Preparing for Jesus - John 9 - A Broken Crayon

My dad was a children's minister for a number of years when I was in middle school, which meant that I got to help volunteer in his class. (What it really meant was that I didn't have to sit in big church.)

There was one Sunday where my dad did a magic trick. He shoved a crayon through the left side of his stomach and it came out the right side. It was crazy. But it wasn't all that crazy to me. Because I knew how he did it. Or at least I pretended to know. All the kids (kindergarten to 5th grade) were mesmerized and to be quite honest so was I. 

But I wanted the kids to know how cool I was, something about wanting to be as cool as your dad, so I pretended to know. The kids would ask, "Of course I know how" I'd reply. 

Pretending to see...

What was interesting about John 9 was that the Pharisees were seeing, they just weren't seeing the right things. They were looking at the sins (or perceived sins) of others; the were looking at who they could kick out of their synagogue; they were looking to pass blame and judgment on others. 

But in chapter nine, they never did look in the mirror. 

We can spend a lot of time doing the same thing, can't we?  We spend a lot time looking at the sin of others saying things like:

- I can't believe they still come to church?

- At least my life doesn't look like theirs...

- I wish so-and-so would've been there to hear the sermon this morning, they really needed it. 

Its the very thing Jesus condemns here in John 9. 

(Don't get me wrong, there is definitely a place in the Christian life to call out the sins of your brother and sister but this isn't that.)

What do you see?

Instead of talking about the sins of other people, what if we followed the example of the blind man? What if the majority of what we talked about was what Jesus did in our own lives. 

Answer this question that comes from verse 26:

"The they asked him, 'What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?'"

If we answer that question, and keep asking that question, it will keep our eyes on Jesus, and keep us coming back to the foot of the cross. Then we can see clearly...

2 different crayons. My dad has two different crayons. How could I not see it? Maybe because I was too concerned with what other people thought about me that I wasn't looking at what was right in front of me.

Today's Contributing Author: Roger Burns