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For I know the plans I have for you,declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for collecting daily manna), make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Monday, August 6, 2018
Today's Passage : Today's Passage:Subjecta:Jesus Heals the Man Born Blind [Part 3] Bible Verse:John 9:13-23 "They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.” The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” " Message:
oday’s scripture shows the reaction of the Pharisees to Jesus’ allegorical healing of a man who, although he had been blind from birth, was shown the light—and literally given earthly sight—when Jesus spat on the ground, rubbed the mud on the man’s eyes, and told him to go wash.
The Pharisees, whose opposition to Christ is steadily growing, criticize him for healing on the Sabbath. Their criticism crops up repeatedly the gospels. But Jesus, the Son of God, is free from sin. He has an odd relationship with the Law of Moses. He has been sent from God to “fulfill” the Law. If He were to transgress the Law of Moses, His transgression would condemn the Law. Christ is greater than the Law, and if they were in conflict, it is easy to see that the Law, not Christ, would have to give way.
good shepherd
But one of the oddities of the life of Christ is that He was not only the perfect man, but also the perfect Jew. As far as I can tell, He was the only man ever to have followed the Law of Moses. The Pharisees are simply wrong in saying that a person cannot heal on the Sabbath; Christ is not breaking the Law of Moses, but rather, a rule made up by the scribes and Pharisees. (There is a marvelous full exposition of this issue in the Sabbath Sentinel.)
Not all the Pharisees are convinced that Jesus is a deluded heretic; some of them wonder, “If he did not come from God, how he could perform such a miracle?” Such is actually the aim of the miracle: to lead witnesses to understand Christ’s mission.
Imagine a scruffy self-appointed holy man healing patients in the waiting area of a modern emergency room. Some officials would demand that he leave, or call the police, to have him arrested for practicing medicine without a license, or trespassing. But some would wonder, “How is he healing, if he does not wield the power of God?”
The healed man testifies to Christ’s holiness, both by his words and by his sight. But like attorneys in court—which, in fact, they are—Christ’s enemies among the Pharisees, who will do whatever they can to convict him, now question the man’s honesty. We see such anti-Christian sentiment today and throughout history, from people who seek any excuse to deny Christ’s divinity, who are determined to prove that salvation is fictional.
The blind man’s parents represent agnostics of all ages. They are afraid of telling the truth and witnessing to Christ, so they simply refuse to take a side. They must admit the facts, that the man is their son and that he was once blind. And yet, they cannot bring themselves to make the obvious connection, or at least to speak it. The miracle occurred because God exists and his Son, Jesus Christ, is the light of the world.
Meditation : . Prayer : I pray that I may be blessed every step of my path this day by the great God of light. May your sun shine upon me; as the moon moves the tide, may your Spirit move my emotions with every grace and magic; may my heart sing with the voice of your angels and my hearth be warm; and may this and every blessed day You have given me be filled with joy..........Amen |
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