The sixth Sign... part 5...

We've now seen the Sign performed, and we must turn to what happened after it was done.  Many of the other Signs don't have such detailed accounts of the aftermath, even though we know it exists as people proclaim the Name to others, but this one needed to be recorded, I think.  It shows us something... a truth that only the saved believer can understand and appreciate.

"He kept saying, 'I'm the one!'"

John 9:9b, HCSB

The now-seeing man was making his way back to the Healer, and many people along the way were questioning if it was the same man.  I can picture some agreeing that it is him and thinking that something cool happened... others thinking this is a mere parlor trick, and there must be more to it, because this cannot be him... and more still, discussing if it could be, but not leaning clearly to either decision.  There is a reason it is so difficult for two thirds of that pie chart I just painted with my imagination brush, and that reason is because when one accepts Christ (freed from trappings by Him), the entire outward appearance of that person becomes different!  Instead of down-troddenness, we now have joy that is unstoppable and irreplaceable, and we are new creatures in Christ. 

On a side note, the smaller portion of the people who admitted it was the same man, and know that something amazing happened... in this picture, their smaller-than-the-doubter-group would represent the remnant that God promised to keep.  That group was less blind than the rest, but still not able to fully see until they accepted Christ.  Here, however, was most likely a conversion point for many people.

Anyway, as the man returns from whence he came, he proclaims openly that he is the man who was blind.  What brings a small giggle to my day in this is that he is trying to convince people that he is still the same person that they say he is.  Read that again for the irony, and then imagine going home and having one of your family ask you if it is really you, all the while discussing that you look like you, but not certain that you are actually you.  Grasp this point, friends: we overcomplicate things.  The text does not mention children in this moment, but I guarantee you, they would have accepted that this was the same man, and thought nothing more of it.  Their innocence allows them sight that we as adults gave away many years back, and now we look for reasons and truths and explanations to things we cannot understand.  In essence, we look at a man we know, and because there is something phenomenally different about him, we convince ourselves that we are wrong, and this man cannot be this man.  Tough, right?

The biggest response, though, comes from the man's parents.  They are questioned about whether it is their son, and they admit that it is.  They are then asked if he was born blind, and they admit that he was.  But then they are asked if they know how he able to see, and although they know the answer, they cannot speak it... because they are afraid.  The Pharisees and Chief Priests already hated Jesus, and everybody knew it, so to speak positively of Him was to end up on the wrong side of the law.  Their reply tells us this, as they tell the Pharisees that they can ask their son directly, because he is "of age," and "will speak for himself (v.21)."  And it is in that answer that the parents give that we see that it is truly for each of us, as adults, to work through our own growth and salvation. 

Better, though, was what happened when this man did answer.  His answer to the Pharisees makes me wish I knew his name, because I would like to be able to congratulate his strength and conviction, as well as his simple and direct approach.  The answer given rings across time and space, to us even today, speaking of the removal of our own Spiritual blindness.  In short, this answer is awesome.

"He answered, 'Whether or not He's a sinner, I don't know.  One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I can see!'"

John 9:25, HCSB

This man accepted the gift that Jesus offered to him, and he accepted it openly and gratefully.  He also spoke truly of the fact that he couldn't know (like we know from records and history and the Resurrection) that Jesus was sinless.  The only thing this man knew was that his illness, his disability, his perceived punishment for a sinful "insert option here" was relieved completely by some mud in the eyes, made from the spit of this Nazarene. 

I'm just curious... would you answer the same way?  It doesn't matter what I think; what matters is what He did for me when I didn't deserve it!

God bless you all!!!