Warren's Wyndham Writings
Monday, July 14, 2014
New blog address
Warren is now blogging under "From the Bright Side" to be found at www.warrensbrightside.blogspot.com
Thursday, June 26, 2014
In Conclusion to my time in Tarneit and Wyndham ...
·
In Luke 10:1-3, Jesus first sends his disciples,
then calls them to prayer, and then sends them again ... 'off you go' – no greater statement on
the connection between prayer and action, or if you like, prayer … and being a
party to the answer to that prayer.
·
This is not ‘pray and sit back’; nor
is it ‘go on your way’ in your own strength, but rather: ‘go on your way in the
prayerful expectation that others are going to join you on the journey’ … and
this is not your mission, but God’s mission – and the ones being reached
should be the ones who will in turn reach others with the Gospel.
·
This text sets the expectation that those who
join as a result of prayer, will not be ‘pew-sitters’ or passive
self-interested people, but rather co-workers and true disciples (of Jesus);
this will be a growing movement of mission-minded people.
·
In this ‘going out’ the disciples are
representatives of Jesus – they will go where he wants to go, they will act as
Jesus wants to act, they will speak what Jesus wants to speak; so this will be
a Holy Spirit led movement bearing witness to Jesus. And certainly in ‘going’
like this, we will be out of our comfort zones.
·
This connects well with Colossians 4:2 … “Devote
yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving”. While in a 24/7 prayer
mode, we are to keep alert to all the opportunities that present themselves to
bear witness to Jesus (to the Gospel, to the mystery of Christ), with a thankful
heart that God is going before us, with us and behind us … that God’s Kingdom
will grow.
·
Every day is a day for prayerfully ‘going out’ –
every interchange during the day counts for something. We don’t have to be
called or sent – we have already been called and sent. We don’t have to
discover our particular mission field – where we live is already our mission
field. This makes for an exciting, challenging and purposeful life … both
individually, and also collectively in the Body of Christ – where shared
giftedness allows for effective teamwork.
·
This is the Christian life, the Jesus-following life
– to receive the grace of God, made most evident through the forgiveness made
available to us via Jesus’ death on the cross, and to live out the resurrected life
of Jesus through the Holy Spirit … prayerfully being involved in God’s mission
in the world – “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Special Instructions (Colossians 4:2-6)
(1)
PRAYER
How would you explain “keeping alert” in prayer?
- What is God saying?
- Listening as well as speaking … listening to God & listening to others.
- Reading Scripture prayerfully.
- What are circumstances saying?
- What are circumstances saying about God?
- Prayer is the place of decision-making.
- A priority for prayer … prayer is for the spreading of the Gospel. Two specific points here – (a) prayer for open doors; and, (b) prayer for a communication of the Gospel that is clear. (a) Where there seems to be resistance or lack of progress, we should pray for new doors of opportunity to open. (b) Then as new doors open (or old doors seem worthwhile again), there needs to be a clarity about how best to represent the Gospel message to the various recipients … which generally means an understanding that allows us to speak and to act in their language.
Now Paul prays this way from prison, being able to focus on
the priority of mission despite his personal circumstances. In fact, he would have sensed a degree of success and vindication, because it
is the impact that he has had … that has put him in prison in the first place. Prison to Paul is something of a
compliment! Not to say that Paul (or anyone else) should not pray for
release from prison, just that not being released from prison is not the end of
prayer. There needs to be an acceptance of circumstances such that there may be
a greater purpose found in any
continuing form of ‘imprisonment’.
John Dickson comments: An “open door” for the message,
even though the chief messenger is locked up “in chains”: only prayer could
ensure such a beautifully illogical reality!
We ourselves, because of a seeming lack of effectiveness in
our witnessing or Gospel sharing
– might we feel that we are in a sort of prison ourselves?!? We seemingly have trusted
God, but to little effect. We have talked our head off, walked our feet off, or
worked our heart out, with little response. Is there an answer here in verse
3-4??
