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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
John 9
It continues to amaze me how pride utterly blinds the person it consumes. Not only did the Pharisees refuse to listen to Jesus, but they also refused to listen to the hard evidence standing right in front of them in the form of a man born blind who now could see. Instead of recognizing truth, they continued to cling to things they thought they knew but really didn’t understand. If they truly knew the scriptures they poured their lives into studying, they surely would have recognized Jesus in them. And you’ve got to love their rationalizations. Just the other day we read that they refuted Jesus as the Messiah because they knew where He was from. Now they refute Him because they don’t know where He’s from. That’s pride hard at work!
Human pride and desire work together. They sell the lie that we can get what we need and want by our own means. It’s why it is so hard for us to admit our need; to acknowledge our insignificance. I think we see that again in this chapter’s final exchange. When the Pharisees who were with Jesus asked, “We aren’t blind too, are we?” (Jn. 9:40b), Jesus’ answer indicated that as long as they thought they could see on their own, their sin remained. So when stories like this tempt me to think, “I sure am glad I don’t have that kind of ridiculous pride!”, I need to be very careful. I need to remember that if I have eyes to see and a heart open to receiving God’s truth, it is only by God’s power and grace. Thus, my boasting should give way to humble gratitude.
John 10:1-21
I get the impression that Jesus’ words here about being the Good Shepherd and The Gate immediately followed His comments about the blind and the seeing. I was trying to tie the two together, when the first line of this chapter hit me. Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber.” (Jn. 10:1). He said this right after telling the Pharisees, “If you were blind, you wouldn’t have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see’, your sin remains.” (Jn. 9:41). The connection I see is in the comment I just made about the lie of human nature. We think we can get what we need and want by our own means.
Thus, when we make any effort to secure our own salvation or to increase our own righteousness, we are climbing in some other way. When we declare that any specific works are required, we are climbing in some other way. The Christian walk isn’t about doing what is required. It is about living in gratitude for the One who did what we could not. When we fail to acknowledge that, we steal and kill and destroy. We disregard God’s grace to our own detriment and become the blind leading the blind into the ditch.