Being From God

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

BEING FROM GOD

John 9:28-34

28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this fellow's disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from." 30 The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." 34 To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw him out.

NIV

The conversation is turning a little ugly between the Pharisees and this man Jesus had healed of blindness. It certainly was a negative, as far as the Pharisees were concerned, to be a disciple of Jesus. They made sure this man knew they wanted nothing to do with Jesus, they were disciples of Moses. There is no question that God spoke through Moses to the people of Israel, that he gave them the ten commandments, that he gave them further laws, strict laws they could not hope to obey one hundred percent, to show them their need for his provision of salvation, Jesus. But they were so steeped in their own brand of religion they could not see the truth. This man who was not educated in the Law, as the Pharisees were, had a far better handle on the truth then they did. He knew quite well that God does not listen to sinners, except of course when they repent and come to Jesus, but then they are no longer sinners, in the sense this man was using. For this man to know that God only listens to a godly man who does his will is remarkable. First we should take note that because someone may not be highly educated with a wall full of degrees from various bible colleges or seminaries; it does not mean he cannot have spiritual insight. We should also note that because someone has an infirmity should as being blind their whole life; it does not mean they cannot have spiritual insight. It does not require earning degrees to be a man of God and to do his will, in fact we might take a lesson from the Pharisees in that they thought they were educated in the Law of Moses but certainly were not godly men doing the will of the Father. This man knew for certain that Jesus was from God, for only someone from God can do what he did. His argument made so much sense, it rang so true, and the Pharisees knew it, but could in no way agree, so they had to insult him even more. They accused him; they judged him as being steeped in sin from birth, not like them, not like their self-righteous highly educated legalistic selves. Of course we already saw how Jesus’s disciples had made that judgment in the question they asked about who had sinned, this man or his parents. So are we any surprised the Pharisees concerned someone born blind to have been steeped in sin from birth? It is always amazing to see those who think themselves more educated, more spiritual then others, and how they interact with those they consider less than themselves. We should learn that lesson about how we interact with others. We are no better, no worse than any other person, we are all sinners save by grace. It does not matter how much we know, except that we know we are saved because of Jesus and that we need to be godly and do the will of the Father. This is our evidence of being from God.