Patience
Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him.” John 9:3 (my translation)
Displayed – How long does it take for God to use us as a display of His work? Apparently longer than we think. Imagine that you are that blind man. Blind from birth. How many times would you ask, “Lord, why did you have me born blind?” Like Job’s query, there seems to be no reasonable answer. Yeshua invalidates the disciples’ suggestion that this blindness has anything to do with sin. That was the mistaken conclusion of Job’s friends too. You and I have the same short-sighted vision with our “Why, Lord?” questions. We just can’t understand how life could be so unfair, especially since we trust a good and righteous God. If you have ever asked “Why, Lord?” then this incident along the road is especially important for you (and for me).
Notice that Yeshua is simply passing by. Does that sound familiar? “As you are going” starts the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19). Yeshua is just going – somewhere. And a blind man is inserted into His path. Notice that the blind man doesn’t even ask for healing. He is resigned to his blindness. He does not see it as God’s opportunity. He sees it as just the way life is. Do you wonder how many times he asked “Why, Lord?” before he came to the place where he gave up asking? Is he like you and me, hopelessly surviving on our own understanding in God’s world? Are we resigned to our fate, consigning ourselves to those whom God no longer bothers?
Notice that it is the disciples’ inappropriate conclusion that causes Yeshua to act. Can you imagine that Yeshua would have simply passed by if it were not for His disciples’ mistaken theology? After all, there were many blind men. And He had places to go, things to do. Why stop? Perhaps Yeshua recognized the opportunity to display God’s good works when most of us are really focused on excuses or rationalizations. The disciples wanted to play the “blame game.” But Yeshua saw something that they could not see. They were blind, just as blind as the man alongside the road. And they were born blind because they refused to recognize God’s opportunities. They were resigned to the way of the world too. So are we. How many have we passed by simply because we did not see what God might do?
Finally notice that the healing of this blind man doesn’t answer any of the important questions. Job doesn’t get answers to his questions either. Does that provide us with a clue about the nature of our questions? Maybe God isn’t interested in questions that really don’t matter. The healing of the blind man isn’t about answers for our questions. It’s about the nature of God, displayed (Greek verb phaneroo) in good works. This is a particularly interesting word since it means “to reveal, to make visible, to show openly, to make conspicuous.” It assumes that the substance of what is now revealed was there all the time; we just didn’t see it. The blind man was constantly under the care of God; he just didn’t see it. The disciples were being lead by the Spirit to examine their view of the world; they just didn’t see it. Yeshua reveals what was right in front of their eyes. He heals the blind man and the blind disciples by making God’s goodness manifest. He could see what we cannot see without Him.
We are called to be like Him. We are commissioned to bring others to see Him “as we are going.” We are expected to “see” the world with the eyes of the Lord. How will we do that if we don’t understand the opportunities? How will we reveal God’s good works if we ask such distracting questions? Let us pray for eyes that see more than what the world presents to us. Like the men on the road to Emmaus, we need to have our eyes opened.
Topical Index: blind, display, phaneroo, John 9:3
John 9:1-2 As he went along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. “Rabbi, who sinned ….
For me, just the beauty and the power of the first sentence above is amazing.
And then 9:3, “Neither he nor his parents sinned …”
is so funny 🙂
good morning all.. A wonderful exegesis and commentary today, brother Skip, and yes Michael, it is humorous. I love to see the humor in scripture, such as the time, the talmudim were praying for the release of Peter from prison, and then as Peter was standing outside the door where they were assembled, they didn’t believe YHWH had answered their prayers!- Hilarious!
No man left behind. We are traveling and making aliyah (heading toward the new Jerusalem, and taking every man with us. How I love the word of G-d and how I love the sweep of the scriptures. I love this story of the blind man. Yeshua was involved more than once in giving someone his sight. (Wasn’t He?..lol!)
Yes, brother Skip, I agree, -we do need to ask the “right” questions, but isn’t it interesting how the scriptures answer every one of them, -“if” we are seeking the truth. “Sanctify them through Thy truth, Thy word is truth.” Who said that? and why? great questions.. A little “study” reveals it was Yeshua Himself: “After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:” -and we get to “be there”, watching and listening to Him praying.. -we are “paying attention” to His words, -right?
Every Christian “worth his salt” (lol!) knows Ephesians 2:8,9 and how we love to memorize and recite these two. By grace through faith.. amen!. But lo and behold, and behold and lo- verse 8 and 9 are followed by verse 10. (Michael, -do you see any humor here?)- Remember, today’s “word” is “displayed.”
What is on display? To save some from having to click the mouse- listen (again) to verse 10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them..” Add another amen..- 1,2,3. (What comes after 3?..lol!) By grace, through faith, unto good works.. 1,2,3. And the good news? G-d does it all! (For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things.).
Show me your faith, brother James enjoins us: “Show me” your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that–and shudder. Oh, we believe in G-d, yes we do, but.. – the demons have a greater faith than we do! (sorry, but it’s true..)- they believe and what?- tremble..- Do we? No. But James, (and brother Skip) is wanting us to have not only a “know-so” salvation, but a “show-so” salvation. We are to display for all the world to see- a radically transformed, brand-new creation in Christ. We are (according to the word of G-d) the light of the world!” How do you say “woah!” in Hebrew? lol.. And we know..- “the Light of the world is Jesus.” (amen.)
Yes, who did sin? This my friends is called (where I come from..) “assumption.” The talmudim immediately “assumed” this “creature” had some sort sin in his life. Imagine that!- a sinner!- “shudder.”
So, what do they do? lol!- They whip out the “finger of accusation”- oh, how fast we can let that finger fly- I’d love to have a contest with anyone one day to see how fast I can get mine out of my pocket- and “blame” someone. Warning: -“Fastest finger in the West”- got the t-shirt to prove it. Actually- “it’s all George Bush’s fault..” -I’m sure.
But YHWH, excuse me.. Yeshua knows (perceives, understands..)- the truth. What does He see? The talmudim (who were blind themselves) did not see as Yeshua saw. He saw a man in need. Hallelujah! and dear friends- “grace meets need.” Yeshua had compassion, mercy, pity upon one who had been blind since birth. His heart was open toward this “creature.” A man in need, -any man.
“And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.” Mighty John (the Baptizer) had doubted whether Christ was the Messiah, (the Annointed and Appointed ONE.). Yes, John needed to hear this (again) and so do we. “He went about, doing good..” (Do we?). As followers/imitators of the Christ, are we “showing” to this world,by acts of compassion and mercy, the grace and goodness of G-d which has been extended and shown toward us?
G-d, (the Giver of all good gifts) has given unto us “all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” Are we meant to hoard these resources or are we to “freely give?”
By faith. Know it. Grow it. Show it. And as we are walking along the pathway of life- may Yeshua continually open our eyes to the opportunities to show (reveal) His love, His grace, and His mercy to people in need all around us. People (that’s us!) need the LORD. Praise His Name, -“grace meets need.”
Questions many times are only relevant because of present context. Change the context and the question can seem insignificant. For a life time a man or woman is consumed with a nagging perplexing question, then God’s work becomes obvious. Now the very thing that has been such a big issue is nearly forgotten. Revelation can be very therapuetic. See John 8:31-32.
Skip:
Another powerful post, and very encouraging. I do think that it is very easy to get hung on questions that “the Answer” cares nothing about. His desire is for us to know Him–period.
Yet, I must confess, sometimes I am consumed with questions. Thankfully God is very patient with me.
This statement at the end really stood out to me personally: “Let us pray for eyes that see more than what the world presents to us. Like the men on the road to Emmaus, we need to have our eyes opened.”
All I can add to that is “amen.”