City Life Starter

By Stefan Johnsson

John 9:13-17 (NIV)

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.

14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath.

15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”

16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”

But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” Sothey were divided.

17 Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”

The man replied, “He is a prophet.”

The pharisees were mad. They believed that they were the righteous ones. “Who dares break the rules of the Sabbath? No one can do work on the Sabbath and be from God.” As they debated amongst themselves. Their pride kept them from seeing Jesus for who he was. They stuck to their own traditions instead of asking themselves, are we the ones who may be in the wrong?

Some did. Some of the Pharisees tried to grip with what Jesus was doing. Was Jesus really sinning? These signs were undeniable. How could someone open the eyes of a blind man in any other way except through the power of God? He must not be sinning, but why was he doing it on the Sabbath and not on another day?

The blind man knew. He could not deny the truth. He received sight, never having seen before in his life. He had nothing to lose and everything to gain. He was blind and now, he sees.

In the end, it was the pride of the Pharisees and their man-made laws that blinded them to Jesus. They could not see because they would not believe. They changed the Sabbath with the idea that they had the power to create laws and their own interpretations of it. They took away from what God had intended for the Sabbath to be.

What we need to learn from this is very simple. Let go of your pride. Let go of your man-made beliefs of what Christianity should be. Read the Bible and study God’s word. Then, be open to the Holy Spirit to see how He can work in your life to better understand scripture. It is through the Holy Spirit that we gain a deeper knowledge of the Word of God. Do not let the man-made religion of today turn you away from following Christ. True believers live by faith and test everything to the word of God. Let us do the same.