This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so-called. I take it that you're familiar with the part I was given in God's plan for including everybody. I got the inside story on this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief. As you read over what I have written to you, you'll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God's Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I've been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board. (Ephesians 3:1-6 MSG)

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In part 7 (click here to read part 7), we exposed the agenda of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, who knew the truth but would not submit to it, but rather sought to suppress it. Here we will contrast their response to that of the simple and sincere person who is open to the truth.

[I]. Again Jesus performs another great miracle to improve the life of someone they had been powerless to help.

1. "Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, "Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?" Jesus said, "You're asking the wrong question. You're looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world's Light." He said this and then spit in the dust, made a clay paste with the saliva, rubbed the paste on the blind man's eyes, and said, "Go, wash at the Pool of Siloam" (Siloam means "Sent"). The man went and washed--and saw. Soon the town was buzzing. His relatives and those who year after year had seen him as a blind man begging were saying, "Why, isn't this the man we knew, who sat here and begged?" Others said, "It's him all right!" But others objected, "It's not the same man at all. It just looks like him." He said, "It's me, the very one." They said, "How did your eyes get opened?" "A man named Jesus made a paste and rubbed it on my eyes and told me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' I did what he said. When I washed, I saw." "So where is he?" "I don't know." (John 9:1-12 MSG)

[II]. They could not bring themselves to be happy for the healed man, being so transfixed on their religious hang-up with the fact that it had happened on the Sabbath.

1. "They marched the man to the Pharisees. This day when Jesus made the paste and healed his blindness was the Sabbath. The Pharisees grilled him again on how he had come to see. He said, "He put a clay paste on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see." Some of the Pharisees said, "Obviously, this man can't be from God. He doesn't keep the Sabbath." Others countered, "How can a bad man do miraculous, God-revealing things like this?" There was a split in their ranks." (John 9:13-16 MSG)

2. "There was a woman present, so twisted and bent over with arthritis that she couldn't even look up. She had been afflicted with this for eighteen years. When Jesus saw her, he called her over. "Woman, you're free!" He laid hands on her and suddenly she was standing straight and tall, giving glory to God. The meeting-place president, furious because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the congregation, "Six days have been defined as work days. Come on one of the six if you want to be healed, but not on the seventh, the Sabbath." But Jesus shot back, "You frauds! Each Sabbath every one of you regularly unties your cow or donkey from its stall, leads it out for water, and thinks nothing of it. So why isn't it all right for me to untie this daughter of Abraham and lead her from the stall where Satan has had her tied these eighteen years?" When he put it that way, his critics were left looking quite silly and red-faced. The congregation was delighted and cheered him on." (Luke 13:11-17 MSG)

3. "One Sabbath, Jesus and his disciples were walking through some wheat fields. His disciples were hungry and began picking and eating grains of wheat. Some Pharisees noticed this and said to Jesus, "Why are your disciples picking grain on the Sabbath? They are not supposed to do that!" Jesus answered: You surely must have read what David did when he and his followers were hungry. He went into the house of God, and then they ate the sacred loaves of bread that only priests are supposed to eat. Haven't you read in the Law of Moses that the priests are allowed to work in the temple on the Sabbath? But no one says that they are guilty of breaking the law of the Sabbath. I tell you that there is something here greater than the temple. Don't you know what the Scriptures mean when they say, "Instead of offering sacrifices to me, I want you to be merciful to others?" If you knew what this means, you would not condemn these innocent disciples of mine. So the Son of Man is Lord over the Sabbath." (Matthew 12:1-8 CEV)

[III]. They would rather deny the man was healed than admit Jesus is who he said was and sought to suppress the truth by putting pressure on others to deny the self evident truth for fear of rejection. The man's parents bowed to this pressure.

1. "They came back at the blind man, "You're the expert. He opened your eyes. What do you say about him?" He said, "He is a prophet." The Jews didn't believe it, didn't believe the man was blind to begin with. So they called the parents of the man now bright-eyed with sight. They asked them, "Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? So how is it that he now sees?" His parents said, "We know he is our son, and we know he was born blind. But we don't know how he came to see--haven't a clue about who opened his eyes. Why don't you ask him? He's a grown man and can speak for himself." (His parents were talking like this because they were intimidated by the Jewish leaders, who had already decided that anyone who took a stand that this was the Messiah would be kicked out of the meeting place. That's why his parents said, "Ask him. He's a grown man." (John 9:17-23 MSG)

[IV]. There is a simplicity to discerning God's in what He does that is accessible to all but the sophisticated, who presume to know more than everyone else. They prided themselves on their association with Moses as if he and Jesus were mutually exclusive, the reality is that Moses prophesied about Jesus and appeared with Him at the mount of transfiguration. Pride excludes these religious leaders from listening to the obvious truth seen more easily by those not blinded by human-centred knowledge and systems.

