Scripture:
Jesus heard that they had cast him (the formerly blind beggar) out and having found him (Jesus) said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” (The beggar) answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord I believe,” and he worshipped him.
Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world “that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind.””
Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to (Jesus) “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind you would have no guilt; but now that you say “We see” your guilt remains.
John 9:35-41
Observation:
It is very cool that Jesus healed the blind man. However, He did that to make a point. Am I a Pharisee because I see? Or because I say “I see…”?
Application:
If I am ever going to learn from the Scriptures I need to look at and find the purpose or principle behind what He says. Sometimes that is very difficult and I think that I have fallen into the trap of looking for something that isn’t there.
Like fishing sometimes trolling on the surface works and other times the bait needs to run deep. Surface is easy; deep waters are tougher to get a catch from.
The single statement above: “For judgment I came into this world “that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind…”” can be puzzling. So what can this mean?
I am not a biblical scholar but I think I have to go back to a principle from Ps 119: “I will delight in your statutes” (v16); “Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors” (v24); “When I think upon my ways I turn my feet to your testimonies” (v59), and; “The unfolding of your words gives light; It imparts understanding to the simple” (v130).
So here is what I think: 2 principles. 1) He is God and I will have no other gods before me, and; 2) I am, at my core, a treasonous person to the Trinitarian Creator of all things, my eyes full of “me.”
If I truly consider my ways I will realize I am blinded by my self-absorption with the face in the mirror. That was the issue with the Pharisees in this passage. Because they asserted “we see” they proved they were blind to the Son of Man and all Jesus means.
The “we see” phenomenon is why I need redemption and salvation only found in Jesus’ act of atonement. This is the Gospel that I should preach to the face in the mirror every day because every day in some way I forget the Gospel.
Always go back to the Doctrines of Grace, the Precepts and Principles found in the testimonies of the Most High—maybe the Word of God will unfold under these strong foundations.
Prayer:
Lord God, thank you for dropping insight into my heart about this. I will be thinking upon this for a long time I think, trying to smooth out my understanding of your Word in John 9. AMEN.