February 20
JOHN 9
35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains. – John 9:35-41
JOHN 9 BELIEVE AND YOU WILL SEE
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
If you continue to deny Jesus Christ as the Son of Man
You will not be allowed to enter the kingdom of God
What you think you know will be stripped away from you
Because your knowledge is worldly, you won’t see the truth
You can only see what is visible but fail to discern the invisible
If you believe in Christ, he will grant you sight for the spiritual.
We witness in this account how the former blind man was also healed spiritually when Jesus gave him his sight. After he was cast out by the Jewish leaders, Jesus came to see him and as he was talking to him, God granted him the desire to know who the Son of Man is. When Jesus declared it was him, he had no second thoughts and immediately worshiped him. We see how open and willing his heart was to receive the Son of Man. The Jewish leaders who interrogated him earlier were furious to hear the truth from someone who wasn’t as educated as them. Their human knowledge led to hard heartedness. They can’t seem to see what this man can see. Instead, they defended their knowledge which made them more blind to the invisible things.
They had the audacity to ask Jesus when they overheard his statement “Are we also blind?” which only confirms their inability to accept the truth. Jesus tells them that if they were blind, they will be humble and have no guilt instead of claiming that they can see.
REFLECTION
• What were the Jews not seeing in this account that the healed man saw?
