The Most Important Moment

As we wrap up this portion of the Exalted Christ series, we conclude John chapter 9. We started this chapter last week with the blind man who was healed, but this week we find Jesus having one more encounter with him. What we see is that the moment the blind man could see wasn’t the most important moment for him. The most important moment for him was when he saw Jesus for who he really was. Jesus shows that spiritual sight is much more important than physical sight. 

Physical sight can give us joy or wonder for a moment, but then it becomes the norm. But with spiritual sight – when we see Jesus as the exalted one – we are never left short of wonder. For the blind man, this progressed over the course of the story: in verse 11, he saw Jesus as a man; in verse 17, he saw Jesus as a prophet; and in verse 38, he saw Jesus as Lord. In our lives, just as in his, we are incomplete, and ultimately unsatisfied, until we see Jesus for who He really is. 

Questions for Meditation

1. Verse 35 says that Jesus heard the blind man was kicked out by the Pharisees, even after Jesus had already healed him. Jesus had already found him once, but he came back for him again. How is Jesus’ approach to the blind man like the gospel of good news? 
2. Luke 19:10 says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” What is unique about Jesus in this regard in comparison to other belief systems, philosophies, and paradigms?
3. Jesus found the man again so that he could heal his heart. True healing is more than physical and results in wholeness. Where in your life can Jesus do a new work of wholeness? 
4. Mark 2:17 says, “It is not the healthy who needs a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Why is it so important that when we are sick or lacking, we confess it? 
5. Jesus also showed Himself as a revealer to the formerly blind man. If we don’t see Jesus for who He really is, the temporal can seem permanent and the eternal can seem trivial. Why is seeing Jesus for who He really is so important in our everyday perspective? 
6. Without Jesus, the truth can seem unattainable. In John 8:36, Jesus said, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Sometimes we find it hard to believe that God can really give us freedom because we fail to see Jesus for who He really is. What areas in your life will seeing Jesus for who He really is, and trusting Him for what He says, would bring change and transformation?