Devos- Pinedale Christian Church

Monday
Jul 25th, 2022

By: Matthew Sink

The Gospel of John-Day 36

John 9:16-34 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.” The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.

A few years ago I met every week or two with a guy in our congregation who wanted to believe in Christ, but he just couldn’t let go and follow Him. He had so many questions, and he wanted all of the answers before he had faith.

When we met, this guy would argue and debate the merits and the claims of Jesus. It was a lot easier for him to keep the argument on intellectual grounds than to face his spiritual need. He just got so lost in his personal expectations of God and his questions - “How did Jesus do that?” and the “Why does God allow that?” - that he couldn’t see the incredible, life-giving offer of Jesus, who was standing in front of him.

That Pharisees were like that. They tried to put God in their little box, and when He didn’t fit, they rejected Him, not the box. They were just sure they had God all figured out, and it made them crazy that Jesus upset their neat formula.

That’s why I love this man’s defense. He is standing in front of the religious, intellectual elite of his day, and they are questioning him: “HOW did Jesus heal you?” “WHY would He do it on the Sabbath?”

And the man says, “I don’t know how or why. I don’t understand almost anything that happened today. Really, all I know is, this morning, I couldn’t see, and now I can. I was blind and now I see.” Frankly, No intellectual argument can change that.

God doesn’t want to keep us in the dark. He gave us reason and common sense, and the more time we spend with Him the more we understand His will and His passions. But God also knows, (and we need to realize) – we will never really understand Him. He is WAY to big for us. A god that we could completely understand would be a very limited God, because we are people of very limited understanding. No, God is too big for us to fully explain or accurately predict, and we should celebrate that! Let’s celebrate the fact that He will never fit in our little, earth-made boxes. He is Creator. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is infinitely awesome, and He deserves our Worship. When someone asks you to explain Him, follow the blind man’s example in John 9 and say, “I don’t know all of the “whys” or “hows,” but I do know this one thing: I was blind and now I see.