We should pause to look at one other word or phrase (from
verse 2), i.e. “with thanksgiving”. We should note always that God is doing
something as a result of our prayers, and that would be something good (even
though we may not yet perceive it), and that this is worthy of thanksgiving.
(2)
CONDUCT & COMMUNICATION
Paul,
in his time, believed
there wasn’t much time before Jesus returned. He had a great sense of urgency.
Today we always seem ‘time poor’, which might alert us to a similar urgency,
lest the mission of God’s Gospel falls right of the back of the stove … you
know, not just on the back burner, but right off the back of the stove. This is
often what happens when churches get fixated or bogged down in internal
affairs. The cynical person inside me says that some people in churches
actually like it that way because it protects them from real risk-taking
mission work.
Paul’s phrase, “making the most of the time” (v.5) suggests
to me again what the priorities of our life should be. This includes living in
a way that makes it easier for other people to come to know God. We might say
‘living in a way that attracts other people …’; but I think a more basic
necessity is just opening up paths for people to be able to appreciate God, i.e.
making it easier (not harder) for them to know God. And the most basic way to
do this is to humbly walk in the Jesus way. Another way of translating this
“making the most of the time” is ‘buy up the occasion’ (Dickson) i.e. grab hold
of the opportunity with both hands!
What particular advice does Paul give in terms of our speech
(in verse 6)?
(a)
Graciousness – what does this mean? Words that
point to the Grace of God i.e. God’s love, mercy, compassion, desire for
relationship; words that make people feel encouraged, supported, cared for,
accepted, valued.
(b)
Seasoning (with salt) – what does this mean?
Words that make a difference, words that touch the heart, words that preserve
life, words that tend towards an improvement in the appreciation of life. As
one commentary puts it: our speech should be “compelling”, not dull nor
uninteresting … I would add not trite and full of platitudes (what Tom
Wright calls “parroting stock responses”).
All this implies listening carefully both to God and to the
other person. This mindset of ‘graciousness’ and ‘salt-seasoning’, is so that
we don’t merely ‘tell’ stuff, but rather so that we can “answer” real
(heart-felt) enquiries (v.6b)! John Dickson suggests that Paul’s intent here is
to see Jesus followers simply respond to other people’s own comments,
questions, or even criticisms, with a gentle and gracious reply. People may
have many objections to belief in God, or, have absolutely no faith background
and are thus just puzzled, or, have bad experiences of Christians or the church,
or, have ever-present personal difficulties whereby they find it hard to access
a compassionate God – each needs to be listened to with gentleness and
graciousness.
This can all take place in natural conversations (not just
in evangelistic sermons … and probably preferable to), yet are conversations
that are prepared for prayerfully, and undertaken with a redemptive mindset.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Shared Responsibility (Acts 6:1-7; 1 Corinthians 12:4-7)
So there needed to be an
all-hands-on-deck approach, lest opportunities would be lost, and tensions would
increase leading to fractures; and the cost of this would be … the effective sharing
of Gospel. There needed to be an understanding of shared responsibility!
Practical things always need to be attended to. Nothing happens unless someone
opens the door and offers a seat. Those who could take on more practical tasks
would free up others to take up more teaching roles. The principle to be drawn
from this, is everyone getting involved according to the gifts, abilities and
availabilities that God has given them (to be invested in the Church). This is
all very inclusive too – one of the new ‘seven’ named Nicolaus was described as
a “proselyte from Antioch”, meaning that he was a Gentile who had first been
attracted to the religion of the Jews and then subsequently became a follower
of Jesus.
“Seven” were appointed, and the
original “twelve” apostles prayerfully commissioned them. The ‘seven’ were thus
trusted and encouraged in their role. It’s interesting that no one need be
typecast in any one particular role for too long. Case in point is Stephen, who
originally is appointed to the practical tasks of distributing food and waiting
on tables, but by verse 8 of this chapter has already proceeded to very upfront
roles (refer Acts 6:8-10). Another case in point is Philip, who by chapter 8 is
out and about sharing the Gospel with the Ethiopian eunuch (and baptising him
when he accepted Jesus – 8:26-38). This shows us that sometimes someone needs
to be given a chance or encouraged to take on a small role, and that through
this opportunity they discover the full breadth of their giftedness. People’s
’giftedness’ can actually emerge over time.
