John 9:1-12
Healing the Man Born Blind
1 As Jesus passed by, He saw a man who had been blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
4 We must carry out the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.
5 While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”
6 When He had said this, He spit on the ground, and made mud from the saliva, and applied the mud to his eyes,
7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he left and washed, and came back seeing.
8 So the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, “Is this not the one who used to sit and beg?”
9 Others were saying, “This is he,” still others were saying, “No, but he is like him.” The man himself kept saying, “I am the one.”
10 So they were saying to him, “How then were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The Man who is called Jesus made mud, and spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.”
12 And they said to him, “Where is He?” He *said, “I do not know.”"
This is an interesting story because God did not make mud for every blind man and tell them to go to the water and wash it away to see again. Jesus Christ did this for one man, it was for him alone to show the power of God.
It was not the mud that made the man see, it was Christ, He used the act of obedience in faith by the man to heal him. What if the man had been given the mud on his eyes by Christ and didn't obey to go wash in the water at Siloam, he probably would not have been healed because it was in obedience that he was healed.
Often people see a miracle for one person and think if they do the same thing it will work for them. They are placing their trust in the mud and the washing and not in Christ.
It is common in our day for people to read an event in scripture that happened to others and use that occurrence as a mantra or ritual thinking the same thing should happen to them. God gives specific actions to specific people so that they will demonstrate faith in Him, not in the act itself.
Notice too that the assumption of some people was that the man who was born blind must have sinned or that his parents must have sinned because of his blindness. To assume someone is sick as a punishment of God is prideful and superior acting because if we believe that person was sick because they had sinned, then perhaps these people think they are not sick because they have not sinned.
I have known many people who were sinful and very healthy. I have also known people who were ill all their lives but loved the Lord with all their hearts.
Making assumptions about other people based on things that were not their fault is arrogant and presumptuous. This is the sort of judging God told us not to do.
If a person has been taking illegal drugs and died from an overdose we know that their sin killed them. This is different from those who were living righteously and came down with an illness that had nothing to do with their actions.
The problem of focusing on the lives of others to guess what may be happening is that it takes the focus off of our own character and heart which may need some serious adjustment.
When we ask God to clean up our flaws, bad habits in attitude, and destructive actions toward others, we will not be judging little things that happen to others.
Matthew 7:3-5
"3 Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, the log is in your own eye?
5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the [d]speck out of your brother’s eye!"
When we pay close attention to our own habits and attitudes through prayer to be cleansed we will be growing in holiness and less likely to try to figure out what others have done wrong when no sin is obvious in their lives.
Those who are looking for specs in the eyes of others will excuse their own logs. They will assume something is wrong with what others said and did that was not wrong at all, but innocent and even righteous. These people make problems where there are no problems and become enraged when someone rebukes them for it.
Those who love the Lord do not spend their time evaluating the small matters of others to find a problem. We are discerning when there is a real problem but do not notice or judge things that have nothing to do with sin and nothing to do with us.
Those who judge others to find problems so they can elevate themselves as superior are often wrong. There is a dishonest disrespect for others merely to justify their haughtiness.
I once knew of a family in our neighborhood growing up who were constant trouble to everyone. They made "big deals" out of small and even innocent matters and then gossiped to others about them. They assumed things that they never saw for themselves and passed it to others as though those things were facts. Worse than that they made up lies based on how they wanted to feel about those they didn't like and spread those lies to others.
Satan did this in the garden with Eve. He told her God was lying to her and that she would not die if she ate the fruit. He turned Eve against the very God Who created her, causing her to distrust God and follow the lies of the devil.
We are living in a world full of liars and those who listen to them. The liars convince themselves the lies are true a form of self-brain washing, allowing them to feel better than others.
Satan wanted to be superior to God and when he couldn't do it he began turning others against God too, the very same tactic that many people use today in interpersonal relationships.
There is only one thing to do when we encounter these liars and minions of the devil is to get away from them and refuse to listen to their gossip.
Proverbs 20:19 – “He who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets, therefore do not associate with a gossip.”
A possible good response to a gossip might be; "I have no evidence of that myself so I will have to dismiss it.
I have seen churchgoers reject someone because of what they were told that they did not see for themselves based on what their "friends" told them. These churchgoers had no evidence of their own only the word of the person they liked. This is evil and the word of Satan.
Proverbs. 17:9a - “He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates intimate friends.”
I have also seen people reject a person for past forgiven sins repeated to them by others when the sin had been repented of and is no longer occurring.
Passing on a sin of someone knowing the sin had been dealt with and forgiven by God is the same thing the devil does in accusing the brethren. Those who do this are being used by the devil to ruin someone else without a reason except to elevate themselves.
As believers we hate sin and we hate gossip. We do not treat people disrespectfully because of something we have heard.
Romans 12:2 "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
It is not gossip to tell a trusted friend about something that happened to us, however, just because something happened to us does not mean there is a need for others to know.
To pass on things to others who have no need to know it is sometimes an attempt to gain allies.
Proverbs 17:9 "Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends."
The devil attempted and succeeded in separating Eve from God with his lies. And, many people gossip to separate others from the ones they despise. Where is the love in this?
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
"4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant.
5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered,
6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails; "
