GOOD NEWS FROM ST. JOHN
Meditations in the Gospel of St. John
St. John 9:8-12
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THIS man who had been born blind came under immediate attack because he had been healed by Jesus, and this assault on him because of Jesus and his allegiance to him, went on until the Pharisees cast him out of the synagogue. However the blessing he had received, and the love of Jesus towards him, caused him to stand his ground. In spite of all the abuse and anger directed towards him, he would rather have Jesus than the regard of these religious leaders. The question is how do Christians face such attack from the world. The experience and example of this man is very instructive, and our next few meditations will be looking at his example.

The first thing to notice is how great and undeniable was the miracle that Jesus performed on this man, and how clearly it testified to his Messiahship. This is indicated from the way he was received by people who knew him well before he was healed.

His neighbours and others immediately recognised him, as we see in verses 8 and 9, but they found it so hard to believe what to them was impossible. A birth disorder such as blindness was known to be incurable in those days, and so they were almost ready to imagine that what their eyes told them must have some other explanation. However, even though they were seeing the impossible, they were compelled, against their will, to accept that the man before them was the one who they had seen blind and begging, and that now he could see.

In spite of all the reluctance of people to believe, Jesus gave undeniable and irrefutable proof that he was the Christ, the Son of God. The amazing thing is the darkness that is in natural human nature. Light has come into the world, but people would rather have the darkness, and seek to find any explanation rather than accept that Jesus did perform these acts of divine power. Here the people were more ready to assume that the man they saw was a ‘look alike’, rather than accept the truth. We are told in John 3:19 that the reason people refuse to believe is because they love darkness because of the sin within them. Our natural fallen and corrupt human nature, however moral and good in an earthly sense, still hates the pure light of God, until the Holy Spirit shines into the heart dispelling the darkness.

What is so heartening and encouraging for every Christian is the way the man responded to the unbelief and antagonism he had to endure. We see here that he was not afraid to own that he was the one born blind, and that he could now see. He was also ready to testify to what he had experienced. In spite of all the unbelief and abuse he held fast to his testimony and would not give it up. Nor did he seek to hide away, and keep his blessing to himself.

Here is an example to every believer. It is a great temptation, because we fear the world, to keep quiet about our faith. We justify our action by saying that we are not denying Jesus, we are simply keeping quiet. In fact if we are afraid to witness to what Jesus has done for our souls, then tacitly we are being ashamed of him. This man was not ashamed, and we must not be afraid to tell people as opportunity arises, that Jesus has saved us from our sins, and given us peace with God.

This does not mean that we should be a nuisance in our witness, and be always pressing people to listen to us, and pressing our faith upon them, but it does mean that we want to share our faith, that we are looking to the Lord for opportunities for such witness, and that we are ready to tell people about Jesus as opportunities are given us.

There is a fear we all have that we are not equipped to witness, and we do not know what to say. We are not used to speaking, and we have not got the understanding to be able to explain the faith properly. This man is a very helpful model for us. He had had no training. He was just an ordinary person, but he could talk, and so he simply told the story of what had happened to him.

We are not called to preach sermons, nor is it expected of us that we know everything or can answer difficult questions that are brought to us, but we are able to speak about our experiences and we do it in other directions all the time. We tell people what happened to us in this place and on that occasion, and we have no trouble in doing so. This is all the witness we are called to do. We tell people what has happened, and what Jesus now means to us.

This is what this man did (v.11). He tells how Jesus made some mud, placed it upon his eyes, and told him to wash, and that when he did wash, his sight was given him. We too can tell people how Jesus met us spiritually, and what we experienced. We can also tell people how Jesus has been with us in our difficulties. We can tell people that prayer is real, and we have had our prayers answered, and so on.

But what about the difficulty of people denying what we say, and asking us difficult questions which we do not know the answer to. This man helps us. He was asked to show where Jesus was. The man did not know. He had gone from Jesus to wash, and had not seen Jesus since. The man did the sensible thing and the only thing he could do. He told his questioners that he did not know the answer to their question.

There is no shame in admitting that we don’t know all the answers, or even any of the answers to the questions thrown at us. Because this man did not know where Jesus was, it did not alter the fact of the blessing he had received. Nor does our ignorance alter the fact that Jesus has blest us and saved us, and that we have met with him. The world thinks that bringing questions of unbelief, they are showing that the faith of Jesus is foolish and untrue, but the truth is that they are not willing to face the truth before them.