“ While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” -John 9:5
When the days have been dreary and cloudy for most of the month, a day of sunlight really cheers one up. The same is true when life has been dreary, the Sonlight cheers one up and definitely makes life more interesting. What is fascinating about Jesus coming into the world is that He is the light-physically while He was here in person, and spiritually as He lives in us. In fact, His spiritual light was passed on to Believers so that through us, the Sonlight may shine brightly.
An Object Lesson
As Jesus walked through life, He used daily situations to teach. It is by no accident that Jesus declared Himself the Light of the world as He was healing a man who had been blind from birth. This man knew nothing but darkness in his life. Jesus used this man’s healing to tell His disciples and the surrounding crowd who He actually was. This lesson was not just a lesson in a moment, but rather, it was drawn out to teach many people. It certainly changed the life of the “blind” man, while showing the “seeing” how blind they were.
Jesus spit into the dirt and made a poultice of mud. He spread it on the Man’s eyes and told him to wash in the Pool of Siloam. Right away the blind beggar did what Jesus asked and when the mud was washed off his eyes, he could see. He then returned to his neighborhood and became quite an object of speculation. He wasn’t met with hugs and congratulations, but with questions and doubts. Some of his neighbors thought this might be the same blind beggar they had passed every day. Others disagreed. Still others said, it just looks like the blind beggar. The whole time, the man is standing there saying, “No really, it’s me. I was blind but now I can see!”
I think the man would have been happy to go on his way, but his neighbors brought him before the Pharisees to ferret out the true story and declare a miracle had happened. They, like his neighbors asked the former blind man how he came to see. He again tells his story of how Jesus spit in the dirt, made mud, spread it on his eyes and then told him to go wash in the Pool of Siloam.
The Pharisees really missed the whole point of the miracle and argued with each other concerning Jesus Himself. Some thought Jesus was not sent from God because He healed the man on the Sabbath, while others said He had to be from God, otherwise, how could He heal a blind man? They then turned their attentions back to the former blind man, and actually asked him, a beggar, not a learned man, who he thought Jesus was. The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
Well, this was not what they wanted to hear, so the Pharisees again question his whole story about being born blind, and then having been given his sight by Jesus’ miracle. To help settle the matter, they send for the man’s parents and ask them if their son was born blind.
Suddenly, this man’s parents are brought into the hullabaloo. The Pharisees asked them if this is their son, if he was born blind, and how he came to be able to see. The Bible says they answered the way they did because they were afraid of being excommunicated from the temple if they even intimated Jesus was the Christ. They replied saying, “We know this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees, we do not know, or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself (John 9:20-21).” You can just hear the sighs of frustration coming from the Pharisees.
An Unlikely Teacher
Not really getting the answer they wanted concerning Jesus, they questioned the former blind man again, while wanting him to admit Jesus is a sinner because He healed on the Sabbath. At this point, the former blind man saw that the Pharisees would never declare his healing by Jesus a miracle, and instead wanted only to defame the Christ.
The Pharisees asked the man again to recount his story. He says, “forget it! You didn’t listen the first time.” He then gets a bit snarky and asks them if they too want to become Jesus’ disciples, knowing this would really enrage them. True irony is recorded here in John 9:28-34: the former blind man leads the seeing, but spiritually blind Pharisees into the path of truth.
They spoke abusively to him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.”
The man answered and said to them, “Well, here is the amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes! We know that God does not listen to sinners; but if someone is God-fearing and does His will, He listens to him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.”
They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and yet you are teaching us?” So they put him out.
It is obvious that though the man was blind, his understanding of who God is was seen by him. He was a knowledgeable man who loved God. So much so, that he ended up seeing right through the Pharisees’ hypocricy and sacrificed his membership in the local temple. Jesus, hearing that the man was put out of the temple looked for the man. He found him and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man (John 9:35)?” The man asked, who is he? I want to believe in Him (Remember, the man had not actually seen Jesus as he didn’t get his sight until after he washed in the Pool of Siloam). And Jesus answered, “You have both seen Him and He is the one talking to you John 9:37).” Then the man told Jesus, he believed and he worshipped Him.
To this blind man, Jesus was both physical light and spiritual light. First Jesus tended to his physical need and then his spiritual need. This is the model we need to follow today. Jesus knew His time on earth was limited, but He also knew the Holy Spirit would come after He returned to Heaven. Jesus’ light is still in this world, shining through Believers who listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Believers as Light
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16)
Jesus has passed His light onto us. It is so important for us to show His light to all the world. Once we become a Believer, our life must change to reflect God’
s love. We can’t go on doing the same old, same old. It we do, it’s like covering up the light. Instead, people need to see the difference that accepting Jesus as our Savior makes in our lives. Practically speaking, this means we need to ask God to change us, and accept those changes into our lives. Some changes will be easy, while others will require years of prayer. Throughout it all, our trust and faith in the Sovereign Lord must grow.
So what does this growth look like? Well, books have been written on the subject. It really changes our worldview. Believing in God in a nutshell means people see these attributes of God through our actions and teachings: unconditional love, kindness, self-discipline, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness. These will not happen over night. God will not reveal every one of these all at once to us. And this is to His credit. He knows if we try to be all of these things at once as a new Believer, we would become basket cases. Instead, as we get to know God better, He will show us where we need to ask Him to help us learn the characteristics that let the brilliant light of God shine.
Don’t get discouraged and don’t compare yourself to other Believers. God knows your heart and where you are in your own personal relationship with Him. True story – I prayed for patience for eight years before someone actually noticed God’s patience in me. The way to be the most radiant light for our Lord and Savior is to spend time with Him every day and make Him your best friend.
Ask God for opportunities in which we can help others and share the Good News. As God gives us chances to shine for Him, remember to always give Him the glory. The blind beggar is a great model. He was healed by Jesus, by believing He could heal him. He obeyed Jesus immediately to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam. He then told the truth about his healing, despite the Pharisees trying to manipulate him. When he finally did see Jesus, the man believed in him and gave God the glory.
The beggar, blind from birth, was the recipient of a miracle from Jesus. Miracles still happen today. We need to let Jesus’ light shine through us and follow the actions of the former blind beggar to see God in action.
Fellow Believers, join me in being the light on the hill!