1. "They called the man back a second time--the man who had been blind--and told him, "Give credit to God. We know this man is an impostor." He replied, "I know nothing about that one way or the other. But I know one thing for sure: I was blind . . . I now see." They said, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" "I've told you over and over and you haven't listened. Why do you want to hear it again? Are you so eager to become his disciples?" With that they jumped all over him. "You might be a disciple of that man, but we're disciples of Moses. We know for sure that God spoke to Moses, but we have no idea where this man even comes from." The man replied, "This is amazing! You claim to know nothing about him, but the fact is, he opened my eyes! It's well known that God isn't at the beck and call of sinners, but listens carefully to anyone who lives in reverence and does his will. That someone opened the eyes of a man born blind has never been heard of--ever. If this man didn't come from God, he wouldn't be able to do anything." They said, "You're nothing but dirt! How dare you take that tone with us!" Then they threw him out in the street." (John 9:24-34 MSG)

2. "And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren't willing to receive from me the life you say you want. "I'm not interested in crowd approval. And do you know why? Because I know you and your crowds. I know that love, especially God's love, is not on your working agenda. I came with the authority of my Father, and you either dismiss me or avoid me. If another came, acting self-important, you would welcome him with open arms. How do you expect to get anywhere with God when you spend all your time jockeying for position with each other, ranking your rivals and ignoring God? "But don't think I'm going to accuse you before my Father. Moses, in whom you put so much stock, is your accuser. If you believed, really believed, what Moses said, you would believe me. He wrote of me. If you won't take seriously what he wrote, how can I expect you to take seriously what I speak?" (John 5:40-47 MSG)

3. "And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, What do you seek? They said to Him, Rabbi (which is called, being translated, Teacher), where do you live? He says to them, Come and see. They came and saw where He lived, and stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John and followed Him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, We have found the Messiah (which is, being translated, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus saw him, He said, You are Simon the son of Jonah; you shall be called Cephas (which translated is, A stone). The day after, Jesus desired to go forth into Galilee. And He found Philip and said to him, Follow Me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, We have found Him of whom Moses wrote in the Law and the Prophets, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said to him, Can there be any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him and said of him, Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile! Nathanael said to Him, From where do You know me? Jesus answered and said to him, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Nathanael answered and said to Him, Rabbi, You are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel! Jesus answered and said to him, Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these." (John 1:37-50 MKJV)

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Committed

A decision without return

A choice without retreat

Though death be the price

Onward be the march

No longer counting your life dear

That His life may be declared

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Many have faced such decisions

Abraham to slay the son he held dear

Ruth to follow Naomi into the unknown

Meshach Shadrach and Abednego in the heat of burning flames

Esther to plead with the king under the shadow of death

Paul to Rome with the threat of great pain

Jesus in the garden beholding the cross

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My life I give for His to be seen

Not my will but Yours be done

The final refrain

All upheld by the hand of God

To taste ultimate triumph

It is no fool

Who lets go of what they cannot keep

To receive that which they cannot loose

True life everlasting found in Him

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[V]. The man was not deterred by the rejection of the religious leaders and responded to Christ in faith. This, the religious leaders could not bring themselves to do despite Nicodemus’ admission in the third chapter of John, that they knew He was from God.

1. "Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and went and found him. He asked him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" The man said, "Point him out to me, sir, so that I can believe in him." Jesus said, "You're looking right at him. Don't you recognize my voice?" "Master, I believe," the man said, and worshiped him." (John 9:35-38 MSG)

[VI]. Here, Jesus rounds things off nicely by highlighting the fact that they claim to know so they exclude themselves from the true wisdom of God that Christ came to reveal in stark contrast to the simple man who was willing to learn so Christ revealed Himself to him.

1. "Jesus then said, "I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind." Some Pharisees overheard him and said, "Does that mean you're calling us blind?" Jesus said, "If you were really blind, you would be blameless, but since you claim to see everything so well, you're accountable for every fault and failure." (John 9:39-41 MSG)

2. It's no wonder "Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer: "Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. You've concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people." (Matthew 11:25 MSG)

(To be continued..)

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