St. John’s 9 – Third Movement

Posted on November 10, 2015 by America's Keswick in Freedom Fighters

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St. John’s 9th THIRD MOVEMENT

“Look!” the man exclaimed. “I told you once. Didn’t you listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become His disciples, too?” Then they cursed him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! We know God spoke to Moses, but we don’t even know where this man comes from.” “Why, that’s very strange!” the man replied. “He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where He comes from?” John 9:27-30 (NLT)

The Third Movement

It’s an amazing thing how the human default system can work. When life isn’t at its smoothest my default is frustration (then maybe kicking the family cat down the hall—that’s a joke…sorta) Some folks can let things roll off their backs and some people just have the ability to accept the circumstance and move forward. When it comes to our once blinded friend in the 9th chapter of John’s Gospel we can see a few different defaults take place. And just as the 3rd movement glides along in Beethoven’s 9th so we continue on with this Gospel-enriched orchestration we segue into the interrogation of our once blinded friend’s parental units.

I guess before Jesus actually walked among His nay-sayers there was a weird way of excommunicating people who didn’t repent and to say something like “Jesus is the Messiah” got the ball rolling. You had this 30, 60, 90-day time period to repent from making such statements or be totally cut-off from Jewish society. This had to be intimating and had to be in the forefront of our once blind man’s parents mind. So they’re default in this case was to save themselves… “We know this is our son and that he was born blind, but we don’t know how he can see or who healed him. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself.”

In my opinion we are seeing the first defender of the faith in the story of Jesus curing a man born blind. I’m pretty sure he isn’t schooled in the theology of the day, after all who wanted to teach the inferior back then (or even now for that matter). All he knows is that Jesus healed him and he really wants the world to know. Jesus doesn’t tell him to keep this miracle to himself either, Jesus told His disciples why it is that this man was born blind. It was to “Give Glory to God” as those wacky Pharisees demanded of him and he was doing just that…but the Pharisees were looking at it in a different light. Their standard default was denial even though it could be assumed that a miracle proclaimed the presence of a prophet and since this miracle was without parallel it has to be “of the Christ.”

I also admire this once blinded man’s resilience which is our blind friends default. His bold and courageous confession of Jesus Christ never wavered during the persistent interrogation of the Pharisees. Our once blind friend challenges the Pharisees in discipleship. They made their stand on being a disciple of Moses but they fail to understand that Moses was not an opponent of Jesus but a witness to Him. Moses came face to face with God the Father and these knuckleheads, I mean Pharisees, are coming face to face to God the Son but in their blindness they do not see Him. The only thing they have right is that this man was born entirely in sin, they just forgot to turn the finger onto themselves as well. And you know I often wondered just how much sin a Pharisee was allowed to have.

If we take a moment to ponder our once blind friend’s plight, his life had to be miserable and Jesus saves him from it. We are not too far removed from this either. We were spiritually blinded until Jesus flipped the script for us and I am sure that somewhere in our timeline we’ve run into folks who say that a leopard cannot change his spots and they get offended when we ask them to share in the very same name that saved us. If this isn’t happening to you once in a while I would examine yourself and see where you are positioned in your faith. There is a cost to discipleship in Jesus and if this has been a free ride for you please make this day of true salvation and let the armor that you say you wear take a ding or two in it. Amen? – Chris Hughes is a weekly Freedom Fighter blogger and is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy. Email him at cphughes515@verizon.net

Daily Bible Reading: Ezra 9-10; 2 Timothy 4

Think About This: “Discipleship without Jesus Christ is a way of our choosing. It may be the ideal way. It may even lead to martyrdom, but it is devoid of all promise. Jesus will certainly reject it.”—Dietrich Bonheoffer

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

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