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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. Wednesday, August 8, 2018
Today's Passage : Today's Passage:Subjecta:Jesus Heals the Man Born Blind [Part 4] Bible Verse:John 9:24-34 "So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out. " Message:
This group of Pharisees knows what they want to find; they are searching for support to condemn Jesus, not enlightenment. Having already questioned the blind man once, as well as his neighbors and his parents, trying to shake their story and prove the man was never blind, they go after the blind man again, trying to strong arm him into changing his story. It’s a witch hunt.
Jesus heals Bartimaeus
But the blind man has some “attitude”! He asks them why they are asking him question he has already answered—is it because they want to become disciples of Christ themselves? He begins to trade insults with them; and remember, they are the leaders of the community and he is a wretch. Clearly he can “see” more clearly than the Pharisees, who are still blind in the metaphorical sense; they cannot see the light of God, which is Jesus. Finally he tells them the obvious truth that they refuse to accept: Jesus could not have healed his blindness unless he (Jesus) came from God.
And so, having given them the true answer, he is expelled from the religious life of his community.
The Pharisees might be forgiven for thinking, at least initially, that the man is blind because he was “born in sin.” The disciples, remember, asked Jesus in verse 2, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Where they go wrong is in not listening to Jesus when He explains the reality. Like Jesus himself, the man was born for a specific purpose: That Jesus might heal him and thus demonstrate that He is the Christ, and that those who see the miracle understand that it is a sign from God.
It is easy enough for us to despise the blindness and hypocrisy of the Pharisees. What is harder is to accept the lesson for ourselves; for we share the blindness of the Pharisees, often enough. We see their pride and blindness, but not our own. We “kill” Christ with our own hypocrisy every day. And He dies for us, willingly, that we might be forgiven for our sin. His sacrifice is truly a miracle of love.
Meditation : . Prayer : And finally, grant me O Lord, I pray, the lamp of charity which never fails, that it may burn in me and shed its light on those around me, and that by its brightness I may share a vision of that holy City, where dwells the true and never-failing Light, Jesus Christ our Lord..........Amen |
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