WATCHWORD:
1 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. 2 “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?” 3 “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. 4 We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work. 5 But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. 7 He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam”. So, the man went and washed and came back seeing!” John 9:1-7
Meditation:
You Had to Be There
Fourth of July weekend in Michigan. My brother-in-law and I are playing a beautiful golf course, when suddenly we were overtaken by a rainstorm that drove us under the deck of one of the hillside luxury homes that bordered the course. Immediately we discovered that the deck was only a partial shelter and we were still being rained upon. Pads for the deck chairs had been stored in that space, so we each grabbed one and held them over our heads. It was a ridiculous scene; soaked to the skin, pads held over our heads. We turned to one another, then broke out into laughter… You had to be there!
My Bible study group has just completed Exodus. I don’t know how much time we spent trying to figure out how the Hebrews could possibly smelt gold there in the desert for the temple as God required, or how long they traveled before they set up camp, or where they found all the material and all the talent to create all the finely detailed material and items to be contained within the Tabernacle. They did and God was pleased. I think we had to be there to fully understand how it was. accomplished.
The mind of a child is a marvelous thing because they listen as you read a story and it is played out, reconstructed as a reality in their minds. They want to taste the green eggs and ham, or they don’t – it would be icky! They want the baby swan to know that the mother hen in the barnyard is not their mother. They want to know what the gift of the Magi was and was it wrapped in pretty paper and ribbons. Don’t even ask about Jack and the Beanstalk, you might find that Jack climbed right into the tooth fairy’s castle and they lived happily ever after! Some things you have to be there to really appreciate. Imagination!
Jesus takes dirt and spit and makes mud, smearing it on the eyes of the man blind from birth. Go and wash in the Pool of Saloam. He does as he’s told and this sight is restored. Allen Jackson tells us that scripture doesn’t reflect the emotion of a man seeing for the first time, it implies he just went on his way. Jackson calls this one of the great understatements in the Bible. Blind from birth now he is seeing people, mountains, flowers, trees, animals, life, everywhere, and he just goes on? Come on! He dances and screams and sings and stares at everything he can see. He can’t stop looking at stuff! He Can See!
So, the man that was healed by Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees, and to their question, I imagine he would answer: “I don’t know whether he is a sinner, or not, but I know this: I was blind, and now I can see! You had to experience what I have! I’ll follow Him!”
Have you ever uttered the phrase, “My mind’s eye”? In other words, using your imagination to create or to recreate a scene you have read about or heard about in your mind to better understand what is happening. I think imagination is a greatly under-estimated gift of God that often times we have mis-applied to our own desires. Yet, it is such a wonderful tool in understanding Scripture. What Scripture doesn’t say, God gave us imagination to fill in some of those blanks, to bring deeper meaning out of a hanging sentence or connecting two ideas, or the order in which miracles occurred.
Was Lazarus raised to life before the feeding of the 4,000, or just before Jesus entry into Jerusalem on day #1 of Holy Week? Does it matter? The point is, both of those events happened, their chronology, a bit fuzzy. Miracles! We need to guard against majoring in minors! To not be distracted by trying to figure out the science connected with restoring physical blindness, or smelting gold, etc., instead concentrate on improving our spiritual sight, or overcoming our own blindness.
God has given us talents to deal with BS in the Scripture – Blank Spaces! Prayer and meditation and spiritual imagination on the Word is a powerful formula to keep us centered on the Way, the Truth, and the Life in Jesus. Oh, by the way, you are there! Imagine that! Amen.
Illumine Me, Spirit Divine:
Open my eyes that I may see
glimpses of truth thou hast for me.
Place in my hands the wonderful key
that shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my eyes, illumine me,
Spirit divine!
Open Our Eyes, Lord:
We search for joy and meaning in our world. We look for it in our careers, our social circles, and along many of our paths in life. But these things are often fleeting, and our search is unsustainable. God forgive us for not seeking Your kingdom first. Remove those blinders that prevent us from seeing what You are doing in the world and in our lives. Help us to have our eyes focused only on You. May we seek the ultimate treasure which is Your salvation. Help us to trust that we are a forgiven people, who find joy in the assurance that we are Yours. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
