If you’ve been following along, our prayer focus for the week is gaining awareness of our need
for God in the areas of our lives that may require change.
The thoughts for today come from John 9. For context, the passage begins with the story of
Jesus healing a man who was born blind. So, who could truly be considered blind—the man or
the Pharisees?
Is it wrong to heal someone? Nothing about healing stands out to me as wrong or sinful. A blind
man is brought to Jesus by His disciples, and He chooses to heal him so that the works of God
may be displayed. Jesus heals the man’s blindness, but here’s the problem: it’s the Sabbath.
The Pharisees hear about this and find fault with it, accusing Jesus of “working” on a day when
no work is allowed. Blinded by their legalism, the Pharisees are not filled with joy over the man’s
healing. Instead, they are angered that Jesus healed on the Sabbath. They criticize Him,
thinking, “Obviously, no godly man would do such a thing” (heavily paraphrased, of course).
So, who is truly blind? The man born blind, or the Pharisees? The man’s physical eyes have
been opened, but the Pharisees—who have physical sight—are spiritually blind to the reality of
God standing before them. It’s important to realize that the Pharisees are the ones who are truly
blind. Though they can see with their eyes, they still deny the Son of Man. Meanwhile, the man
born blind can clearly see that Jesus is of God, the Son of Man.
It’s easy for us to see how wrong and spiritually blind the Pharisees are. But aren’t we guilty of
the same thing? How often are we blind to the things we need to change in our own lives? The
areas that God is willing to heal us from, if only we would recognize them. We judge others for
not loving the way we... think... they should, or for not meeting our own standards of what we...
think... the Bible calls us to. We look down on them for their actions, while we sit idle in
judgment.
It’s so easy to spot the faults in others—to call them out and judge—even while we are blind to
the sins that separate us from God. But if we humble ourselves, we’ll see how, all too often, our
hearts align more with the Pharisees than with the blind man. Yet, in that humility, we can draw
attention... and change.
1 John 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Additional Daily Reading Resources:
Reading Along with the Gospel of John 9 RightNow Media.
Great thoughts, Justin. It's so sad that the Pharisees missed the light of Christ because of their blindness and their judgmental attitude. Thank you for sharing!