The Progression from Blind to Seeing

Start with reading John 9:1-41.

Let's start with looking at Christ's compassion in this passage. In the midst of Christ trying to elude his would-be murderers, he stops to look after someone else who needs him. And this shows us a few things about Christ. First of all, He is never too busy to win someone to himself. Secondly, he is more concerned with the welfare of others more than his own welfare. And lastly, he notices those around him who are typically ignored by others. And of course, this is a great lesson to us. Too many times we try to allow our schedules and interests to overtake our lives and we forget to share the love of Christ with those around us who need it. We need, instead, to take the focus off of ourselves and make sure that we are ministering to those around us and pointing them to Christ.

 

We can also learn a lesson from the Disciples faulty thinking here. They believed, and this was a common belief among the Jews, that physical problems are God's way of punishing someone for sin in their life or in the life of their parents. So, they believed that either the blind man or his parents must have committed a HUGE sin. Now, we know that that is not how God works. Sometimes, physical problems are results of sin (think STDs), but not always. And many times, God does use these types of circumstances to bring glory to His name and to draw people to Him.

 

So, Christ shows the truth here. He shows them the mistake in their thinking and then heals the blind man, using this man's weakness to bring glory to God.

However, Christ doesn't leave this man with just physical healing. He also brings him spiritual healing. This man comes to know Christ in stages, which is revealed through the Jewish leaders questioning of him. First of all, in verse 11, he sees Christ as a mere man and that's how he answers their questions. Then, in verse 17, he starts to recognize that there was someone special about Christ and this time when the Jewish leaders question him, he answers that Christ is a prophet. He even goes so far in verses 27-28 in which he rebuked the Jewish leaders for their questioning of him and Christ's miracle. Moving onto verses 30-33, we see that the blind man finally sees Christ as God and this is how he answers the Jewish leaders when they again question him. And if you think about it, this is how many people have to come to Christ. I like how this passage ends with the man worshipping Christ as he finally realized who Christ is for him.

 

                           

           

The Day After The Feast

Start with reading John 7:53-8:59. Remember, last week, we saw Christ at the end of the Festival of Booths making another claim to His role as God. Well, after all of this, Christ comes back to Jerusalem. Some may ask why, since Christ clearly knows the hearts of the Jewish leaders and their desire to put him on trial and eventually put him to death, would Christ come back at this point. It's important to remember that Christ had a job to do and that he was in complete control of the situation. In other words, the Jewish leaders could not touch Christ until it was the right time.

 

So anyways, while Christ is teaching, the Jewish leaders develop a plan that they think will work and trap Christ and hopefully get him out of their hair. The know that they cannot legitimately accuse Christ of doing anything wrong (because he hasn't done anything!), so they decided to set a trap for Him. In fact, for the next six months, the Jewish leaders would try to catch Christ in some mistake so that they could find some reason to eliminate Him.

This is the first of those tests that John records. They come to Christ with what they sure is a problem that he can't solve without incriminating himself. They bring a woman to Christ who has been caught in the act of adultery. In their minds, Christ has two options:

Option #1: Say that the woman should be stoned and then He contradicts His own mission of mercy and ends any speculation that he might be the Messiah in the eyes of the people.

 

Option #2: Say the she should be free and He then contradicts the Mosaic Law (Lev. 20:10) and they can then accuse Christ of sinning (breaking the Law).

                                                        

However, as we know, Christ is God and knows what they are thinking and already has a better answer for them. He acts very cool, calm, and collected and begins drawing in the dirt....wait? What's he doing? He begins drawing in the dirt. Now, we don't have any record of what he did, but maybe he was writing the sins of the woman's accusers in the dirt (that's what some believe). What do you think?

So, after a bit of time Jewish leaders probably angrily murmuring among themselves, Christ gives a third option: "Stone her and let the person who has never sinned throw the first stone." Wow! Christ not only came up with a third option, but he twisted the situation around and made the Jewish leaders examine not the hearts of those around them, but their own hearts. How many times has Christ done this to you and in what way?

Oh, and here's the embarrassing part: this was in front of a crowd. Jesus had been teaching and the Jewish leaders interrupted him sure that they had the upper hand. Now, they're viewed as hypocrites. An interesting thought is seen in verse 9. Look at who left first. The oldest leaders. Perhaps they were beginning to see some of the wisdom Christ's teachings.


