Faith-bearing Seed for the Soul
"While the earth remaineth,
Seedtime and harvest
....shall not cease"

Genesis 8:22

Demonstration of Power

One day Jesus encountered a physically blind man, born blind at birth, and some religious Jewish leaders who were blinded to the fact that He was their Messiah. These religious leaders were looking through eyes of self-righteous pride, tradition, and religious laws and saw NOTHING that Jesus tried to show them. This happened back then, but it continues to happen today! The blindest people are those that are blind but think they can see, and who stumble through life in prideful denial, refusing to accept the truth that Christ has for them.

So often we are enveloped in sin and try to blame it on someone or something else other than its root cause. At the onset of this miracle healing recorded in John 9, the disciples had asked a question:

John 9:2 LB

Master, his disciples asked him, "Why was this man born blind? Was it a result of his own sins or those of his parents?"

Jesus clearly answered..."Neither. But to demonstrate the power of God." Then Jesus went on with His demonstration. He spit into the dust, made a paste and rubbed it on the man's eyes. He told him to go to the Pool of Siloam (meaning "Sent") and wash. When the man did as Jesus told him, he could see. I believe this was a sign to the religious, prideful, legalistic leaders. God is the author of good and not evil. I experienced, as did Job, how many tried to make me feel that I had sinned, causing my extended illness. Though, during the course of the illness, I discovered many things to repent of, I know my sin did not bring the sickness upon me. Jesus paid for our sins by the shedding of His blood. I didn't need to pay for something that Jesus already did for me.

Genesis 17:1

So listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do evil, from the Almighty to do wrong. He repays a man for what he has done; he brings upon him what his conduct deserves. It is unthinkable that God would do wrong, that the Almighty would pervert justice.

He was showing those back then, and us today, that the sin that caused the blindness was that of Adam...man, who was made from the dust of the earth. Sickness entered as a result of the fall of Lucifer and of man. In addition to His power over blindness, He was demonstrating to those religious leaders that until they recognized that they were being blinded to Jesus being the Messiah by their prideful inherent sin of wanting to be like, or equal to God, and until they would submit to His Lordship, their sin would remain, as did the blind man's for so many years. But, if they would realize that they were guilty, born with rebellious sinful natures, sin that no amount of good works could erase, that they could be healed and redeemed too by being washed by the Sent One, their Messiah, Jesus Christ. But, what did they do? They denied that Christ could be the Messiah because He didn't function according to their religious standards... They reasoned that because He performed this miracle on the SABBATH that He could not possibly be the Son of God. His course of action did not fit into their theology and tradition. Absurd? Well, many are still doing the same thing today.

How many times does God try to show us something today with a demonstration of His miraculous power and we discount it by saying,"That's not the way we Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Catholics, or Pentecostals do it! It can't be of God, it's too DIFFERENT!" What about the STRANGE demonstration Jesus just gave in that blind man's healing? Don't you think the blind man knew what it sounded like when someone spit? And don't you think, with his keen hearing developed from birth, that he could hear Him stirring the spit into the dust? What do you think would have happened if he had said, "We of the 'Church of the Blind' can't get healed by that kind of foolishness! I don't believe that unfamiliar 'miracle whip' paste applied to my eyes will heal me... no way! That's not for me, my denomination of the blind don't do it that way! Don't you dare ask me to participate in THAT! We've never done it like that before, and don't intend to start!" He would still be blind, wouldn't he?

The blind man had to be humble to allow Jesus to "spit in his face" in order to be healed. He also had to have had A 'desperate' kind of faith in order to walk, or be led, through the crowd, with spit and wet dirt on his face, fumbling along, looking for the pool of Siloam, in order to RECEIVE his healing. What others thought about him, doubtlessly, never entered his mind. His trust brought about the healing of his sight and himself into a right relationship with Jesus. In this unorthodox demonstration, Jesus also "spit" in the face of their perverse religious and ritualistic way of doing things.

The blind man let Jesus be Jesus and do it His way...he didn't dare question it ... do you know why? He KNEW he was blind...he realized during those many years of being in darkness that he was helpless  in himself to change the situation, and he was desperate enough to accept whatever way Jesus wanted to use to make him whole. Until we become like that blind man in our traditional churches, we won't see any kind of a Spirit-led revival. God isn't going to do it until He can do it His way without our doubting religious approval and antics.

The religious leaders could not discount the miracle; the man was once blind, but now he could see. So, in their effort to justify their own sin of rejecting Him, they discounted Christ for healing on the Sabbath, and they projected doubt to others who saw the miracle. In our attempts to force Him to line up with our theology, it's so very dangerous to try to tell God how to save, heal, or deliver! Dangerous in that we claim to know what we are talking about when we are truly the blind leading the blind, and often times as we are looking through blinders of the traditions of our religious ancestors.  In doing this, are we not setting ourselves up as God's superior, telling Him how He must conform to our rebellious rituals? Do you want revival in your life and in your church with Jesus demonstrating His power? Ask Him to take off your blinders so you will have sight, and then...follow The Leader instead of the traditions of men.

Selah...pause for a moment, and think about it.

Rooted and grounded in the love of Christ Jesus,

Marlene JuHaros,

Texas Seed Sower

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