IF YOU REALLY SEE GOD, you’ll see Him helping and healing people.
Have you ever seen a no-see-um? No-see-ums are a nasty tribe of biting midges so tiny as to be almost invisible. When I read what the New Testament says about the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, the Pharisees and Sadducees, I think of them as Phari-no-sees and Sad-you-no-sees. The One sent from God was right in front of them, but they could no-see-Him.
Some of the Pharisees said, “Obviously, this man [Jesus] can’t be from God. He doesn’t keep the Sabbath” (John 9:16a, msg). Jesus wouldn’t stay in their six-day-box because God never takes a day off from helping people. Others countered, “How can a bad man do miraculous, God-revealing things like this?” There was a split in their ranks (John 9:16b, msg).
A split in their ranks? I would call it a split between those with vision and those with no vision. What was a dark eclipse for some was more like breaking daylight for others.
Some were beginning to see Jesus as doing God-revealing things. In other words, they saw Him doing things that revealed a life-giving, people-helping God. They saw God-in-Jesus working overtime to make people physically, psychologically, socially, spiritually, presently and eternally more alive.
Ready to pounce on any misstatement, the religious leaders asked the post-blind man who he thought Jesus was. The man replied simply, “He is a prophet” (John 9:17b). Some people may see Jesus as a prophet, a Higher Power, or an inspired teacher before they see Him as God’s Son.
The newly healed blind man may not have been sure who Jesus was at that point, but he was certainly aware of God’s goodness—and knew that what Jesus had done for him had vastly increased his quality of life. For the moment, that was okay. It’s all right to be partly right about Jesus—if you’re open to finding out more.
Flustered, the religionists tried to pull the puppet strings of the seeing man’s parents, and succeeded. Instead of defending their son or his healer, the parents threw their boy under the bus and cowardly replied, “Ask him.” It makes me want to check my own back for a yellow streak. Fear of man can blind one to God-revealing things happening right in front of our faces.
Life Challenge: Ask God to help you do at least one life-giving, people-helping, God-revealing thing today.