A changing experience
"I see!"
In Chapter 9 of John’s Gospel we have the story of the blind man made able to see. It is one of the many miracles performed by Jesus. The Jewish authorities could not have been more annoyed. It ws bad enough having to try and account for this person performing miracles, but here he was doing it on the Sabbath. The Pharisees were a group of Jews who insisted on keeping to the Law of Moses. They could not accept activities taking place on the Sabbath.
They had the formerly blind man hauled up in front of them to question him in the hope of finding evidence against Jesus. Even the parents of the blind man were interviewed. They side stepped the whole issue, saying "He’s an adult, ask him yourselves!" The fact was, though, that the only complaint they had was that he broke the Sabbath law.
The man who had been cured had declared himself a follower of Jesus. Suddenly he began to lecture the Pharisees. "How extraordinary! Here is a man who has opened my eyes, yet you do not know where he comes from! We know that God does not listen to sinners; he listens to anyone who is devout and obeys his will. To open the eyes of a man born blind – that is unheard of since time began. If this man was not from God he could do nothing." They did not like what he said and threw him out.
It is easy to see that the evidence the man gave the Pharisees established the credentials of Jesus. Yet there was nothing that would shake them from their slavish observance of the Law of Moses to the letter. The man himself had quickly worked out that Jesus came from God because he was able to overcome obstacles of life such as blindness. It did not take an Einstein to work out where Jesus came from. Yet, despite being given such compelling evidence they could not accept Jesus as being from God.
There are times in life when the evidence we see before us overturns what we thought was truth. For instance, in the 1920s the eminent archaeologist, Sir Leonard Woolley found evidence of a past civilisation which actually dumfounded him for a while. He was excavating in Iraq at a site which turned out to be the ancient Sumerian city of Ur, the birthplace of Abraham. In one particular place the diggers found that all the artifacts they had been unearthing suddenly ceased as they began digging through eight feet of fresh water clay. Having got through the clay new artifacts began appearing which had no connection with what they had found so far. The facts stared them in the face - suddenly there was a gap between totally different civilisations. The earlier one must have been wiped out! The inundation that caused the depositing of this massive layer of clay meant only one thing. They sent back to London an electrifying telegram, "We have found the Flood!"
Later the evidence told them that this was not about a global flood but simply a change in the direction of the river. Archaeologists had to think again and accept this new evidence. When the facts present themselves we have to change our ideas that we have held for a long time. In the case of this young man who was once blind and now was sighted the evidence said it was a miracle and miracles belonged to God, and only him. But the Pharisees refused to change their minds.
Today, there is so much that demonstrates the presence in the world of Jesus but so many people refuse to accept it. They will not accept the evidence of their own eyes. They ignore it much of the time because it means they will have to make changes if they accept the evidence. You see, they know that if they say "Yes, Jesus is here!" they are going to have to change what they think and do. It is this which stands in the way of accepting Jesus. The fact is that if you find Jesus you can never unfind him. When you meet your life partner the changes have to come. You cannot continue just the same as if you have not found him/her. You will never be the same again. So you are when you find Jesus who recognise in him your saviour. You are never the same again. Just as family life is totally different to living without children so it is with finding and accepting Jesus. You may turn your back on him, but he will always be there.
But to most people this is good news. They want to change. They want to discover happiness. They desire to live eternal life. The old life was never satisfactory, so the change is most welcome. The people who fear the change are those with positions of power. Don’t ever believe that the Pharisees rejected Jesus for performing miracles on the Sabbath. They rejected him because they knew full well that if they accepted him they had to step down from their elevated position. No one likes doing this.
This was why Herod had the children slain at the time of Jesus’ birth. This was the objection of the Chief Priests in the Temple of Jerusalem. The coming of the Messiah was the great hope of their religion but if Jesus was the Messiah they were out of a job! But to people whom he rescues from the chains of slavery, poverty, sickness, disability etc. Jesus is the greatest. Suddenly their lives are changed forever and they have much to be thankful for.
The next step is to bring others to the same point so they too can meet Jesus. Everyone needs to reach this point in their life. Everyone needs salvation and they find it in Jesus.
