Religion Egos Lead to Teaching

Thursday, August 5, 2021

13-15 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. Finally, he said, “He put a clay paste on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.”

16 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.

17 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.”

18-19 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?”

20-23 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.”)

24 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.”

25 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.”

-John 9:13-25 The Message.

We are now at the point in the story where the religious leaders start to question the blind man about his seeing.

Verse 13: They brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind.

Verse 14: Now it was the Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.

Verse 15: The Pharisees were asking him again how he received his sight. The blind man responded, “He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”

Verse 16: One of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.”

Verse 17: The leaders responded, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” The blind man said, “He is a prophet.”

Verses 13-17 study: In these verses, we see things happen in our world today. People tend to investigate and debated about Jesus, and while all of this happening, people’s lives are healed, and lives are being changed. The doubtfulness people have is the reality that they have no evidence, but also there is so much jealousy of Jesus’ popularity and his influence on people. In the last few weeks, I have seen people talking about sin but not talking enough about Jesus and how he can change lives. People are persistent in changing the world but don’t have the right approach to changing the world.

Verses 14-16 study: The Jewish Sabbath was on a Saturday. That is the weekly holy day of rest. The Pharisees made a long list of do’s and don’t’s regarding the Sabbath. Now Jesus is aware of the Sabbath day and when it is. Part of the don’t is kneading the clay and healing the man is work, so it not allowed. Jesus did this on purpose to make his emphasis on his teaching about the Sabbath. There is nothing wrong with caring for people and help others’ needs, especially on the Sabbath day, a day of rest.

Verse 18: The Jews did not believe him, that he had been blind and had received sight until they called the parents of the very one who had received his view.

Verse 19: The leaders questioned the parents saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How does he now see?”

Verse 20: His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind;

Verse 21: But how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself.”

Verse 22: His parents said they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed to Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.

Verse 23: For this reason, the parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

Verse 24: For a second time, they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner.”

Verse 25: The man answered, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

Verse 25 study: This verse is the way to bring people to Christ. We as followers should share how we experienced Christ’s interaction. We should have the faith to share and not be afraid to share why our lives changed. It’s not about sharing how people sin. We don’t need to know all the answers about Christ; we just need to understand how our lives have changed. The man did not understand why he was being questioned repeatedly; he knew his life changed. So let’s stick to this. Let this be a reminder on how to bring followers.

Father, thank you for our study today. I pray that we can be encouraged to share how we encounter you. Our faith can bring so many people to follow you, but some people have different ways of doing that, including sharing the sins everybody does wrong. It’s not enough empathy in the world to convince people that you love us. Instead, we have people that want to make sure that sin is more important to talk about than our personal experiences of your love and life-changing experiences with you. I pray we can stick to your plan; it always works. In Jesus’ name. Amen!