Daily Devotional

I recently had my grandson over to help me with some work in the backyard.  We were replacing 180 sq. ft. of overhead lattice.  There was an area on the fascia board of the house which had a tangle of wires.  These wires and connections were always in the way of the removable piece of lattice that we were replacing there.  So, I had him loosen and unhook all the wires.  Later I decided to cut and remove these, as they were coming from an old satellite dish above, no longer being used.  As he was considering cutting the thick wire, he asked, “Is there any electricity in these wires?”  That was a good question to ask when you are about to cut a wire!  But in this case, it was a question with limited knowledge.  But that was as far as he could see.

The disciples in today’s passage asked a question that was keeping with common understanding.  The afflictions or disabilities which plagued people in that day were considered the consequences of sin.  In the case of our text, maybe it was the sins of the blind man, or maybe the sins of the parents.  An either-or question.  This is as far as the disciples could think, much as my grandson thought in our project.

But Jesus was about working the works of the Father who had sent Him. To do so He had to see with eyes which were more than human, with understanding beyond that even of the religious culture of the day.  The call to us today is the same, and it is just a hard for us now as it was for them then.  Jesus’ answer to them declared that it was not sin at all in this man’s life or family which rendered him blind from birth.  It was that the works of God might be displayed in him!
 
This statement by Jesus is a great shock!  “You don’t mean to say that God afflicted this ‘of age’ man with blindness, all these years letting him suffer, just so Jesus could happen upon him and restore him?  So that God would be glorified?  May it never be!  How cruel!  God wouldn’t be like that!”  The trouble is, God is like that!  In fact, it is the explanation in this case of why this man existed at all, in the state that he did, and why Jesus came upon him at that moment in time.

Because we often let human sentiments drive us, we see only the human state, and make human conclusions.  But God is calling us to see with His eyes.  We must be about the works of the One who sent Jesus, much as He did.  This we cannot do if we function as mere men and women, even very religious ones.  We will not see past our feelings.

Jesus declared that He always did the things which were pleasing to God, John 8:29.  It was His only purpose to seek the glory of His Father who had sent Him, John 7:18. He was training His disciples to have these same motivations for all they did.  To do so, they would need to see the world and mankind with different eyes, eyes which could not see except in His light.  "I am the light of the world", Jesus said (verse 5).
 
Jesus put some spittle on the blind man’s eyes, and sent him away to wash in a pool.  He went and washed, and came back seeing.  This was the work of God demonstrated.  It led to all the rest of the God-work described in chapter 9.


I had a recent encounter at the prayer table after service.  I had to help the person there see in his situation past himself, and how the works of God might be displayed in his situation.  It would have been easier to think with “the poor blind man” syndrome, and feel sorry for losses cropping up in his world.  But God had bigger plans for him.  He had to see differently.  He had to refocus on working the work of God in what faced him.  I am eager to hear the outcome of it all!

We must work the works of Him who sent us while it is day (verse 4).  This is the adventure we are all sent to in Christ.  There is nothing more exciting than to see men go away and wash, and come back seeing! Nothing better than to see the glory of God rising from a pitiful, blind man situation!

Remember, it was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him (verse 3).  Contrary to the world, often even to the church.  But a door to be opened to display the glory of God!

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.