First was the healing, obviously. Now, when you read that, the first thing that you recognize is the amazing power of God to do this. But the one thing that I realized was that God made this man born blind, just so this could happen later and make him a believer. Like, God is merciful. And this man was born blind, and he was healed. So he never had sight. It would be crueler to have sight, then take it. God, to make this man into a believer, took nothing from this man. He didn't take his sight. He only gave. So this man lost nothing, because you can't lose something you don't have.
The next thing that I saw was verses 3-5, when Jesus was talking about the light of the day. Now, I just thought that he was talking about day and night, and that you can't work at night. But when He said, "As long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world's Light." That changed it for me. Jesus was talking about as long as he is in the world, that he and his disciples must work and perform miracles while Jesus was on the earth. Jesus is the light, so Jesus is daytime (not literally). But I didn't understand the next part. If what I say is right, (and there's a good chance I'm not) then that means when Jesus leaves the Earth, then it will be nighttime, and then there will be no more time for miracles. But that doesn't seem right. While there weren't as many miracles that happened after Jesus left, they still happened. So if anyone wants to correct me, please leave a comment or something that might help. Thanks.
Then, there's the second half of the story, which was with the Pharisees. When the Pharisees heard about the healing, they seemed scared to me. Some made up excuses to make it seem like he was a bad guy. Others saw what he had and knew a bad guy couldn't Godly things like that. And they called the blind man's parent's to them to make sure that this man was born blind. And that's all the man's parent would say, "Yeah, he was born blind." And when they told the Pharisees to ask the ex-blind man himself, that got me thinking. They were afraid to admit that they knew Jesus had done that. They were afraid to admit that Jesus was our Saviour, and they were afraid that the Pharisees would punish them; that they would get in trouble for believing anything other than what they had been taught. And then there was Jesus calling the Pharisees blind. And I thought about that, and came up with this. Jesus just used that blind man as an example. That accepting God's gift, and all that He has to offer will let you see. But if you claim you can already see, like the Pharisees, that you are really blind, and that you can't see the bigger picture. The one thing that stood out to me most though, was how smart and wise the Pharisees were. They seem like the bad guys in the Bible, and they kinda were. But they were really smart people. They were leaders. They lead an entire religion of people basically. Religion was life for them. And they heard and saw what Jesus had done, and they were worried. They knew. That was enough for them. They had heard, and they were ready to drop their religion for Jesus. They had learned that what they taught was right for so many years. And then Jesus' miracle had them read to drop it. They were smart enough to know that he was the Messiah. And I think the only reason they may not have admitted it to each other or followed Jesus right then and there was because of their social status. They knew they had to lead, and couldn't abandon their posts. Which is another example of how smart they were. Now, I'm not saying that this was all of them. This may have been only one or two Pharisees. Maybe those couple of Pharisees that argued for Jesus. I'm not sure. But they were really smart guys.
Thanks for reading guys, I enjoy writing on the blog. Comment or email me or something if you want to correct me or add something. I'd really like to know.
-Joe
Joe,
ReplyDeletegood post. i would like to comment on your interpretation of Jesus being the light. I think you could be right. but that makes me wonder about miracles that were performed after Jesus's death, or about the powers of healing that are talked about or performed even today by churches and believers. any thoughts anyone?
Ok, I just let my mind wander, and I came up with a new interpretation.
ReplyDeleteThink of it as Jesus being the light at the end of the tunnel. While Jesus was there on Earth, it was right there, shining bright for everyone. It was easy to head towards the light and in the right direction. But when He left, the light went out, and everyone was left in the darkness with no idea on where to go, or what direction to head in. There was nothing to tell them what to do anymore. But only if you search for that light again, and strive to find it, will see the light again and be headed in the right direction once more.
Any feedback would be appreciated, thanks!
but what about when we are asked to be a light in matthew??
ReplyDeleteNo idea. Maybe (and I'm just pulling this out of nowhere) that means to be a leader in your church or help bring other people to the light at the end of the tunnel?
ReplyDeleteJoe, Madi, and Whitley- Maybe, through evangelism, some people bear a torch, and can lead others to the light? Just an analogy that popped into my mind...
ReplyDeleteThis is sort of random but during the tribulation when the Christians have the seal, and others have the mark of the Devil are there gonna be any people who are not marked? I mean, they aren't chasing after Satan, like, maybe they think somethings bad about the Anti Christ and don't recieve the mark, or is it thurst upon them no matter what if they don't know Jesus?
Joe, I love what you said in the first paragraph of your post about how God only gives, and never takes. And I totally agree with your light at the end of the tunnel analogy. Really good way of putting it, I think.
ReplyDeleteBut I also have a different opinion of it...
"As long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world's Light."
To me, Jesus is still present in our world today, through his followers. Through those who strive to know Him. Through people like us. I guess that's why we are the "lights of the world" then, Madi. We're keeping Christ alive in the world through our faith, even though he is not actually with us any more.
I think there will only be "darkness" in this world once there are no more followers of Christ. No more people to "bear a torch and lead others to the light." (Thanks for that, Evi.) Which will probably be a long, long, long, long, long time from now. Maybe even never. So Jesus will always be present on Earth through us.
I don't know if this is right...let me know what you think!
That makes sense to me. The only thing I see that might be a problem is the "darkness" thing. I'm not sure that Jesus would ever talk about there being no more followers. That seems like a kinda dark thing to say. But I could be wrong.
ReplyDeleteHm...in Revelation it talks about there being 144,000 Jews who become evangelistical Christians after the rapture, right? I mean, that's based on the pre-tribulation rapture theory, I guess...but, well, I don't really know what point I'm trying to make, but I feel like Jesus would never leave the unbelievers with no light while we're still on earth you know?
ReplyDeleteabout the whole light thing, in John 12, in the post I put up, there's a verse that explain most of that.
ReplyDelete