Jesus Christ had just healed a man who was blind from birth. And he explained to his disciples that it was not the fault of the man or of his parents that he was born blind, but he was born blind that the works of God might be displayed in him. And that is a difficult concept for a lot of people to understand, but it has to do with the sovereignty of God over our lives, that he allows us to go through certain things in our lives so that he can display his works in and through our lives for his glory and purposes.
“The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, ‘Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?’ Some said, ‘It is he.’ Others said, ‘No, but he is like him.’ He kept saying, ‘I am the man.’ So they said to him, ‘Then how were your eyes opened?’ He answered, ‘The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, “Go to Siloam and wash.” So I went and washed and received my sight.’ They said to him, ‘Where is he?’ He said, ‘I do not know.’” (John 9:8-12 ESV)
What comes to my mind here is that we aren’t always going to have an answer for everything. Sometimes we may just have to say, “I don’t know.”
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV).
Some things about God and his ways are just hard to explain, like the trinity – three distinct persons in one God – and how God always existed, and how he is completely sovereign and in control over all that he has made and yet he gives each one of us a free will to choose him or to not choose him. And we can certainly pray to God in how to answer some people’s questions, but we aren’t going to have all the answers. Sometimes the answer is, “I don’t know.” And that is okay.
We can share what we know and what we understand, and pray that God will give us the words to say, but it doesn’t mean we are going to understand it all. So we share what we understand, like the man gave testimony of what Jesus did in making mud and putting it on his eyes and telling him to go to Siloam and wash and how he then received his sight. But when asked where Jesus was, he didn’t know. And we aren’t going to have all the answers for everything, either.
“They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, ‘He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.’ Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.’ But others said, ‘How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?’ And there was a division among them. So they said again to the blind man, ‘What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?’ He said, ‘He is a prophet.’” (John 9:13-17 ESV)
What always amazes me about such stories as this, and there are plenty like them in The Four Gospels, is how some people are more concerned about forms of religion than they are about human lives. And I know the Lord just recently had me talk on this subject. But it is like they are more concerned with whether or not we follow a particular religious custom than they care about what the Lord is doing in our lives and how he is using us for his purposes and for his glory. For they can’t see past their forms of religion.
So, instead of the Pharisees rejoicing in the fact that a man who was born blind was now healed and that he could now see, they were upset because Jesus healed the man on the Jewish Sabbath, which he often did. And even though Jesus had the power to heal a blind man, they said he was not from God, because he healed people on the Sabbath. And times haven’t changed all that much. There are still religious people with religious traditions who will insist on you following those traditions even if it means disobeying God.
“So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, ‘Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.’ He answered, ‘Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.’” (John 9:24-25 ESV)
I absolutely love this testimony! The man wasn’t at all familiar with Jesus Christ. He only knew that he was the man who healed him of his blindness. The Pharisees were trying to trick him into accusing Jesus of something, I believe, for they were trying to convince the man, who was healed of his blindness, that the man who healed him was not from God, and that he was a sinner, and that he was one who did not keep the Sabbath, because he healed people on the Sabbath.
But the man was not intimidated by Jesus’ accusers or by them drilling him with regard to Jesus healing him. He was not intimidated by their not so subtle attempts at trying to get him to renounce Jesus Christ and to agree with them that he was a sinner and not of God and one who disobeys God’s commandments. Rather, he spoke boldly back to them with great confidence when he said, “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” And sometimes that may be the extent of our testimonies, too.
My Sheep
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Based off John 10:1-18 NIV
My sheep hear me. They know me.
They listen to my voice and obey.
I call them and lead them.
They know my voice, so they follow me.
They will never follow strangers.
They will run away from them.
The voice of a stranger they know not;
They do not follow him.
So, I tell you the truth that
I am the gate, so you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever enters
Not by the gate; other way,
He is the thief and a robber.
Listen not, the sheep to him.
Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,
Who laid his own life down for the sheep.
I know them. They know me.
They will live with me eternally.
The thief only comes to steal and
Kill and to destroy the church.
I have come to give you life that
You may have it to the full…
They know my voice, so they follow me.
https://vimeo.com/114938263
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