John 10 - The Blind Man and The Lost Sheep

 

I’ve been reading through John 10 recently. I find it such an interesting chapter, especially because it’s clearly talking about the man healed of blindness in John 9, but few commentators say anything about this.

What did the blind man have to do to meet Christ? What did he have to do to earn it? Nothing. He sat there with his problem and Jesus came and rescued him… Then the religious people were bent on making him their disciples instead of Jesus’s disciple. In John 10 Jesus spends a great deal of time explaining why this happened to the pharisees.

A couple interesting things stuck out to me here…

• The pharisees weren’t interested really in going out and finding lost sheep. They had the attitude that sheep would come to them.

• The blind man instantly followed Jesus, and knew something wasn’t right about how the Pharisees were doing things. He didn’t join them but rather went back out on the street. How many people are genuine followers of Jesus but they don’t fit the church mold and have decided to stay on the streets?

• Jesus chose the blind man, but it was the blind man’s choice to stand up to the Pharisees. Jesus almost always initiates - our decision is what we’ll do with that… and this unlikely witness was the strongest one in the gospel against the pharisees!

• Jesus made his entire ministry about the One. The one person, the one woman, the one blind man… He treated everyone individually and “calls them by name”. The Pharisees thought in general and were making decisions for the crowd, often worrying what the crowd thought.

Post Cyclone

Wow. Another opportunity to trust in God. Cyclone worship is at another level because you are literally being confronted with the reality of your tiny-ness in the middle of extreme power.

I am pretty discouraged about the church rebuilding efforts after the last cyclone. Several of the churches fell down or had disastrous problems.

 

There is so much flooding everywhere. I can only imagine how bad it is in the districts!

This is day 3 without power, but what a difference it makes to have a house! We are safe and our belongings are safe. God has been with us yet again.

I have to say though, the amount of stress I have been under is catching up to me. I thought things were bad before the cyclone - they've become almost unbearable now. The stress has gone up to the point where my ribs are getting thrown out and back pain is constant.

 

I need rest. I need shalom peace.

 

God is our refuge and strength,

always ready in times of trouble.

So we will not fear when earthquakes come

and the mountains crumble into the sea.

Let the oceans roar and foam.

Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!

A river brings joy to the city of our God,

the sacred home of the most High.

-Psalm 46:1-4