Day 18 (Tuesday, March 26, 2019)
Read
John 9:35-41
35 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.
Reflect
As John’s Gospel progresses he increasingly pushes us towards making a decision about Jesus. In chapter 9 four conversations unfold following the healing of the blind beggar. The final one (9:36-37) is possibly the most beautiful in the whole of the Gospel. The man who had been ejected from the synagogue by the religious
‘You have seen him,’ Jesus said. ‘The one who is speaking to you is he.’
We can only begin to imagine the awesome implications of what Jesus said that day. And the man responded: ‘Lord, I believe.’ John tells us that he worshiped Jesus as though he were God. There are few mountain peaks higher than this in John’s Gospel. The man had progressed from the first conversation where he called Jesus, the man (9:11), to the second where he spoke of Jesus as a prophet (9:17), to the third where he could say, This man must be from God (9:33). Now he worshiped him as Lord.
It’s a picture of the road many of us travel as our understanding of Jesus is awakened. We come to agree that Jesus was a man – he did live; then we see that he’s more than a man – he’s a prophet; then, that he’s much more than a prophet – he must be from God. He is God. He is my Lord.
Prayer
Almighty God, you wonderfully created men and women in your own image and have now more wonderfully rescued and restored them. Grant us, we pray, that as your Son our Lord Jesus Christ was made in our likeness, so may we share his divine nature; we ask this through Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (1978 AAPB, Second Sunday after Christmas – adapted)
Daily Reading Plan
Read John 9:24-41