In Chapter 9 of John’s Gospel we have the story of the blind man made able to see. It is one of the many miracles performed by Jesus. The Jewish authorities could not have been more annoyed. It ws bad enough having to try and account for this person performing miracles, but here he was doing it on the Sabbath. The Pharisees were a group of Jews who insisted on keeping to the Law of Moses. They could not accept activities taking place on the Sabbath.
They had the formerly blind man hauled up in front of them to question him in the hope of finding evidence against Jesus. Even the parents of the blind man were interviewed. They side stepped the whole issue, saying "He’s an adult, ask him yourselves!" The fact was, though, that the only complaint they had was that he broke the Sabbath law.
The man who had been cured had declared himself a follower of Jesus. Suddenly he began to lecture the Pharisees. "How extraordinary! Here is a man who has opened my eyes, yet you do not know where he comes from! We know that God does not listen to sinners; he listens to anyone who is devout and obeys his will. To open the eyes of a man born blind – that is unheard of since time began. If this man was not from God he could do nothing." They did not like what he said and threw him out.
It is easy to see that the evidence the man gave the Pharisees established the credentials of Jesus. Yet there was nothing that would shake them from their slavish observance of the Law of Moses to the letter. The man himself had quickly worked out that Jesus came from God because he was able to overcome obstacles of life such as blindness. It did not take an Einstein to work out where Jesus came from. Yet, despite being given such compelling evidence they could not accept Jesus as being from God.
There are times in life when the evidence we see before us overturns what we thought was truth. For instance, in the 1920s the eminent archaeologist, Sir Leonard Woolley found evidence of a past civilisation which actually dumfounded him for a while. He was excavating in Iraq at a site which turned out to be the ancient Sumerian city of Ur, the birthplace of Abraham. In one particular place the diggers found that all the artifacts they had been unearthing suddenly ceased as they began digging through eight feet of fresh water clay. Having got through the clay new artifacts began appearing which had no connection with what they had found so far. The facts stared them in the face - suddenly there was a gap between totally different civilisations. The earlier one must have been wiped out! The inundation that caused the depositing of this massive layer of clay meant only one thing. They sent back to London an electrifying telegram, "We have found the Flood!"
Later the evidence told them that this was not about a global flood but simply a change in the direction of the river. Archaeologists had to think again and accept this new evidence. When the facts present themselves we have to change our ideas that we have held for a long time. In the case of this young man who was once blind and now was sighted the evidence said it was a miracle and miracles belonged to God, and only him. But the Pharisees refused to change their minds.
Today, there is so much that demonstrates the presence in the world of Jesus but so many people refuse to accept it. They will not accept the evidence of their own eyes. They ignore it much of the time because it means they will have to make changes if they accept the evidence. You see, they know that if they say "Yes, Jesus is here!" they are going to have to change what they think and do. It is this which stands in the way of accepting Jesus. The fact is that if you find Jesus you can never unfind him. When you meet your life partner the changes have to come. You cannot continue just the same as if you have not found him/her. You will never be the same again. So you are when you find Jesus who recognise in him your saviour. You are never the same again. Just as family life is totally different to living without children so it is with finding and accepting Jesus. You may turn your back on him, but he will always be there.
But to most people this is good news. They want to change. They want to discover happiness. They desire to live eternal life. The old life was never satisfactory, so the change is most welcome. The people who fear the change are those with positions of power. Don’t ever believe that the Pharisees rejected Jesus for performing miracles on the Sabbath. They rejected him because they knew full well that if they accepted him they had to step down from their elevated position. No one likes doing this.
This was why Herod had the children slain at the time of Jesus’ birth. This was the objection of the Chief Priests in the Temple of Jerusalem. The coming of the Messiah was the great hope of their religion but if Jesus was the Messiah they were out of a job! But to people whom he rescues from the chains of slavery, poverty, sickness, disability etc. Jesus is the greatest. Suddenly their lives are changed forever and they have much to be thankful for.
The next step is to bring others to the same point so they too can meet Jesus. Everyone needs to reach this point in their life. Everyone needs salvation and they find it in Jesus.
posted by Keith Alexander at Tuesday, January 10, 2006
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