And I who looked for only God, found thee. ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning
At one time in my life, I felt that even though I had been raised to know and love God, a type of spiritual blindness kept me from truly seeing Jesus.
John 9 tells of the man blinded from birth whom Jesus healed by making a paste of clay and his own saliva: [Jesus] …spit in the dust, made a clay paste with the saliva, rubbed the paste on the blind man's eyes, and said, "Go, wash at the Pool of Siloam" (Siloam means "Sent"). The man went and washed - and saw. ~John 9:6-7
As is to be expected, those in Jerusalem who have known this man to be blind from birth are shocked and dismayed and they want answers as to how this came about. The leaders of the day are urging him to deny Jesus as the one who restored his sight.
16 Some of the Pharisees said, "Obviously, this man can't be from God. He doesn't keep the Sabbath." Others countered, "How can a bad man do miraculous, God-revealing things like this?" There was a split in their ranks. 17 They came back at the blind man, "You're the expert. He opened your eyes. What do you say about him?" ~John 9:16-17 What do you say about him?”
As we near the Easter celebration and raise our voices with the chorus of “Hosannas” this Palm Sunday, how can we not also wonder about our own answer?
For so many years, while I believed that Jesus was God’s son and acknowledged him as my savior, I embarrassingly hid from others the fact that I didn’t understand Jesus’ true place in my everyday life. Eventually, I decided to come right out and ask God to remove this darkness from my eyes with a simple request, “Please show me Jesus.”
They said, "You're nothing but dirt! How dare you take that tone with us!" Then they threw him out in the street. Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and went and found him. ~John 9:34-35
This would have been a terrible fate for any Hebrew, this casting out. With his newly restored vision, this man is cast out and away from everything he’s known, everything that has provided him security in the past. He had to feel so alone. And yet the story does not end there because we are presented with this intimate action of a savior with great compassion who searches him out, for him to understand, “You are NOT alone.” This is the Savior we serve. This is the Savior I have come to know and serve. A Savior who seeks us out. A Savoir who seeks me out. A Savior who cares about individuals. A Savior who cares about me.
Thinking about Jesus’ triumphal ride into Jerusalem, and the spectators that crowded the route, I wonder if this former blind man, cast out of Jerusalem might have been standing among the celebrants on the parade route. As Jesus passed, perhaps he shouted, “Lord, Remember me?! It’s because of you that I can see!” And when their eyes met, in the eyes of his Savior did he see the love, the compassion, the determination that spoke to every individual that day and in the days to come. “I will never forget you. I’m doing this for you.”
“Thank you God, for letting me see Jesus.”
Hosanna!
John 9 tells of the man blinded from birth whom Jesus healed by making a paste of clay and his own saliva: [Jesus] …spit in the dust, made a clay paste with the saliva, rubbed the paste on the blind man's eyes, and said, "Go, wash at the Pool of Siloam" (Siloam means "Sent"). The man went and washed - and saw. ~John 9:6-7
As is to be expected, those in Jerusalem who have known this man to be blind from birth are shocked and dismayed and they want answers as to how this came about. The leaders of the day are urging him to deny Jesus as the one who restored his sight.
16 Some of the Pharisees said, "Obviously, this man can't be from God. He doesn't keep the Sabbath." Others countered, "How can a bad man do miraculous, God-revealing things like this?" There was a split in their ranks. 17 They came back at the blind man, "You're the expert. He opened your eyes. What do you say about him?" ~John 9:16-17 What do you say about him?”
As we near the Easter celebration and raise our voices with the chorus of “Hosannas” this Palm Sunday, how can we not also wonder about our own answer?
For so many years, while I believed that Jesus was God’s son and acknowledged him as my savior, I embarrassingly hid from others the fact that I didn’t understand Jesus’ true place in my everyday life. Eventually, I decided to come right out and ask God to remove this darkness from my eyes with a simple request, “Please show me Jesus.”
They said, "You're nothing but dirt! How dare you take that tone with us!" Then they threw him out in the street. Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and went and found him. ~John 9:34-35
This would have been a terrible fate for any Hebrew, this casting out. With his newly restored vision, this man is cast out and away from everything he’s known, everything that has provided him security in the past. He had to feel so alone. And yet the story does not end there because we are presented with this intimate action of a savior with great compassion who searches him out, for him to understand, “You are NOT alone.” This is the Savior we serve. This is the Savior I have come to know and serve. A Savior who seeks us out. A Savoir who seeks me out. A Savior who cares about individuals. A Savior who cares about me.
Thinking about Jesus’ triumphal ride into Jerusalem, and the spectators that crowded the route, I wonder if this former blind man, cast out of Jerusalem might have been standing among the celebrants on the parade route. As Jesus passed, perhaps he shouted, “Lord, Remember me?! It’s because of you that I can see!” And when their eyes met, in the eyes of his Savior did he see the love, the compassion, the determination that spoke to every individual that day and in the days to come. “I will never forget you. I’m doing this for you.”
“Thank you God, for letting me see Jesus.”
Hosanna!
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