house is clean (a much higher standard than mine, I assure you, LOL). So how can we say we are doing and hearing from God if we do not study, meditate and put his Word into our thoughts and heart. This requires work. This requires spending some time in this bible. This requires that we read the context and struggle sometimes to get an understanding.

I would say that my brothers here, like I have on many occasions, rushed to judgment on a partial understanding of God. Why? Because they saw sin differently than God was propounding it to be there. Sin was to them simply disobeying God's laws. Sin from God's perspective here in the gospel of John was resisting God and his will for wholeness and healing through Christ.

Did you notice something? Chapter 9 started out with the words, “As he went along . . .” No big fanfare. No big occasion. You get the understanding that as we walk with the Lord He desires to perform His will right where we are, right then and now. He desires for us wholeness not later but now! Did you also note something else, the man did not ask for the healing! Simply being in the presence of Jesus, submitting to His touch and direction, the man received. In fact He did not even know fully who Jesus was.

Point: Get into the word of God. Study it. You may not be asking for a healing in your life . . . but being in the place where he is and agreeing to allow him to touch you (in other words being obedient to what you learn in His word, listening to Him, and accepting His love for you) . . . you will be made whole. That is the character of God. The character of being in relationship with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!

Can we take a quick look at the question of the Pharisees in today's original passage?

“Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

Two things based upon the greek words used in the question:

1. They were asking if they having seen had actually become blinded by His light; and,
2. The greek words used in their question imply an anticipated answer . . . NOT the answer he gave but an answer of “of course not . . . you do see.” This is more evident if you understand that the Pharisees did not seem him, Jesus, as any light at all.

Why is this important to note? Because it can sometimes be our stance in questioning God also. We think that because we have been around his word, and have gained some understanding that of course we would be able to see. But that may not be the case. It is important for us to remain questioning and seeking His understanding in our lives.

Now, remember the words that leaped off the page to me? Are you getting a better understanding of their meaning and application in our lives?

“If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”

See Jesus was talking about spiritual blindness. When you are blind you have no opportunity for a relationship with the light. But when you can see and claim to see, but refuse to see, you are guilty.

The Pharisees were missing the lesson right before their eyes. Jesus came to bring wholeness. Jesus came to allow God to demonstrate His life in and through His people. Just ad God communed with himself on the first Sabbath, God desired for them, . . . for us, to commune with Him in relationship with Him, displaying the work of God in the lives of His people.

This is his desire for each of us. He desires that we not claim to see and yet not see. He desires that we recognize that all struggles in our lives are not the result of our sin or of another's, but instead are opportunities for God to display His work in our lives. In fact we become the living works of His hand. And like Jesus, as we go along the way we are charged to allow His spirit to do the work of His spirit in our lives and the lives of those we run across while it is still day (while we still have breathe in our lungs).

Love yah,

dad