Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Saturday, 20 December 2014 “How well can you see 'the light of the world'?"Today's Scripture: John 9:18-19 The Jews didn’t believe it, didn’t believe the man was blind to begin with. So they called the parents of the man now bright-eyed with sight. They asked them, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? So how is it that he now sees?”
20-23 His parents said, “We know he is our son, and we know he was born blind. But we don’t know how he came to see—haven’t a clue about who opened his eyes. Why don’t you ask him? He’s a grown man and can speak for himself.” (His parents were talking like this because they were intimidated by the Jewish leaders, who had already decided that anyone who took a stand that this was the Messiah would be kicked out of the meeting place. That’s why his parents said, “Ask him. He’s a grown man.”)
24 They called the man back a second time—the man who had been blind—and told him, “Give credit to God. We know this man is an impostor.”
25 He replied, “I know nothing about that one way or the other. But I know one thing for sure: I was blind . . . I now see.”
26 They said, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 “I’ve told you over and over and you haven’t listened. Why do you want to hear it again? Are you so eager to become his disciples?”
28-29 With that they jumped all over him. “You might be a disciple of that man, but we’re disciples of Moses. We know for sure that God spoke to Moses, but we have no idea where this man even comes from.”
30-33 The man replied, “This is amazing! You claim to know nothing about him, but the fact is, he opened my eyes! It’s well known that God isn’t at the beck and call of sinners, but listens carefully to anyone who lives in reverence and does his will. That someone opened the eyes of a man born blind has never been heard of—ever. If this man didn’t come from God, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.”
34 They said, “You’re nothing but dirt! How dare you take that tone with us!” Then they threw him out in the street.
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and went and found him. He asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
36 The man said, “Point him out to me, sir, so that I can believe in him.”
37 Jesus said, “You’re looking right at him. Don’t you recognize my voice?”
38 “Master, I believe,” the man said, and worshiped him.
39 Jesus then said, “I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind.”
40 Some Pharisees overheard him and said, “Does that mean you’re calling us blind?”
41 Jesus said, “If you were really blind, you would be blameless, but since you claim to see everything so well, you’re accountable for every fault and failure.”
Reflection Questions:
In his prologue, John said we must choose to see the light Jesus brought (cf. John 1:10-11). John graphically portrayed the terrible results of spiritual blindness—the blind man’s talk with the Pharisees would be comical if it weren’t so tragic. Rather than admit anything good about Jesus, the religious leaders grasped at straws to deny the plain fact that a man born blind could now see! In his beautiful confession of faith in verse 25, the man showed that he could “see” more clearly than the religious leaders.
• In verse 25, you may recognize the words John Newton used when he wrote “Amazing Grace” centuries later. Newton used the words to confess his sorrow at having once sailed a slave ship that carried holds jammed with captive Africans across the ocean to a life of slavery. In what parts of your spiritual life is this your testimony—what do you now see to which you were once blind? How will you apply what you have “seen” about Jesus this Advent to living your life differently in 2015?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, please continue your “eye surgery” in my life, clearing my vision and moving my heart to follow you more completely. Amen.
Family Activity: Gather your family into the darkest space of your home. A closet or a dark bathroom would be good options. Bring a Bible and a very small reading light with you. When you are all together, ask someone to read John 1:1-5. Describe how just as life can be dark at times, so are our hearts, lives and the world without the light of Jesus. Discuss how as followers of Jesus, his light lives within us and he wants us to share it with the world with our words and actions. Open the door of the room and celebrate the light of Jesus together! Give thanks to God for Jesus and for the light he brings to our lives at Christmas and always!
Commit to sharing the light of Jesus with all people.
Prayer Requests
Prayers for Health and Healing for: Patricia Ballenger, Evelyn Bergman, Tina Clark-Stanley, LaShawn Daniels, Peggy Emerson, Gloria Link, Joe Ludwikowski, Stephanie Rodriguez, Brooke Wiegers, Perry Fischer, Gwen Koppen, Teresa Shockley, Ann Tortorici
Praise for the Births of: Declan Wiley Haertling, 11/11; Mia Annelise Schmidt, 11/3; Oliver O’Brien Smalley, 11/22
Prayers for Peace & Comfort for:
• Mike Dietrich and Rev. Lisa Holliday and families following the death of Mike’s mother and Lisa’s grandmother, Joan Gerhold Dietrich, 12/8
• Clark Johnson and family following the death of his grandmother, Andie Korver, 12/8
• Ken Kollar and family following the death of his mother, Mildred Kollar, 11/30
• Linda McDowell and Kent Holt and family following the death of Linda’s husband and Kent’s father, Neal Holt, 12/13
• Kathleen Sadowsky and family following the death of her father, Cornelius Murphy, 12/13
• Rusty Smith and family following the death of his father, George D. Smith, 12/11
• John Sooley and family following the death of his father, Richard Sooley, 12/14
Insight from Dave Robertson
Dave Robertson is the Director of Community Life at The Church of the Resurrection’s West Campus. (Dave first shared this reflection on Revelation 21 on July 26, 2014.)I love the passage from Revelation 21:5 which says, “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’” One of the reasons I love these words is they are recorded at the end of our Bible and because of what happened at the beginning of the Bible.
Dennis Garvin says it this way, “The last Bible I looked at contained over 2000 pages, and you humans managed to get yourself kicked out of Paradise by page 5. That has to be some kind of record.” God set us up for paradise with God and yet that wasn’t good enough for us. We now get to taste what life outside of paradise is like while ever longing for what was lost. While we seek and strive for the Kingdom of God, we receive from God glimpses from time to time to show us what it is like. We also have God’s trustworthy, true promises to stand on.
One such time I received a glimpse was when I was in college. I never knew my grandparents, three of whom died before I was born. After my mother’s death, my father remarried and my step-mother’s parents were still living. I considered them grandparents. I was in college when my step-grandmother, Honey (her nickname) died. I had a three-hour drive back home and I remember being sad about her loss. I wasn’t thinking of anything in particular when all of a sudden, as I was driving, the Spirit of joy filled my mind and body. For a brief glimpse I felt like I was experiencing what Honey was experiencing–the pure joy of salvation and paradise with God. I believe God had made her new with a new spiritual body. I also believe God to be at work in this world making it new, getting us back to where God originally designed us.
This experience has lingered in my soul these 30 years. I long for that time of getting to once again experience that level of joy, but am also grateful for the chance to experience it already in that small moment in time. It was truly a down payment and a foretaste of heaven.
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