Thursday after Cantate
Scripture: St. John 9:1-13 (NKJV)
9:1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.
8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?”
9 Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.”
He said, “I am he.”
10 Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”
11 He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”
12 Then they said to him, “Where is He?”
He said, “I do not know.”
13 They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees.
Devotion
Did you notice? The blind man didn’t say anything to Jesus. There was no “Lord, have mercy.” Neither did he say, “I want to see.” Jesus simply healed the man.
Some Christians espouse the idea that a person must do something to be a Christian: they must ask Jesus into their hearts, or they must surrender to Him, or they must decide to follow Jesus. But the blind man asked nothing of Jesus, and Jesus did everything. Jesus anointed his eyes and told him to go wash them. Without Jesus doing and telling, the man would have remained blind.
This is how it works with faith. God does everything because we, who are dead in trespasses and sins, can do nothing. The Holy Spirit, “the Lord and Giver of Life,” comes and anoints us with God’s Word. The Law convicts and crushes us, and the Gospel gives us new life. We are washed in the waters of Holy Baptism and our eyes are opened to the Truth.
The truth that this is all God’s work was spoken by Jesus: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” There’s that word “in” again. What God was doing to the blind man was not revealed by the blind man, but rather “revealed in him” by God. At this point, the man simply knows that Jesus put clay on his eyes, had him wash them in the pool of Siloam, and he could see. The fullness of this revelation would come later (this Saturday’s reading) when Jesus reveals to the man that He is the Messiah.
Prayer: O Lord, enlighten our minds by Your Holy Spirit, that we may be led into all truth. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
