The man born blind found out the hard way. Once the Pharisees had exhausted themselves arguing among themselves they turned on the man born blind. They accuse him of being a liar and even brought in his parents to testify about his blindness.
After having a very humerous argument with the healed man, they simply turned to abuse.
Then they (the Pharisees) hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out. John 9:28-34 NIV
The more the Pharisees disrespected him, the more the man began to consider following Jesus. Just looking at how the parents were afraid of the Pharisees, the healed man was very bold in his interactions with the Pharisees. He knew the risks but he woke up blind and after meeting Jesus he could see. The choice was easy.
When Jesus moves into our neighborhood, everything changes. As Jesus brings healing to the broken places in our lives and we are forever changed, we begin the process of choosing Jesus over everything else. When the world forces us to choose between Jesus and the cultural standards on our age, we shouldn't expect that we will celebrated for choosing to live for Him.
When the healed man chose Jesus, the Pharisees threw him out of the synagogue and thus out of the community. A person is Jewish by both race and religion and to be excluded from worship the synagogue would be equivalent to being excluded from the entire community. Following Jesus was really starting to cost the healed man.
But then we have one of the most beautiful passages in the Gospels...
Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when He found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said, “You have now seen Him; in fact, He is the One speaking with you.” Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped Him. John 9:35-38 NIV
When word got back to Jesus that the healed man had been disgraced and thrown out by the Pharisees, Jesus once again had His mission in mind. He knew the healed man was ready to hear the final part of the story. Healing his physical blindness was wonderful, but that wasn't the real reason that Jesus invaded His world. He came to heal our spiritual blindness. Jesus revealed Himself to the healed man an the man believed on Him and surrendered His heart and life to Jesus. Now he could truly see.
As we head into Easter this year, there are so many people we know who need to hear the beautiful message of the transforming love of Jesus. Who will you invite to come?
Prayer Empha!!sis: Today ask Jesus to give you the courage to invite someone you know needs to hear about His love
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