Today’s Scripture: John 9:1-12
One of my greatest fears is the lose of sight. I really don’t know why I fear this, it probably relates o the fact that I’m already partially deaf. I was probably born that way just as this man was born without sight. I’ve learned to adjust but I agree I would like to hear, because I do miss alot. But if I were to lose sight all the things I love I would miss. Art, reading, fireworks, the sunset and rise are all things that I enjoy today that I would not be able to enjoy the same way I do now.
The disciples ask Jesus who’s fault it was that this man was born in this condtion. We all have been born into things some have parents that seem to fight constantly, others have things seemingly very good. I am constantly asked why…why was I born into a family that was abusive, why did my father always choose work over the family. Many of these stories have nearly driven me to tears and I begin asking why did God allow this to happen? The simple answer is there realy isn’t an answer. We live in places that are broken our families aren’t perfect and our parents aren’t either. Sometimes they are doing the best they can and sometimes they never wanted to be parents at all.
It is sad. It is easy to begin to ask why. This is where Jesus’s answer and actions cause us to pause. His answer is that thi person was born blind so that the works of God might be displayed. I wonder if the things that I had to endure were so that th works of God might be displayed? We are left asking how can the works of God be displayed in an abusive home, or through infadelity in a marriage but it is true God can be praised through them…eventually. while we face the tough and dwn right hellish situations we cannot alway see God but He is there.
Jesus goes on to speak about working while it is day. This is where the wnders of God are displayed. It isn’t in those that harm us but it is found in those that help us through the situations. The glory of God is found in the foster parents that are taking in the troubled kids and caring for them. It is found in the school counselors that spend time talking to the students, its found in the friend who you can talk to even when its 2 am. The day of the Lord is upon us and we must do the work of the Him who has sent us. Each one of us is a minister of God, this is one of the core teachings of the Friends Church. Not only the pastor (if there is a pastor) but each person. This means that God may use you to speak or act according to the needs of someone around you. We see a glimmer of this in this passage, Jesus sent the young man to wash in the pool of Siloam (which means sent). He sent him to Sent.
We have all been wounded and broken in some way. Many of us call on Christ to meet us in our condition. He is there waiting to heal our brokeness in some way and then He sends us to go about His business. We each have a story of comfort, victory, healing, and hope. People all around us need to hear our story in some way, maybe not the whole story but a portion. A bit that can help them overcome their own struggle so that they too can say in their livesthat that happened to them so that the works of God could be displayed in them.
Today’s scripture: John 8:48-59
The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying you are a Samaritian and have a demon?” I find this verse to be one of the funniest in all of scripture. Who would actually have the nerve to ask someone if they have a demon? And to top it off what did they expect the answer to be?
Often times we are quick to judge people and situations too quickly. In Jesus’s case they asked two question, the first “are we not right in saying you are a Samaritian?” It would not take longto figure out if a person was a Samaritian or not. It is a simple examination of their family and everyone knew that those that raise Jesus were Jews. Traditions even state that both Mary and Joseph were very pious Jews prior to Jesus’s birth so saying such a thing is bizzar.
But why would they raise the issue? Probably because like many of our judgements He didn’t always do things or say things exactly as the particular group wanted. Today there are a group of political individuals called RINO’s, republican in name only, they are given this name because they don’t always speak and vote down the party line. These individuals may actually be more conservitive than most in 95% of the issues but in the 5% they are condemed. I personally would have considered myself as a republican, but according to this definition I would be a RINO, because I have a strong belief in not using military to force our agendas across the world, I also feel we really should support the arts in education and not solely focus on reading, math and science. That being said i’m ok with that because I like rinos they are my favorite animal.
The issue is we judge and we judge poorly. We are just like those in this passage ready to through stones at the nearest hint of heresy, yet not seeing the reality of the situation.
Today examine your life and where you may be quick to judge, and ask if you have all the information or are you just reacting to bias. To go deeper look into your own actions and thoughts are you upset at others because they have not don the things you personally were called to do? Tough questions I know, but give yourself some grace. Jesus loves you and scripture promises that the Spirit of God will strengthen us in our weakness.
Today’s scripture: John 8:39-47
Who’s your father? For many of us this is a simple question we can answer it within our next breath with little or no hesitation. For others this question may strike pain and anger because our father may not have been around or even worse we may wish they weren’t. Either way, having a good father or a rotten one, carries a linage that meets us in our contemporary world. We are the children of our father.
What does that mean exactly? We reflect the experiences and the heritage we were brought up in. I know phycologists will argue with me there, the concept of nature verses nurture quickly comes to mind. But let’s just think about this for a moment, either way you are affected positively or negatively by the experiences of life we live in. A person born into poverty starts life a few steps behind those born into wealth. Those born into wealth may or may not live up to the expectations others hold them too.
The good thing through all of this is we do not have to live in the shadow of our fathers. Our lives are our own we answer not for the actions of our fathers but for the actions of ourselves. Our fathers start us on the paths we face we ourselves mut walk them. Today Jesus speaks about the legacey of our ancestors and how we deal with them. The people of Israel were to be the children of God, sons of Abraham yet they didn’t always follow their father’s ways. Jesus speaks of this. Justice and faith is the ways of God. Those who are children of God follow in these footsteps. If we turn from those ways we are not taking after God but the advisary.
So who’s your father?