Monday, November 20, 2023

20 November 2023 - believing is seeing


As Jesus approached Jericho
a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging,
and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening.

We can't understand that Jesus is passing by unless we are first told. As Paul wrote, "How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?" (See Romans 10:14). But although that is true, the preaching heard is often limited, and marred by the examples of the followers of Jesus.

They told him,
"Jesus of Nazareth is passing by."
He shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!"
The people walking in front rebuked him

We must not let the example of the followers of Jesus to prevent us from drawing near to him. We are those blind individuals who need Jesus himself to open the eyes our hearts. Yet even before we make it through the barrier of the crowds and come before him it is already he who, by his grace, is drawing us to himself. Who else but the Spirit of God could have revealed to this blind man that the one passing by was the Son of David, the long awaited messiah? Although it is true that God himself planted the seed in the heart of the man it was also true that he had to respond to that seed by refusing to allow the crowd to become an obstacle. There wasn't much that he could do. But he did do what was in his power to do, and Jesus himself saw to it that that was enough.

but he kept calling out all the more,
"Son of David, have pity on me!"

When we get the attention of Jesus it helps to have a certainty about what we desire and a unity of purpose to receive that desire. The blind man had no doubt desired to see as long as he had been blind. But that desire now seemed to culminate in a desire to see Jesus himself, not just physically, but spiritually. He already saw, in some measure, by faith. But he desired to see still more, the saving vision of Jesus, rich with enough detail that he would be able, not only to identify him, but to follow him.

He replied, "Lord, please let me see."
Jesus told him, "Have sight; your faith has saved you."
He immediately received his sight
and followed him, giving glory to God.

Jesus came to bring light to those dwelling in darkness. We too live in a time of much darkness when the true faith is hated and seen as an obstacle to social progress, as in the time of Antiochus. Fortunately, the royal decrees have not yet condemned the followers of Jesus to death. But it is certainly the case that we are being 'gentle encouraged' to abandon our particular customs, those unique and distinctive things that make us Christians. Stop insisting, they tell us, that Jesus is the only way to salvation. Stop insisting, we hear, that humans have a particular and God given purpose and destiny. Allow us, they insist, to define meaning on our own terms and as we like. They say, "At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life". And this is madness that can yield no lasting results, and which finally cannot hold water. The fact of all of this darkness, that it seems so pervasive as to be intractable, ought not give the followers of Jesus cause to fear. For no matter the darkness, the light is always greater. No matter our blindness, individually, or as a society, Jesus himself can heal us. 

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (see John 1:4-5).



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