The actual “gifts of the Holy Spirit”
are taught and listed in several parts of the New Testament. There can be found
over twenty particular gifts, and it is often obvious which gift or gifts a
person has – and everyone who has received the Holy Spirit has been given at
least one gift. But mostly I think, people find their way into God’s best for
them, through a little bit of trial and experimentation. One can grow into
their full giftedness. And certainly the process of discipleship, i.e. learning
how to follow Jesus ever more closely and accurately, is enriched by either
specific or broad involvement in (and through) the church community. After all,
no gift of the Spirit was ever given for one’s own advantage, but rather only
for the “common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7). We should only expect growth in
‘giftedness’ if we are going to be active in the Church for the common good.
We should also note that no person is
ranked above anyone else … every gift is needed to complete the whole. This is
why Paul in 1 Corinthians (12:12-26) uses the analogy of a human body, demonstrating that
the body is less for any missing part and that all parts are needed for good
functioning to occur – no part (i.e. no one) is indispensable. The only ranking
officer is that of Jesus at the head. In Acts 6, we see that even those being
nominated for practical tasks had to be of “good standing, full of the Spirit
and wisdom” (verse 3). And why shouldn’t they be? Firstly, the hospitality
tasks they would perform are frontline and important, and secondly, all Jesus
followers … all members of Jesus’ body … should live lives of “good standing,
full of the Spirit and wisdom”!! There are actually no excuses not to – we have
the Bible, the Holy Spirit and prayer as resources. Everyone has a unique
contribution to make.
Good quality leadership is always helpful,
but not always available. Leadership too sometimes has to emerge. The “twelve”
were having to operate in the early days in a cooperative manner – Peter only
beginning to grasp a leadership sort of role amongst them. When Peter was more
focussed on outward mission, it was James (not one of the “twelve” but the
brother of Jesus) who more became the notional leader in Jerusalem. Then we see
that Paul was right out there as the most forthright and Christ-focussed
teacher and church planter, coming right out of left field, and the one most
people either wanted to follow or oppose. We can’t often predict where
leadership is going to come from. In the meantime, the “twelve” together with
the ‘seven” did the best they could. Having said this, we cannot deny that good
quality leadership does connect with the notion of effectiveness and longevity.
Thursday, June 5, 2014
The Coming of the Holy Spirit - Four Questions
(1)
How
would you describe the Holy Spirit?
·
A
member of the Community (‘Trinity’) of God – Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer? (though the Holy
Spirit was active in the creation of the world – “a wind from God swept over
the face of the waters – Genesis 1:1)
·
A
travelling companion
·
A
real and present acknowledgement of Jesus’ love for his disciples/followers
·
Carries
on the earthly (& heavenly) life (& work) of Jesus in his
disciples/followers
·
The
powerful presence of God in the world, ensuring the continuation of God’s
mission
·
The
promoter of notable fruitfulness, and the giver of particular ‘gifts’ that will
aid in the church’s mission
·
We
read in John 14:27, that, like Jesus, the Holy Spirit gives in a very different
way to what the ‘world’ gives. What might this indicate? The Holy Spirit works
above and beyond the physical and material into the spiritual – right to the
depths of the meaning of life. Also we might say, what the Holy Spirit stands
for or seeks to promote is unusual, maybe unexpected, in the world’s general
cultural patterns.
·
A
promoter of peace – “peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you” (John
14:27) – the Holy Spirit is closely identified here with the notion of “peace”,
which of course is NOT something the world is big on! The Hebrew concept of ‘shalom’
which closely aligns with the Greek word for “peace” refers to the well-being of
people as they live in harmony with God and others; also to wholeness or completeness,
and to ethical soundness.
·
A
promoter of calm/patience – “do not let your hearts be troubled” (John 14:27)
·
A
promoter of faith/faithfulness – “do not let [your hearts] be afraid” (John
14:27).
