“How were your eyes opened?”

Inquisitive creatures we are. Always wanting to know how things work.

John 9:8-12

• When his neighbors and others saw the formerly blind man sighted and walking, they couldn’t believe their eyes (v. 8-9).
• When the man himself assured them that it was he, they asked what happened (v. 10).
• His response was brief and to the point: Jesus told me to go and wash. I went and washed; and I received my sight (v. 11).

Meditation Points:

1. A man who has lived in blindness his whole life suddenly lives in the light. Don’t you want to know more?
2. If you have experienced such a dramatic change in your life, would you deny it?
3. A Christian must always be prepared to tell how he got saved.
4. Would the blindness have been removed if the man didn’t have faith to obey Jesus?

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“Who sinned?”

How old were you when you realized the principle of ‘cause and effect’? And how old were you when you realized that you could not always work backwards to discover the cause of every effect?

John 9:1-7

• A man was born blind (v. 1).
• Yet the disciples asked whether his sin caused him to be born blind (v. 2). One wonders whether they were considering sin before birth or sin not yet committed.
• Of course there was always the possibility that the parents had sinned and the boy suffered (v. 2).
• Not sin, but the glory of God was the reason for the blindness (v. 3-4). Let us ever look beyond the obvious to discover God’s sovereignty.
• After Jesus healed the man, Jesus sent him to (publicly) wash (v. 7). The man went, seeing.

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Who is your Father?

Jesus taught his disciples to pray “Our Father, who is in heaven.” Is your Father in heaven? Some religionists are children of the devil.

John 8:21-59

• “If you believe not that I am, you will die in your sins” (v. 24). “When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you shall know that I am” (v. 28). “Before Abraham was, I am” (v. 58). “Then they took up stones to cast at him” (v. 59). It took them quite a while to understand what Jesus was saying, but when the Jews realized that Jesus was claiming to be the Son of God, they would have killed him.
• Many believed on him (v. 30), and Jesus spoke to those Jews who believed on him (v. 31). Apparently there is a faith which saves and a faith which does not save, for Jesus engages them in a conversation about their Father. They claim to be the children of Abraham (v. 33); and Jesus tells them that Abraham’s children would not be engaged in the thoughts and actions which so engrossed them (v. 37, 39).
• Children imitate their father. God’s children follow Him; the devil’s children follow him (v. 41-44). Are you more like God or the devil?
• These believers were unbelievers (v. 45). Many believers today are unbelievers, too. Look at how they live. Listen to their conversation. What do they think of Christ?
• When the Jews accuse Jesus of being a demon-possessed Samaritan  (v. 48), he introduces them to the reality of his pre-incarnate existence(v. 56-58). The matter of who Jesus is often is the telling point of a person’s true faith.

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“I am the light of the world.”

Who follows Jesus shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

John 8:12-20

• Pharisees object that Jesus speaks for himself. Jesus counters that personal testimony is not necessarily false; and in his case is absolutely true.
• Jesus calls Hebrew law to the witness stand to confirm that his testimony is true because both he and God the Father say so.
• He further posits that to know him is to know God. Yet many who profess to know God know nothing of Jesus.
• Jesus was “untouchable” because the hour of his sacrifice had not yet come.

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