John 9:39 The fire of the miraculous

And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”

John 9:39 NASB

Separating the sheep from the goats

There is a thin line between heaven and earth — what happens in one is reflected in the other. What I am able to see isn’t just the image on the back of my retina, it’s the understanding that comes with it. It’s the heart that sees and not just the lens through which I look. Jesus came to “proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners” and help us to see the kingdom and the creator, and the marvelous reality of our Heavenly Father.

Jesus was able to see his Father, and where he worked. He did the same. Seeing is intended to open a gateway between two worlds so heaven may be reflected on earth in sons and daughters living to their full potential. With vision comes the ability to see the lies stacked up intending to prevent this from happening. Men who believe and live in a lie is the ultimate obstacle or blindness — not wicked spirits. The power of the adversary is in their deception. Depending on what I value determines who I will serve and what I will see.

As I read the John 9 story, it’s almost comical — the reader can see clearly that Jesus healed the man of blindness, but the Pharisees could not and would not. Why wouldn’t they accept something that seems so obvious? There is a powerful lesson in this story: men were unwilling to believe the evidence because the facts were inconvenient. If a man healed another on the Sabbath — working and violating that inflexible law and line in the sand that measured godliness or sin — Jesus, and the healed man, were not part of the Jewish faith. They could not be part of the club over which they presided and alone decided who was a member in good standing. This lesson stares me in the face and tells me: what I am willing to believe either allows me to see or blinds me to the truth. Willingness is first. Understanding follows.

Willingness is the key to understanding

Blindness or sight is not simply off or on. It’s about the meaning I get from what I see. (I may see a kitchen fire but if I don’t leave the building, what value is the information?) All men have an understanding or belief about how life works. When something occurs outside of that grid, like a supernatural healing, after an initial bewilderment, the mind grasps for an explanation that fits my thinking grid. I choose how to explain the event with what I know, or what I am willing to know.

The blind man’s neighbors and those familiar with observing him were first to stumble. If in the morning they saw the blind beggar sitting like any other day, they would have had no difficulty identifying him. But, the heart trips when they saw this same man, clearly with sight. Some immediately accepted he was the same man and something extraordinary had happened. Others refused. Why? The disciples’ question in verse 2 becomes important — they assumed he was born in sin and judged him and his family in this context. Their judgement elevated themselves above the very mercy and grace they needed. If their faith was based on their own righteousness, then unknowingly the contrast they created with this blind beggar served as an anchor. Some of his neighbors saw the reality of a healed man, some didn’t. Time to call in the Pharisaic CSI team.

The Pharisees quickly established the facts. This man was born blind, the evidence supports it, his parents confirmed it, the people acknowledged he was the one who begged every day, and the means of the healing was Jesus. Why is it tough to believe?

They were unwilling.

They repeated the whole process a second time. Something must be wrong, or they must have missed a key piece of evidence. But there are a couple unmovable “assumptions” or lenses through which they were observing: Jesus is not the Messiah; the healing violated the Sabbath; finally, Sabbath violators are not from God. There could be many reasons for their unwillingness — but they would have all faded had their hearts obeyed the first command: “Love the Lord you God with all your heart, soul, and might.”

This grid, this box, this blindness in which they lived did not allow for a possibility outside of their well-worn expectation: A man born blind, through no fault of his own or his family, was healed by the Messiah, an outsider to the religious Jews, on the Sabbath. The mental map from which man operates is comfortable familiarity. This is definitely not comfortable or familiar. So, if my predisposition is to interpret what I see through what I already know there is a possibility that every day I am missing the miraculous. I see it, but quickly pound it into my grid, make it fit, explain it away, and go on my merry way.

If my disposition is to interpret everything within my current grid, no matter how limited or expansive it is, how could I ever see anything supernatural? And if my grid is similar to the majority of my neighbors, it is even more difficult to move beyond a false sense of safety in numbers.

Leap of faith

Recognizing a miracle is one thing, but having faith that the man Jesus is the Messiah is another. The Pharisees investigated and found that yes, this man was a blind beggar, and now he sees because of Jesus. The Pharisees knew of Jesus and had already determined that anyone who recognized him as the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. That predisposition was evident during their investigation, despite the evidence. The way they dismissed the facts was jolting. Why not just suspend an opinion if they weren’t ready?

There is a natural, God-made filter on faith. If one is unwilling to believe and allow action to follow, the eyes of the heart go blind. One will not see heaven or Him who is in it. Understanding is obscured. Truth hidden. Mysteries unsolved.

The burden of a testimony

If there were no miracles, no blind eyes being opened, no dead raised, no love expressed, no opening of the prison doors for the poor and weak, then one could continue in blind unbelief unmolested. But when words are spoken, miracles are performed, and people see the incredible, there is a burden of responsibility upon everyone who observes to reckon with what they saw.  Jesus started a fire in the midst of the Jewish people that cannot be extinguished. He was the real deal and one either accepted it, or rejected it. The wood will be burned, the gold refined. A little further on in John, the stakes become even greater when Lazarus is raised from the dead. If healing a blind man leaves one in denial, the burden to reconcile Jesus’ identity become mandatory when seeing a man raised from the dead.

And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” He answered…, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”

Matthew 13:10-13 NKJV

If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself.

John7:17NASB

For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.”

John 12:39-40 NIV

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.”

Matthew 11:25 NIV

When our hearts are willing to believe, and the filter is removed we may see. But believing isn’t a one-time event, it’s a choice I make daily.

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Ephesians 1:18 NIV

Cause for celebration — and separation

This was an incredible day. A truly great thing happened to this man. He was blind and miserable and shackled in poverty and limitation and now is free! Not only was his physical sight restored, but unlike most around him, his spiritual sight was restored at the same time. A blind man receiving sight should have been worthy of a huge celebration. He also received his sight spiritually — a example for all who observed. The first thing our adversary did was kick up the dust to obscure what happened. Satan enveloped the event in controversy and threat. As a result, the one who was healed is the first to be cast out for his faith in Jesus. He started his day like any other, and ended being healed, redeemed, and an outsider in Israel. The social stigma, the dishonor, the distance from his roots of faith, on the surface would be a very bad thing. But in context, he had already been living as an outcast in extreme poverty. Being a blind beggar came with even a worst stigma since his neighbors were probably indoctrinated that he was cursed because of inherent or family sin. After the many years he occupied that wretched space, now he saw, it’s difficult to know what this meant on many levels. Given the context, being ousted may have actually been a gift since he immediately connected his new faith with the living vine. Jesus is the Messiah. Like the unique moment he revealed himself to the woman at the well, again he clearly identified himself, “you have both seen him, and he is the one who is talking to you.”

God knew him. Loved him. Rescued him. And now like David, he was falsely accused and chased out of the congregation of the faith, and like him would let his roots grow in the Holy Spirit — on his own away from unbelieving teachers, old wineskins, who had no room for God. A firstborn, so to speak, among those who would follow Christ.

Returning to today, most churches would make the requirement of gathering together in the church synonymous with salvation. But God’s grace freely flows without any obligation to a human organization. Who I fellowship with and what church I attend can be an important part of my journey, but not a necessary one.

Every day the kingdom advances. Jesus, open my eyes that I may see you and the wonders you work among me, and through me, every day.

For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant. I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn rivers into islands and dry up the pools. I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.”

Isaiah 42:14-16 NIV