(2)
What
is the Holy Spirit’s role?
·
Teaching
everything we need to know (John 14:26)
·
Reminding
disciples of all Jesus has said (John 14:26)
·
Testifies
(in a positive sense) to Jesus (John 15:26)
·
Guiding
us toward all the truth of God – bring Jesus’ teachings forward into the life
of the worshipping community – hearing afresh the teachings of Jesus even after
Jesus’ departure – guiding us in and drawing us to connect with people for the
Gospel (John 16:13). This all makes us better interpreters of God on the one
hand and worldly events on the other, with a clearer presentation of the Gospel
in between.
·
Glorifying
Jesus (John 16:14) i.e. making Jesus accessible and present in daily affairs,
opening doors for us to be able to present Jesus.
If Jesus as God incarnate (God
personified) brings a distinctive revelation of God to the world, what happens
when the incarnation ends and Jesus appears to be gone? Was this revelation of
God in Jesus only available for those who lived at the time and had firsthand
experience of him and his ministry?? Is Jesus’ revelation of God limited to one
moment in history, or does it have a future beyond this particular historical
moment??? Let’s answer these questions.
(i)
If
Jesus as God incarnate (God personified) brings a distinctive revelation of God
to the world, what happens when the incarnation ends and Jesus appears to be
gone? The Holy Spirit.
(ii)
Was
this revelation of God in Jesus only available for those who lived at the time
and had firsthand experience of him and his ministry?? No, not just them!
(iii)
Is
Jesus’ revelation of God limited to one moment in history, or does it have a
future beyond this particular historical moment??? A very big future!
The Holy Spirit is the link between
the historical ministry of Jesus and the future life of the church. The Holy
Spirit is the ongoing presence of Jesus in the world. Matthew summed this all
up in one sentence at the conclusion of his gospel – “And remember, I am with
you always, to the end of the age”.
Who has the Holy Spirit? – let’s
return to this question later.
(3)
What
can we expect through the Holy Spirit?
·
Effective
witness across the whole world (Acts 1:8)
·
The
ability to communicate the Gospel in ways that others (i.e. non-believers) will
be able to understand (Acts 2:4), or at least caused to think about it or
respond in some way (2:12-13) … even if only simple ‘Galileans’ are doing the
talking (refer 2:7). Doors of communication and relationship are unexpectedly
opened, whereby the Gospel has a chance of being planted. Peter’s particular
opening was the suggestion of the disciples being “drunk”, and he responds from
this point (Acts 2:14-15).
·
People
will be convicted and come to believing in Jesus (2:37-8)
·
Extraordinary
turnarounds in levels of faith and confidence and courage (Acts 2:14ff).
(4)
Who
has the Holy Spirit?
·
The
original disciples (up to 120 by now) who were prayerfully obedient, waiting in
Jerusalem together for the promise of God (Acts 2:1-4)
·
John’s
Gospel conflates the coming of the Spirit back prior to the ascension (John
20:21-22), but with the same message – the Holy Spirit is given to Jesus’
disciples so they can represent him on an ongoing basis in the world, just as
Jesus represented and did the works of God.
·
All
those who repent (and are baptised) and are thus forgiven (Acts 2:38) … which
would assume a sincere change of mind and direction. Baptism would be a symbol
of both sincere repentance (dying to the old life and being reborn into the
new), as well as an initiation into Christian discipleship and the church
community.
·
Everyone
who responds positively to Jesus [even those “far away” – “far away” by
distance, “far away” through lack of faith] (Acts 2:39); those who accept the
crucified Jesus (now risen & ascended) as the Lord and Messiah i.e. God,
and also God’s Anointed One – the agent of salvation (Acts 2:36).
We should also note that the Holy
Spirit was sent to the church as a collective for its witness to Jesus, so
Jesus could be present in the world, more so than being sent to any or all
individuals. The Holy Spirit is never our private possession, but rather
evidence of God working in our lives for the benefit of all – what Paul calls
the “common good” (in 1 Corinthians 12:7). The Holy Spirit is the power of God unleashed in
the world, and also the glue that holds us in the church of Jesus together!
