John 9:35-38 -- Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
It's been a good but long week. I'm glad it's Friday. This morning was a bit of a struggle to get myself focused. With the Lord's help I was able to get into His presence and start our daily adventure together!
The ex-blind man was cast out by the religious leaders which put him in the presence of Jesus. This guy went from blind since birth beggar, to meeting Jesus, having mud put in his eyes, believing and obeying Jesus, to eyes being healed, to neighbors not believing him, then brought to religious leaders who interrogated him, belittled him, didn't believe him, to his parents not even standing up for him, then interrogated more, until finally being cast out or excommunicated from his religious rights at Temple or in synagogues!
If we stop there, I'd say it was the greatest (met Jesus & he can see) worst (everything else) day ever but when Jesus is in our lives man doesn't get the final say!
I was sitting here thinking my week was long and my Friday had started off rough (5:15 AM I dropped a prescription bottle and 90+ tiny pills went everywhere! Yay!). My little hiccups don't even register in comparison to this man's day.
So, Jesus approaches things a bit upside down from the world's view. He hears what happened and finds the man. Now, you'd think Jesus would encourage or console him, but He doesn't. Instead, He asks him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?".
Keep in mind this ex-blind man has never laid eyes on Jesus before. He had no clue who this man was asking him this question. He'd just been kicked out of the only religion he'd known, yet he boldly responds, "who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?".
Now this next part brought tears to my eyes as we walked through the verse.
John 9:37 -- Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.”
Stop and let that really sink in. "you have seen him"… I honestly find myself unable to put into words how this has hit me on a very deep level.
The man spent his entire life blind and begging, which made him an outcast. Then Jesus comes into his life and heals him. This man could've had a normal life now. He could've stopped begging, got work, lived fully. Until the wooden hammer of the comfortable religious people was brought down and he was cast from synagogue and temple.
You might see being cast out here as a "good riddance" type of thing, but these people's lives were intertwined with religion every day. So being cast out removed a giant part of his societal life and he would now be even more of an outcast than he was when blind and begging.
Oh, but here's Jesus! He comes to the man.
"Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
"Who is he that I may believe in Him?"
"You have seen Him and it is He who is speaking to you."
"Lord, I believe!" and he worships Jesus right there.
This man had already shown through his actions and words he believed in Jesus. When Jesus said go wash, the man believed and obeyed Him. When confronted by the pharisees he would not come into agreement with their lies that Jesus was a sinner. He went as far as to say, "Do you wish to be His disciples too?", which implied he already considered himself as a follower. Now, this man had the beautiful opportunity to stand face to face with Jesus and confess his belief and worship Him!
Rejected by religion. Rejected by society. Rejected by people. Accepted by Jesus. Nothing else mattered. No amount of rejection or persecution can take away what this man now had in His precious Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Hallelujah!
Christian, when religion rejects you, when society rejects you, when people reject you, when government rejects you, do you KNOW that you KNOW Jesus Christ? If you do, then none of those things matter. If you don't KNOW for certain, it's time to sober up and get serious. Pray, read First John, get with a Bible believing brother or sister and address it now. Don't wait.
That's the end of the journey today. Please know that you are loved. You are prayed over, and you are not alone. If no one else cares Jesus cares and I care.
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