When Steven Langton divided the Bible into chapters 700 years ago, he started John Chapter 9 at the wrong place. It is the story of Christ healing the blind man and at chapter 8:59 when men in the Temple took up stones to kill Jesus. It should read like this ‘Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the Temple grounds’, AND (9:1) As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth’. Escaping from fanatics trying to murder Him, Jesus still could feel concern for an afflicted man suffering the lifelong calamity of blindness. That’s the Jesus touch.
However, that is not how the disciples looked on him. They were used to seeing blind beggars but took notice when Jesus did. He said nothing for a moment, so they of course felt they must make some comment. We must talk, whether it is just words or sense. So, they simply articulated the common platitudes as to why the man was born blind, the half-baked ideas of those times. It was either his sin before he was born or his parents sin, one or the other, - which? As if it mattered which!
Jesus was no more interested in philosophizing about illness than a surgeon is with a patient on the operating table. He offers no explanations. ‘The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work’. 1 John 3:8. His answer is not words, but ‘by His stripes we are healed’. God speaks, but His words are creative. He says AMEN to His own words and does what He says. This is true today and for you now. Emergency? Jesus is stopping at your door. Believe and receive. God bless you. Please share.
REINHARD BONNKE