Friday, May 30, 2014
Taste and See (Psalm 34:8)
At one time or another, most human
beings sense the need for something or Someone that is higher and mightier than
themselves … for they are at their wits end, or their strength has failed, or
they are in the midst of human suffering, or they see no purpose or hope ahead.
Some will sadly suppress this search to their own detriment. Others will pursue
answers and find encouragement.
We know well about Peter’s great low-point,
when after three years of closely following Jesus he denied even knowing Jesus.
Yet we know Peter was open to re-establishing his relationship with Jesus, and
after the resurrection everything turned around for the better. We know that
this very psalmist David experienced serious low-points himself in his life,
and so the sentiments of this psalm (and others) come deep out of real life
experience.
Psalm 34 certainly expresses such need
in verses 4 and 6: “I sought the Lord” and “This poor soul cried”; but also
expressed the end point of their search in these same verses: “[God] answered
me and delivered me from all my fears” and “[I] was heard by the Lord and was
saved from every trouble”. Verses 5 & 7 also express the good results that
come from a successful search for God. When people sincerely seek out God, they
will be found and delivered from wherever their fear has taken them.
This is at the same time an invitation
to go further … and keep searching on … into a life of discipleship. There is
naturally a temptation to just seek out God when at the bottom, and then forget
about God when deliverance to the top arrives. This is no way to live, it has
no real integrity, and it is of course quite disrespectful of God. The
Psalmist, David, realises this, and on the basis of what God has provided in
terms of help, suggests that there is a depth of relationship with God that
should be very actively pursued (v.8) – “O taste and see that the Lord is good,
happy are those who take refuge in him”.
Now we should note that to “taste and
see” is a deliberate use of the senses. This is not just an intellectual search
(so that we can understand more and argue better), but more so an experiential
and experimental search. We cannot simply accept truths or religious practices
and feel we have completed the search, we need to delve into God with our
senses. We cannot borrow and adopt someone else’s faith, we must discover our
own – one that stands up in the ‘cut and thrust’ and ‘ups and downs’ of
everyday life. As a wise person said, “An ounce of personal experience is worth
a ton of borrowed theology”.
So when on the search … we can try
different forms of prayer, different approaches to worship, and various ways of
studying the Bible, in an ongoing attempt to move closer to God and gain satisfaction
with our spirituality. This is not to say faith is ever purely a
personal matter – it is always interpersonal – but faith does start with each
individual starting their engine and continuing to put fuel in their tank!
When we begin to “taste and see” all
that God is, we experience the centrality of relationship. God existed in a
community, a trinity, before the creation of the world, and it was through this
relational community or trinity that this world was created. The greatest
dynamic operating within this community of God was love, and it was the mutual
love within the trinity that outworked into the creation of the world and all
its features and inhabitants. So the energy of God is the relationship that
exists between Father, Son and Spirit, and the output of these mutual
relationships is love. So to “taste and see that the Lord is good” is literally
to join the party – a party that has always been going on (within the community
of God), a party to which we have certainly been invited (through the very fact
of our creation), and a party that takes us to the very purpose of life …
loving relationship.
It is in the very context of loving
relationship, both vertically with God, and horizontally with all the others at
the party, that we form the sort of trust and confidence that allows us to
first survive, and then hopefully to flourish, in life – so our “taste and see”
experience leads to (the second part of the verse) … “happy are those that take
refuge in him”. As we align ourselves with God and press deeply into God, we
sense that companionship [a companionship that first exists within God and is
then shared with us]; and we also sense that Divine presence, that nurture, that
creative coping mechanism, that redemption, that guidance, through which we can
happily go forward.
Living in ‘refuge cove’ with God, is
not about being in seclusion, far from it – but rather about living in society
in a different way. In a New Testament context this means following in the
Jesus way. This is about, as Paul tells us in Colossians (3:5-17), wearing the
new clothes we have been given (as presents at Christmas and Easter), rather
than wearing our old clothes that have become soiled and smelly.
