Today’s Scripture:
“He answered, ‘Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.’” — John 9:25 (ESV)
Reflection
Today’s passage is very encouraging because we see this blind man come to faith. The Pharisees didn’t know if Jesus was really a sinner or not, because they weren’t judging Jesus on the right scale. They were judging based on their made up law system, not on Jesus’s true law. The blind man stands strong to his testimony, and even kind of mocks the Pharisees. When the Pharisees say that they don’t know where Jesus comes from, the blind man is even more amazed, as Jesus had to be from God to have the authority to perform these miracles. The blind man was then excommunicated from the synagogue. Jesus then finds the man, and asks him if he believes in the Son of Man, and the blind man says that he believes, and he worships Jesus. Jesus says that he came into the world to give sight to the blind and take away sight from those who see. The Pharisees ask Jesus if they are also blind, but Jesus responds that if they were blind, they would have no guilt, but since they say they see, they stand guilty.
I’ll just focus on the last part for today. Those who admit their blindness, the humble, repentant people, can find their sight in Jesus, and those who claim their sight, the self-righteous people, are made blind to their sin because they reject the light. This really just means to be humble and acknowledge our sins, especially to God, but also to each other sometimes. Don’t be self-righteous like the Pharisees, because the truth is that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. Yet Jesus seeks us out and asks us to believe like he did with the blind man. He heals us and lets us see when we follow his voice. “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” The blind man left his parents and his synagogue behind to follow Jesus, and he ultimately ends up gaining eternal life. I feel so encouraged by this story.