As we saw in our last blog, the religious leaders were always bent on trying to find something in Jesus’ words that they could label as “blasphemy,” and so when Jesus said that He existed before Abraham (some 2,000 years before Jesus came to earth), they found it. They knew that Jesus was pointing straight to His deity, and realizing this:
“They picked up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple” (John 8:59).
Just like they had picked up stones to throw at the woman caught in adultery earlier in Chapter 8, so they picked up stones to throw at Jesus at the end of Chapter 8. As we begin Chapter 9, Jesus was still teaching in and around the Temple when He and His disciples saw a man who had been blind from birth. Curious, the disciples asked whether he or his parents had sinned, and Jesus said that it was neither, but:
“…in order that the works of God might be displayed in him…While I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:3, 5).
Jesus passed over any discussion of the cause of the blind man’s condition, and went straight to why He had come into the world, and that was to provide spiritual light for all of us. Jesus proceeded to make clay and after putting it on his eyes, He told him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. He did, and he returned seeing. Of course, Jesus seemed to always make a point of doing miracles on the Sabbath Day!
The man’s healing on the Sabbath produced such a ruckus that the religious leaders began to question the man about the One who healed him. They even called his parents to see if their son had really been born blind. Some said that Jesus must be a “sinner” for healing on the Sabbath, while others knew that He was the Messiah, One sent by God. Now look at the courage that it took for the former blind man to say to the religious leaders:
“Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. Since the beginning of time, it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing” (John 9:30-33).
Their response was entirely expected – They threw him out of the Temple, and barred him from all future access to Temple worship. But something more important was about to happen. Check this out:
“Jesus heard that they had put him out; and finding him, He said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ (John 9:35).
The man answered that he wanted to know who the Son of Man was so that he could believe in him, and that’s when Jesus said:
“You have both seen Him, and He is the One talking with you. And the man said, ‘Lord, I believe.’ And he worshipped Him” (John 9:37-38).
This miracle of Jesus resulted in a simple confession of faith, and that confession resulted in worship. If you have experienced the miracle of being transformed by our Lord Jesus Christ, then worship is the most natural thing that you can do. Most of you have been worshipping Him for years, while some of you may be just beginning. To worship is to acknowledge who Jesus is and what He has done for you on the cross, and to offer praise and thanksgiving to Him. Let’s make a habit of worshipping Him, not just on Sundays, but every day of the week, and in fact, every moment of every day. May each of our lives be filled with worship.
Peggy and I want to wish you many blessings in the New Year.