Now, revealing Jesus through our
lives, the very way we live day-by-day, lifts the possibility of God being
noticed and appreciated. This goes back to that notion that looking to Jesus is
the way to know what God is like. In this we read John 14:8-17. We point to
Jesus, while Jesus points to God!! Or put another way, the Jesus in us points
to the God who wants to love everyone! This is part of the commissioning of
Jesus’ first disciples for their future mission – as they do the works like
Jesus did, this reveals the God who is just like Jesus. The disciples, just
like Jesus did, will be able to bring sight to the blind (e.g. John 9), and
faith to the unbelieving. And this will all be possible because the disciples
will and have received the Holy Spirit through which to become effective and
fruitful.
So our “taste and see that the Lord is good”, becomes so much a part of
us that we naturally desire others to experience God in the same (maybe even
better) ways. We can represent God in our daily journey, through the
resurrected Jesus living in us, in significant public ways, as well as in simple
unassuming ways!
Friday, May 23, 2014
John 9 - God at Work!
In John 9 we have been told of an
incident with a great outcome. This was good news not only for the person
involved, but also for the community which subsequently heard his testimony.
Such testimony speaks of God being at work, and points to the full identity of
Jesus (as Son of God) – the One who brings us out of darkness into the light.
This is out there for people to either accept or reject. For those who accept,
then there is for them a whole new future. Those who reject remain in the dark,
which is such a great tragedy.
This was all very important for the original
Jewish readers of John’s Gospel who were being persecuted and ‘put out’ of the
synagogue because of their primary allegiance to Jesus. The testimony of the
man who had been born blind showed once again that belief in Jesus was correct,
and all opposition to Jesus such as that demonstrated by the Pharisees was in
error. Such a realisation stands as an encouragement for all of us who follow
in the Gospel tradition.
Textual questions
We read at the beginning of the text
that Jesus initiated this healing ministry (v.6). Jesus didn’t require, in this
case, any statement of faith … however their does seem to be faith progressively
expressed later (so this healing was certainly well invested). Why did Jesus
take this initiative??
Jesus did so it seems for various
reasons:
(i)
Jesus’
disciples had pointed to this man as a theological conundrum (v.2). Why was it
that this man was blind? The disciples had some prior knowledge that this man
had been BORN blind … perhaps they had been told, or perhaps it was his
physical appearance that led them to this assumption. Either way, the disciples
were working under a primitive uninformed idea that someone must have sinned
for this man to have been born blind. To illustrate their theological
immaturity, they even included the possibility of the man himself being the
sinner – but how could that have been the case prior to his birth!?! Having had
this man pointed out to him in this way, I reckon that Jesus was already
committed to healing him. What a stigma this man was having to live under; and
this certainly brought out the compassionate heart of Jesus. The people of the
day saw someone seemingly deserving of derision; the disciples just saw an
unsolved theological question; Jesus saw a child of God in need.
(ii)
The
response Jesus gave, concerning the question about where this man’s blindness
originated, also meant that something terrific was about to occur (v.3). It’s
not that anyone sinned … it just is! The question as to who sinned or who was
responsible for this blindness was actually the wrong question. The right
question is what we would do, and in this case … what God would do, when faced
with this level of need. If we look at this response with a Hebrew mind we
might think that God causes such states as blindness (for God’s own purposes).
But we know this could not be true, and it would be a very
dangerous proposition to run with. God simply is not cruel. There are
many people born blind who never receive physical healing in this world.
Blindness, like many other states of being, is just something that happens in a
fallen and imperfect world! Yet things don’t have to remain as they are. That IS
the point being made here!! This is because God, the great Creator and
Redeemer, lives! And more to the direct point – this God is fully present right
here in Jesus – this is a sign of the very presence of God. And now, for those
ready for change, change can happen. Ken Manley in his recent book on the
Gospel of John critiques this common translation of John 9:3 and prefers, “Because
of his blindness you will see God work a miracle for him”, or alternatively, “Let
the works of God be displayed in him”.
