Our scripture this morning is John 9:35-38 (NLT).
When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The man answered, “Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him.” “You have seen him,” Jesus said, “and he is speaking to you!” “Yes, Lord, I believe!” the man said. And he worshiped Jesus.
This lesson takes up all of John 9 with a number of points essential to our faith, such as obedience, spiritual blindness and the persecution of believers. At the conclusion, Jesus asks the man He healed “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”, a title Jesus used for Himself several times in John’s Gospel. We hear this term used in Daniel for God’s presence with His people during severe trials.
In order for the man to be healed, he had to believe healing was possible and obey Jesus’ command to go wash in the pool (John 9:7). In doing this his faith was made whole and his sight was restored. This sequence of sending – obeying – participating in our own healing is the pattern for following Jesus. We obey Him as He obeyed the Father and through His sacrifice for us, we are healed.
Sadly, as Jesus predicted, there was pushback from those whose power and position were threatened, against both Jesus and the man who was healed. As His followers we should expect the world to resist our efforts because the world is spiritually blind to His love. However, by our faith in Him we continue our efforts to open their eyes and share the Good News everywhere.
Loving Lord, we are often dismayed by the state of our world. Help us not to lose hope, and to go in Your name to share Your forgiveness and love with all Your children. Amen.
