John 9
Man blind from birth. Who sinned? It’s human nature it seems that we assume pain or perceived weakness or lack comes from someone’s failure or mistake.
‘As long as it is day we must do the works of him who sent me’, it says in NIV. Works of ‘him who sent me’ to point those who think they see, but are blind to the light of truth. Jesus in this passage heals physically, which is a huge deal for some, but the biggest healing of all is the healing of the core of a person.
Are we aching to be like Jesus? To do the things he did, whether in the everyday or in the supernatural? Have we seen the truth, the truth that can set us free, free to worship him without fear when we ought to be cowering in fear both because of the virus at the moment but more because of the judgement which ought to stand against us because of the so many, many ways that we fall short? We can be truly, truly free if we trust Jesus. But if we don’t, then we won’t just be spiritually blind, we’ll be paralysed as well. God’s rescue plan for humanity is Jesus. That’s it. That’s all he needed to be sure that the job of saving us would be done and done to completion. We can live in the light of this huge gift because we have the Holy Spirit with us as a guide, a friend, a counsellor. I think a lot of us are going to need guiding, friendship and counselling in all senses of the word before this thing is done.
We need to be good friends to each other at the moment, friends to our communities, friends to people in our families and homes, if it’s possible. Christians at this time could feel a huge pressure to prove that Jesus is who He said He is and to work so hard, so very hard. As if it’s the working hard that will fix everything. Do keep working for the good of everyone you can, but it’s the power of God and the love of God that will do the good things that we all need most of all.
