Now I See

Listening to John Piper's sermon the other day on John 9. He hit on a topic that I think is very important to think about. The context is Jesus coming upon a blind man and healing him on the Sabbath. He is brought into the temple and questioned by the pharisees as they try to label Christ a sinner for healing on the Sabbath as well as kneading dough (or mud in this case).

Piper asks the question, "why would He (Jesus) want to do that (use mud to heal)?" and part of his answer is that, "He wants to show that He is the Lord of the Sabbath, or to show what the point of the Sabbath is. Rest... Healing... What else would you do on the Sabbath but make eyes see." I love the end of that quote  but that is still the context of the part of the story that I want to point out.

As the blind beggar is questioned, for a second time in this instance, he says in response to the pharisees calling Jesus a sinner in John 9:25

He answered, "Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."

This is amazing because as Piper points out this man has been blind since birth he has had no education his whole life needs to know only this, "Though I was blind, now I see." The pharisees are the most educated people in Israel and they are so blind compared to this man.

The next thing we see though is that the blind man is kicked out of the temple for later claiming Jesus as being from God, and this is huge because as Piper points out this kicking out of the temple was a kicking out of Judaism, this was life to this man.

The best part about this story is that even in the man's persecution for the name of Christ we see in John 9:35 that Jesus heard about this and sought out this man. Think about it, when we have no where else to turn, we need not turn anywhere, for Jesus seeks us out and finds us.

We have only to come into this world with the knowledge that "Though I was blind, now I see!"