jcnr@mpinet.net

John 9: Jesus Restorer of Spiritual Sight 

As a result of Jesus’ healing of the blind man, the blind man himself, his parents, and the Pharisees show different faith responses. Let us look at the response of the parents first. They know that what happened to their son was real. Others might doubt the authenticity of this miracle but they cannot. Yet, their joy was restrained because they feared the Jewish leaders. Verses 22-23 tell us what they were afraid of—excommunication from the synagogue. As church is a place for status or socializing for many, so the synagogue was an important social place for them. They were probably respected members and had many friends there. All of which could be lost if they followed Jesus. Their nearness to the synagogue kept them away from Jesus.

The Pharisees also showed what kept them from Jesus. Verse 16 is revealing: “This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” The religious authority the Pharisees had centered on the Sabbath. It was then that their input, in the form of rules and regulations, was most felt. The Sabbath rules were their distinctives, what set them apart from others. To attack the rules was to attack them personally. Their self-image and sense of self-worth were wrapped up in being “the Pharisees, leaders of the Sabbath.” The religious leaders who were most opposed to Jesus, because of their love of status and prestige, were almost destined to be legalists and rule enforcers. Their pride had to cling to false belief to sustain itself. Tenacious unbelief is always grounded in self-centered ambition and pride. The mind with its reasoning power remains capable. But the will refuses to allow it to believe!

Ordinary people who saw this healing admitted the obvious. “How can a man who is a sinner do such things?” They saw the contradiction. The Pharisees’ corruption made them blind to the truth, the truth spoken first by Moses and then Jesus. The formerly blind man also indicted the Pharisees. “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He has opened my eyes!” He continues to ‘teach’ the Pharisees by pointing out that in Israel’s past God heard worshippers, and since God obviously hears this man He must be from God. Instead of acknowledging the truth of what the man was saying they belittled him for trying to teach them.

The blind man had a totally different response to Jesus. He was a beggar. A life as a beggar has the potential to make one wise and sensitive to kindness and compassion. Giving to someone in need is what is good. Jesus gave him physical sight and he knew this was good. He could not understand why the Pharisees could not see it, too. For him, good deeds are people-centered; to the Pharisees good deeds are rule-centered. The formerly blind man received Jesus and honored Him. Physical sight sees the face of Jesus; spiritual sight sees Jesus as Son of God, personal Lord and Savior.  

John 10: Jesus the True Shepherd 

Jesus has talked so far of being the spiritual thirst quencher, bread for spiritual sustenance, healer, judge, giver of life, forgiver of sins, the Son of God, the light of the world, and the great I AM, but these have only been hints concerning the complete nature of the living faith He seeks in men. To teach the end of faith, Jesus describes Himself as a Shepherd, the kind of shepherd who cares about and cares for his sheep, who is trusted by the sheep under His charge, and whose presence sets his sheep at ease.

Verses1-18 describes an intimate relationship between Jesus and His true followers (v. 4). The relationship described in these verses stir up mental pictures of a shepherd carrying a wounded lamb across the back of his neck or in his arms, a shepherd talking to the sheep each morning as the flock leaves the sheepfold, and a shepherd who gathers the sheep together and puts them behind him as he confronts the wolf who is attempting to devour one of his precious lambs.

Some who were listening to Jesus were touched by the tenderness of His words, and saw a complete contradiction between Jesus’ words and deeds and the appraisal of those who describe Jesus as having a demon. “These are not the words of one who has a demon.” Demons don’t talk like Jesus. Jesus yearns to hug His sheep while demons yearn to devour them. Sheep are very skittish animals and tend to trust only those they know well, chiefly the chief shepherd. When the chief shepherd speaks they listen, when he calls they come. The Jews were of a different fold, and that is why they did not listen to Jesus.

Jesus in verses 28-30 made sure His dissenters knew He was talking about the spiritual and eternal reality of relationship with God: “And I give them eternal life….I and my Father are one.” Jesus is talking about union with God. If the Jews had a longing to be near Jehovah, who created their nation, they would have groaned with desire to Jesus’ words of spiritual intimacy. They didn’t! Their faith was superficial and academic.

Jesus claims a special relation to the Father and points to the works He is doing as indicators of the validity of His message. In all honesty, Jesus’ message was hard to fathom. What we know now as the Incarnation because of several thousand years of hindsight, these people had no idea of. Think about it, God Incarnate! What an awesome thought, what a Messiah! Jesus knew the uniqueness of such a claim to these monotheistic Jews. That is why He said, “…though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me and I in Him.” Jesus’ offer of fellowship with God through Himself was rejected. And not just snubbed but scoffed at with hatred. How sad the Savior must have felt.

Chapter 10 concludes by saying that “many believed in Him.” Because this chapter stresses personal relationship between shepherd and flock, I think the believing by the “many” was real, immature yes, but real. They were receiving Jesus as Shepherd not just as military ruler and deliverer. To believe at this point is to receive Him personally as a sheep receives his or her own chief shepherd. It is to be a sheep in the Master’s flock!

Copyright 2004 by James W. Skeen