However, John begins to delve into several areas that the Jewish leaders are ignorant spiritually over the next several verses. Start in verses 13-18. This verse shows that they are ignorant of Christ's truthfulness. They accused Christ of lying about who he was and Christ turns around and says  that He is not the only one who is claiming that He is God and he uses their own Laws against them (verses 17-18).

Next, we see that the Jewish leaders are ignorant of Christ's Father. In verse 19, they think that Christ was referring to Joseph and treat this as a joke. They don't either realize or are choosing to ignore the Father to whom he is truly referring. Perhaps they even know the stories surrounding Christ's birth and the fact that his birth appeared to be illegitimate.

Next, we see their ignorance of Christ's destiny in verses 22-24. When Christ says that He was going to go away and they could not follow, they think that Christ means that he is going to kill himself because they are so confident in their eternal security and say that Christ must be going to hell because that's the only place they can't go. The phrase Christ uses to say "Where I am going, you cannot go away," what he really means is "I am withdrawing myself."

In verses 25 through 33, we see the Jewish leaders ignorance of Christ's Identity. I love Christ's response to them when they ask "who are you?" He basically say, "I've already told you; you're not getting another answer because it hasn't changed."

Verses 33 through 47 shows their ignorance/forgetfulness of their own history. In fact, they get offended when Christ says that they will be set free! Wait a minute, when they say they have never been enslaved, aren't they forgetting their time in Egypt? They are so blinded by their hate of Christ, that they are missing the message of hope that Christ was offering them and forgetting their need for freedom from sin.

Continuing onto verse 48 through 52, we see that the Jewish leaders are ignorant of Christ's character. They call him a Samaritan, a highly offensive name for the Jews. They call him this to mock his love and compassion for all men, even the dreaded Samaritans. They even go so far as to accuse Christ of demon possession. They would rather not see the acts of God as they are and would rather ignore it and attribute it to the devil.

 

In verses 53-56, the Jewish leaders show their ignorance of Christ's greatness because in their eyes here, he has made himself greater than Abraham and no one can be greater than Abraham. They've forgotten that the Messiah should be greater than Abraham.

Lastly, in these last few verses, they show their ignorance of Christ's eternality. Again, they get hung up on this Abraham issue. How could anyone be greater than Abraham or have lived before him.

So, here we see one of Christ's greatest claims to deity. "Before Abraham was, I AM." First of all, notice the phrase "I Am." This is God's name. But even more than that, notice the grammar. Before Abraham was (past tense), I am (present tense). No, this is not an accident. What Christ is saying is "I am always present, even 2,000 years before the time I am walking here on earth." Wow, what a way to end this passage!

Division at the Feast

Depiction of the Last Day of the Festival of Booths

Start by reading John 7:32-53. We see in this passage that Christ is making clear that he did not come to bring the kind of peace that the Jewish people were expecting.  As we dig into this passage, ask yourself, where would you fit in this story? What position would you take?

After the craziness of the last passage, we see the Pharisees are now moving in on Christ to question him about who he is and what he is teaching. It's a short conversation, however, because Jesus confuses them. When he says he is going where they cannot find him, they completely miss Christ's meaning and assume that he is going to the Greeks. Obviously now, we know that Christ meant heaven and that those who do not believe in him could not follow him. As their trying to puzzle out his meaning, Christ slips away.

Fast forward a few days and we see Christ emerge back into the public eye to give a prophecy about the Holy Spirit. If you look at what Christ says, it would sound pretty crazy if you were standing there. So, what did Christ mean when he said "Come unto me and out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water"? Well, let's get some background. This is the last day of the feast and on this day, there was a special ceremony called the Feast of the Rejoicing of the House of the Water-Pouring. This ceremony was meant to point towards the coming Messiah. It celebrated two events: 1) the water that flowed from the rock at Sinai (Exodus 17:1-7) and the coming reign of the Messiah and the river of living water that would flow from His throne (Ezekial 4:1, 9). It was at some point during this ceremony that Christ made his startling announcement. It makes a little more sense now, knowing what the ceremony was supposed to point towards. Christ was making yet another claim to being the Christ, and if you remember, John's purpose is to prove Christ as God, so it makes sense that he records this passage.

As a result of this claim of Christs, we see at this point, that people are still dividing themselves in regards to who Christ is. Some believe in Him as the Messiah (vs. 40-41), some are still confused about Jesus (vs. 41-42), some choose to reject Him (vs. 44), some who are afraid of Christ and touching Him (vs. 45-59), and lastly, one who is recorded as defending him (vs. 50-53). So, I ask again, where would you stand if you had been a part of that crowd that day?