What a strange life Jacob had during these years. As Rachel and Leah compete with one another
for his affection and favor he spends all his time sleeping with a variety of
women including both sisters and their handmaidens. The goal of all this is to produce more and
more children. We may not be able to
relate to the goal but we certainly relate to the competition and the way that
favor is measured by earthly things.
Through all this, God is building the nation into existence, these sons
are the foundation of everything. We
have no idea what Jacob thought of any of this competition, he seems to have
been a more or less willing accomplice to it all, simply obedient to whatever
his wives demand or suggest. He has
spent a lifetime obeying the voice of one woman or another.
The disciples again show that they connect blessing or
hardship with God’s favor or disfavor.
Their question is predicated on bad theology, the man was born blind so
there must have been sin somewhere. In
difficulty that is a default theological idea but the reality is that sin
abounds so why is there anything other than difficulty? Jesus’ answer is that this blindness is so
that the works of God may abound in him.
Does Jesus refer to the miracle He performs in giving sight to the man
born blind or does He refer to the man’s faith as a result of the healing? The greater and more significant work is
faith in Jesus. Many who witness this
miracle acknowledge what Jesus does but not who He is as a result. Some even come to the conclusion that because
Jesus worked on the Sabbath by making mud and then required the man to work in
washing it off that He was not from God.
God’s true favor here is in opening the spiritual eyes of the man so
that he could see clearly concerning Jesus and live forever. The material blessing was simply a sign
pointing beyond itself.
John begins the epistle with the thoughts of the Gospel,
reaching back to beginnings or Genesis. Even though Jesus was in beginning
before creation, before things that are real to us came into existence, God
made Him tangible to our senses, hearing, seeing and touching in the
incarnation. The first thing God created
was light and in the Revelation we see that God is in the new Jerusalem as
light. John describes Jesus as the light
of the world and he saw a glimpse of that light on the mount of
Transfiguration. He tells us in the
Gospel that darkness has never overcome the light. Now, he wants only to testify of what he has
seen and heard that others may share in that confession of Jesus and in that
fellowship of confession his joy may be complete. John has seen true righteousness and knows
that whatever he thought was righteous was simply play acting and therefore he
knows something of the pervasiveness of sin by having seen righteousness. John could no longer ask the question of our
Gospel lesson because He knows that sin is a given in the world but that Jesus
has overcome sin. Nothing is hidden any
longer in Jesus’ light. True favor with
God is achieved by confession and receiving forgiveness and is measured not by
worldly things but the joy that comes from the gift of life.
Let the heavens praise
your wonders, O LORD,
your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD?
Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD,
a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,
and awesome above all who are around him?
O LORD God of hosts,
who is mighty as you are, O LORD,
with your faithfulness all around you?
your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD?
Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD,
a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,
and awesome above all who are around him?
O LORD God of hosts,
who is mighty as you are, O LORD,
with your faithfulness all around you?
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