Eyewitness

John 9:¹¹ “He told them, “The man they call Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourself.’ So I went and washed, and now I can see!”

When they asked this man who healed him, even though he had never seen before in his life and Jesus might have been standing beside him. He had never seen Jesus, so he did not know what Jesus looked like, but he had learned Jesus’ name. Why is this important? Remember the man that was crippled, when he was asked who healed him, he said he did not know. And immediately he found Jesus, he went to tell the religious leaders that this is the man. However, this man had a disability in his sight but deployed his hearing. Most times, when we have a challenge in one area, we allow it to cripple everything about us. Not this blind man; he allowed his ears to work and he allowed his mouth to work. Which means he must have asked to know who the man that healed him was.

John 9:¹² “Where is he now?” they asked. “I don’t know,” he replied.” He really did not know because he was still blind when he last encountered Jesus. When he came back from the pool seeing, there were so many people and he could not identify Jesus. Please read John 9:19-23; the man’s parents had been brought in for interrogation and their response was very interesting. However, the Bible did not mince words, the reason the parents responded like that was, they were afraid that the Jews will excommunicate them [send them out of the synagogue], which they eventually did to their son. The state was a religious state and there was a state religion, so to be sent out of the synagogue is like being excommunicated. What do you think about the response of the blind man’s parents? Wisdom, cowardice, an act of frustration, nonchalant, or self-preservation?

John 9:²⁴ “So for the second time they called in the man who had been blind and told him, “God should get the glory for this, because we know this man Jesus is a sinner.” “God should get the glory for this…”, that sounds pious, right? But it is coming from a dangerous heart. When they say, “God should get the glory for this…’, it is a religious way of saying, ‘tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God.’ Like in the story of Joshua when they caught Achan and Joshua said in Joshua 7:¹⁹ “Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, by telling the truth. Make your confession and tell me what you have done. Don’t hide it from me.” They are juxtaposing God into the situation to compel the man, like putting him under oath.

John 9:²⁵ “He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.” (KJV]. In other words, stop trying to confuse me with theology. I know what I know. I was blind but now I can see, and you cannot take away that from me. People can take away anything from you – your title, your job, your possessions, the church, anything. Let them take it. But there is one thing they cannot take, that is, your encounter with Jesus. Nobody can take away your relationship with Jesus, it is personal.

Prayer [hymn]: Oh, how I love Jesus (3x), because He first loved me. Amen!