Not only do the waters of the Jordan part as the priests
wade into it, it isn't a muddy crossing, it is dry ground beneath where the
waters once flowed, two miracles for the price of one. The priests have to step into the river first
before the miracle occurs, it requires a step of faith. At the Red Sea they had only to wait for the
Lord to act, only Moses had to do anything, stretch out his staff. Here the spiritual leaders have to act in
faith. At the Red Sea there was nothing
else to do, Pharaoh's army was behind them.
Here, they have to take the step of entering the Land. They have already seen God is able to part
waters, now they have to believe He is willing and they have to believe that
entering the Land isn't going to be futile.
To leave the wilderness behind requires faith.
The disciples go back to the default position of, there is
something wrong here, some misfortune, therefore there must have been a sinful
person responsible. Jesus says that
isn't the case, this blindness is for the glory of God who will heal it. The blind man may not have felt that to be
fair but he was willing to be obedient and received healing. Why did Jesus make mud and pack it on his
eyes? Was that a requirement for healing
or could He have simply said, "Be healed." He did so with Bartimaeus but here he
required the man to do something to get healing. What he required was something like what
Elisha required from Naaman but here there is also a legal twist. Making mud was a sinful thing to do on
Sabbath, it was work. Walking to the
pool was further than could be required and so was washing off the mud. The man could have protested both these
things but didn't. He chose obedience to
Jesus over obedience to the rulers, the lawgiver over the law.
Now that we have seen the light, had the darkness exposed
for exactly what it is, we are to walk as children of the light, following
Jesus who is the light. The blind man in
the Gospel lesson had to choose Jesus over the synagogue and temple rulers,
anyone who confessed Jesus was to be de-synagogued. We are invited not to religion but to
relationship. Religion had rules and
laws against all the things Paul mentions in this passage and we have freedom
in Christ but we don't have freedom to violate the law, it is God's law,
defining what He wills for human life. We,
however, follow the dictates of the law more like Jesus, with it written on our
hearts, needing no one to go up to heaven to interpret it for us. Faith is walking forward in the belief that
He will do all things according to His plan and purpose for us and that no
matter what comes, all things work together for good. And, we leave the definition of good up to
Him.
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