John 9:8-11 -- 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?” 9 Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10 So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 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.”
Yesterday Jesus told the man blind from birth to go wash in the pool of Siloam. The man makes a faith filled decision to follow Jesus' command. He goes, washes, and his sight was restored. Awesome!
Today we see the reaction of his neighbors. This isn't a group of random people who walked by. They have lived close enough to the blind man to know him and his condition. However, now that he returns seeing, some questions and doubts arise.
Meeting Jesus changed everything in this man's life. Changed so much that those who lived nearest him weren't sure he was even the same person. They knew the man blind from birth and he was no longer that man.
Now, this is where the Holy Spirit really started to highlight things. Jesus interacted with and put mud in the man's eyes. Nothing changed then he's still blind. He tells the man go wash at the pool of Siloam. Okay, he's still blind but now there are choices to make. Will he believe Jesus' words? Then if he does believe, will he do what Jesus has said?
Think about this for a minute. If the man had chosen not to do as Jesus said, he'd still be the man blind from birth, just with mud on his face. It strikes me that even then people around him would still notice something of Jesus. "Hey there Tom, why is there mud in your eyes?", "Well this man Jesus rubbed it on my face and told me to go wash up and I'd be healed, but I decided not to.". A bit silly I know, but how many people go to church, are confronted with Jesus, then go back to living normally. There's this question of why the Christian church thing... there's some mud on you.. what's that all about...
However, this man did believe in what Jesus was saying, and chose to act and obey. He left blind and returned with sight. It was so unbelievable those who knew him couldn't reconcile he was the same person. He convinces them and when asked how this happened, he immediately directs it all to Jesus.
At this point the man has never even seen Jesus. He doesn't know anything about Him, other than His name, what He did, what He said, and the results of doing what He commanded.
Christian, let that sink in then consider just how complicated we tend to make things. Especially when it comes to our relationship with the Lord. It's not complicated to just be with Him, hear Him, believe Him, then be a doer of His Word. It doesn't require fixing yourself first, a seminary degree, or years of study and memorization. It takes opening the door to our lives for Jesus, spending time with Him, then hearing and doing His Word.
Beloved, has Jesus changed you to the point where your old neighbor, the world, doesn't quite recognize you now? Being a hearer and doer of God's Word is what looks distinctly different to our broken world.
The world has seen plenty of hearers only, who talk about Jesus, have that mud rubbed on their eyes, then don't follow through with any actual doing the Words of Jesus. Their lives and the lives of the world mirror one another, except the hearer has mud in their eyes. Why would the world want more of what they already have, just with mud on it, that doesn't change anything.
I was led to James 1:21-25 and it closed out my study time with the Lord today. Take the time to read this and think about it, then talk to the Lord about it.
James 1:21-25 -- So get rid of all uncleanness and [a]all that remains of wickedness, and with a humble spirit receive the word [of God] which is implanted [actually rooted in your heart], which is able to save your souls. 22 But prove yourselves doers of the word [actively and continually obeying God’s precepts], and not merely listeners [who hear the word but fail to internalize its meaning], deluding yourselves [by unsound reasoning contrary to the truth]. 23 For if anyone only listens to the word [b]without obeying it, he is like a man who looks very carefully at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he immediately forgets [c]what he looked like. 25 But he who looks carefully into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and faithfully abides by it, not having become a [careless] listener who forgets but [d]an active doer [who obeys], he will be blessed and favored by God in what he does [in his life of obedience].
Don't take my word on anything, ever. Please, be the Berean, let what you hear man say, drive you into the Word of God to see what God says.
You are loved. You are prayed over. You are not alone.
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