This man who had been born blind, and
had no doubt suffered in many ways, was ready for the touch of God. There was not
only the stigma and ridicule mentioned earlier that he lived under, but there
would have also been the need to beg to survive, and all the issues of
isolation and dependency in that society. So, Jesus made a mud paste using his
own spittle … which was believed to have healing powers, and applied this to
the man’s eyes. The making of “mud” perhaps recalls a man being formed from the
dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7); Jesus very publicly supplying the eyesight
that had not formed (for whatever unknown reason) in the womb. God was at work
restoring the broken!
This blind man would have to show some
trust in grappling his way over to the pool of Siloam to wash. Yet in doing
this without any apparent hesitation, he seems to understand that his life had
been touched in a remarkable way. Upon washing his eyes in the pool of Siloam,
the man could see for the first time in his life.
Spiritual meaning
We can be awestruck by the
transformation that God brings about. Nobody had ever heard of a person being
blind FROM BIRTH ever gaining their sight. This healing miracle becomes a sign
then that yet nothing is impossible for God. We could and should also apply
this in a spiritual way, whereby those who have been born into an environment
completely devoid of any vestige of faith … ‘blind from birth’ if you like …
can still come to faith later in life. This spiritual interpretation is brought
out by Jesus’ self-reference as being “the light of the world” (v.5). Jesus can
bring light into all sorts of dark places.
Practical outcomes
We now read scene after scene where
people could not come to grips with what happened. The simplest explanation,
that this man had been healed by Jesus, was actually the most elusive
explanation. Some thought this must be someone else and not the blind man,
while some recognised him correctly but had no idea how he could now see. So
the people brought the whole situation before the Pharisees, who should be able
to bring some sort of explanation concerning this happening, but they proved
themselves to be in the ‘dark’ (to be the ones who were really ‘blind’). The
Pharisees of course, with their closed minds, would likely never be convinced
that Jesus was the source of this man’s new sight, despite the obvious. And
certainly these Pharisees were also locked into the ‘no healing on the Sabbath
ban’, which facilitated their attempts at discrediting Jesus – a
‘Sabbath-breaker’ could not possibly be an agent of God … this was their persistent view (a view of
course based on their own agenda rather than God’s). So this formerly blind man
was given a bit of a hard time, when really there should have been a big
celebration.
God was not only working in this man’s
life toward the beginnings of faith, but towards a thorough discipleship as
well. The more this man was questioned, and the more his testimony was
challenged, the firmer and more forthright he became. This culminated with
these great words of personal witness, “One thing I do know, that though I was
blind, now I see” (v.25). Such questioning and such challenge would normally
result in doubt, even fear, yet this man was open to the reassurances of God
such that he became more confident, more courageous, and thus more effective in
his witness. Here he is compared with his parents, who couldn’t move past the
fear of being “put out of the synagogue” (that was attached to confessing
anything positive about Jesus). The newly sighted man was even able to become a
little sarcastic with the Pharisee’s lack of response to the obvious (v.27),
and then even went on to preach a little sermon based on the notion that if
Jesus was able to heal a man BORN BLIND, then, far from being a normal sinner, then
Jesus must be from God (v.30-33). The irony must have occurred to him
concerning these so-called religious leaders who had never done anything to
help him his whole life, and now were more interested in the issue of Sabbath-observance
than his obvious healing.
Conclusion
The special and most impacting thing
in this narrative for me, is that this formerly blind man simply told the story
of what had happened to him, and through the power of that sharing became more
confident in pointing to the source of this great happening. When as a result
he was ‘driven out’, i.e. religiously rejected, Jesus came back
to him … of course he did, and through some helpful dialogue, the newly sighted
man was able to fully embrace faith – “Lord, I believe” (v.38), he said! “The
healed man now has the full gift of sight; he not only
sees, but he sees Jesus” (Manley).
Jesus comes to the excluded and stigmatised
in all his compassion and turns things around. Jesus will always be where he is
needed! Those in the dark sought to silence one who had come into the light,
but just couldn’t do so. This should all encourage us in our witness to what
Jesus has done, is doing, and will continue to do, in us, through us, and
around us. The light will continue to shine!
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