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Leg 3 Day 1
“Healing a Man Born Blind”
Jesus Through Us
Scripture:
JOHN 9:1-11
As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”
“It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work. But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing!
His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said he was, and others said, “No, he just looks like him!”
But the beggar kept saying, “Yes, I am the same one!”
They asked, “Who healed you? What happened?”
He told them, “The man they call Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourself.’ So I went and washed, and now I can see!”
JOHN 9:1-11 (NLT)
Life Lessons from Jesus:
When we hit rough points in our lives, or bad things happen in the lives of those around us, it can be easy to start wondering if we’re being punished in some way. Is that why we lost our job? Got sick? Ended up in that car accident? Is it something I did? we think. Although there are consequences to our actions, suffering isn’t always related to our life choices. It’s part of the human experience and can hit without regard to what’s fair, how wonderful or awful we’ve been, or who did what. And some of us end up with rougher storms to weather than others.
Jesus heals blind men several times over the course of His time on earth, but the account in John 9 is altogether unique. This is the only time in Scripture where Jesus heals a man “born blind from birth.” This phrase in Greek is found nowhere else in the New Testament. The disciples assumed the man was born blind because of his own sin or the sin of his parents, but Jesus quashes that immediately, saying it happened “so the power of God could be seen in him.”
We are all subject to a broken world, sinners by nature and spiritually blind from birth. God uses what we are, though. He offers us hope and forgiveness and demonstrates His power through our lives. He offers healing and comfort when it feels like we’re drudging through an impossible situation. And He gradually opens our eyes to truly see Him.
The WAY:
Consider these questions as you reflect on today’s reading:
When has God opened your eyes to see Him more during a hard situation?
What do you think about what Jesus said in verse 3? “ . . . This happened so the power of God could be seen in him”?
How has your life displayed the power of God in the world before?
Prayer:
Jesus, thank You for opening blinded eyes, both physically and spiritually. Give me eyes that see You more clearly each day. Please help me through whatever comes my way, what may even seem impossible, so the world may see Your power in my life. In Your name, Amen.