One of my readings this morning was in John 9. This has got to be one of my favorite portions of Scripture. Not so much because of it’s teaching . . . or it’s a great theological treatise . . . but because of its down-to-earth, pragmatic, defense of the power of Christ.

The passage really is high drama . . . Jesus encounters a man born blind from birth. “Why?” his disciples ask, “Was it because God punished him in advance for his sins . . . or, perhaps, because his parents had sinned?” (v.2) Why? It’s an understandable question . . . one I’m sure his parents asked when their hearts were crushed as they realized their newborn was without sight . . . and, really, without much hope for a very productive life . . . “beggar” would have come to mind as how their boy would fill out a job application under “Current Occupation.” But if His parents only knew the behind the scenes answer to this “why” question. As for the disciples, the answer didn’t even show up as one of the choices on a multiple choice quiz. But God had always known why . . .

“It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:3 ESV))

There you go . . . chew on that a bit. Before this man was born, God had determined to raise Him up to reveal the power of His Son. While the Father formed him in his mother’s womb, Sovereign God got to the optic nerve and said, “Not yet . . . we’ll save developing that fully for a future time.” Now it might have been helpful had the blind man known that . . . certainly it might have given his parents some comfort. But God operates in mysteries . . . He will leave the “why” question unanswered . . . that He might be trusted . . . that He might be glorified.

And the story gets better. Jesus makes some “spit clay”, puts it on the blind man’s eyes, and tells him to go wash it off. “So he went and washed, and came back seeing.” (v.7b) Queue excitement . . . bring on wonder . . . fire up a whole new set of questions . . . no longer is it “why?” . . . it is now “how?” And all of a sudden this nobody . . . this blind beggar . . . this poor soul . . . this unnoticed less-than-average Joe . . . is a much sought out expert . . . he knows better than anyone the “How?”

“The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” (John 9:11 ESV)

Then bring the Pharisees into the picture and this high drama almost gets almost comical. They’re going crazy trying to deal with the growing “rumor” that Jesus gave sight to a man born blind. The interrogate the man . . . same questions . . . same answer. “But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight.” (v18) So they call in his parents and grill them, “Is this your son? Was he really born blind? How then can he see now?” And they, for fear of being perceived as confessors of Jesus as Christ, go with the minimal response, “Yes he’s our son. Yes he was born blind and has been blind until now. As for how he received his sight, ask him.” O’ you can just sense the Pharisees are getting frantic . . . and so they turn back to the man . . . they try bullying him . . . they try to get him to provide the answers they want to hear . . . or at least not provide the answers they don’t want to hear . . .

“Give God the glory!” they scream at him, “We know that Jesus is a sinner.” And, I imagine the man turning toward them . . . face to face . . . seeing eyeball to seeing eyeball . . . feet firmly planted . . . quietly . . . and confidently . . . with perhaps a bit of smile on his face . . . responding, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know; that though I was blind, now I see.” (vv.24-25) End of argument. Game, set, match to the man . . .

The Pharisees could continue their questioning . . . they could try and dispute with him . . . they could deride him . . . they could cast him out of the synagogue (all of which they did, see vv. 26-34) . . . but it didn’t change the facts. A man born blind stood before them and had looked them in the eye.

This account never fails to stir me. I may not be the brightest bulb on the tree . . . haven’t got my degree in theology . . . don’t quite know how all the exegetical i’s are dotted or t’s are crossed . . . some of what I think I do know, I probably have wrong. But, at the end of the day, when it’s all said and done, I know this . . . once I was blind, but now I see. Once I was dead to the things of God and now I have an ever increasing thirst for the living water He offers. Once it was clearly all about me, but now, by His grace and the sanctifying work the Spirit, I’m relinquishing more and more of the throne to His rule . . . through His applying of “spit clay” in my life, I am becoming more and more a child of light. No glory to me . . . all glory to God.

I may not have all the apologetics down . . . but this one thing I know . . . I have met Jesus . . . and have never been the same.

(Don’t believe me . . . . got 3 more minutes? . . . ask the blind man, he saw it all . . .  click here )