Thoughts on Jesus of Nazareth. The Blind Who See and the Seeing Who are Blind! The crowds in the Temple are stunned at the healing of the man born blind by the supernatural power of Jesus the Messiah. The Chief Priests now approach Jesus and the blind man--desperate to discredit the healing power of Jesus as they are more determined than ever to remain in their unbelief at all cost, so much so they vehemently deny the visible evidence of this astounding miracle, as we will now see! The group of ravening priests of the Temple makes their way to where the blind man and Jesus are--at Solomons Porch in the Temple with its beautiful colonnaded rows. They are determined to make Jesus and the blind man look like deceivers faking the whole miracle. One of the Priests accusingly bellows: This lying cheat was never blind. We of the Temple know he only pretended to be blind in order to earn his living. The united opposition of these Chief Priests is well acted in the scene from the movie Jesus of Nazareth. Their look is one of arrogant self-righteousness, pride, and determined opposition to Jesus, no matter what. Director Franco Zeffirelli now takes the event of John 9:38-41 and captures the tragedy of Israels rejection and judgment for their unbelief towards Jesus the Messiah on film at the close of the Lords public ministry to them. Some in the crowd now join the Chief Priests in their lying and false accusations leveled against the blind man. One from the crowd concurs with this by vocalizing his agreement with the Chief Priests, further slandering the veracity of the blind man, Hes right, hes a liar. Ive know him a long time, hes never been blind. Another Chief Priest steps forward and speaks for the opposing group. He challenges Jesus outright and incredulously queries, And what is your story. That you can give sight to the blind? Now the face of Jesus noticeably takes on a stern look as the Priest and his group are perilously approaching the point of no return in their unbelief and opposition to Jesus in which they cannot be saved and will now be judged by God without reversal or remedy ever to occur or be given! Jesus now solemnly and gravely announces the judgment He releases on those like the Chief Priests, Pharisees, and the unbelievers in the crowd who will not believe, no matter what, and yet sinfully claim they can spiritually see without believing Jesus is the Messiah--Gods unique Light of the world by which all who believe in Him can truly see and understand God. Our Lord declares to them, I came into this world to give sight to those who cannot see. And to take away sight from those who can. Here is another hard saying of the Lord followed by another hard saying to understand when He responds to the Pharisees answer back to Him. What I think Jesus meant here is that those who are blind admit they are in spiritual darkness and admit their need for the light of Jesus Christ to see their need for salvation, and so they believe in Him for it. But to those, like the myopic Chief Priests, who think they already have a saving knowledge of who God is without the light of Messiah Jesus, and will not believe in Him, are blinded in the darkness of that unbelief. Exceedingly solemn is this! The same Pharisee hearing this, unwittingly confirms the judgment of God on them, here, when claiming their Pharisaical, priestly group to be righteous in Gods eyes without the spiritual sight to believe in Jesus the Messiah. He retorts, What do you mean by that, that we who are righteous are blind. Now Jesus pronounces His judgment on them for their refusal to believe He is Lord and Messiah--a divine judgment that falls on all unbelievers! The voice of Jesus is now grave and heavy when He judicially proclaims, If you were blind, you would be without sin. But since you say, We see, your sin remains. Again another hard saying of Jesus that many in the crowd, along with the Pharisees failed to fully grasp! Those who blind---ignorant of the Lord Jesus Christ--having never heard or seen Him--are not guilty of the sin of unbelief towards Him. So when they do meet Him and admit their spiritual blindness, they believe in Him to spiritually see He is their Savior and Lord. But those, like the Pharisees here, who say they have a true and correct understanding of God and His Word but refuse to believe in Jesus the Messiah of whom God and the Word unequivocally point to are guilty in the eyes of God and will be judged for their inexcusable unbelief--there sin remains. For Jesus said He came as the Light of the world (John 8:12) to give sight to those who admit their spiritual blindness and need of Him. But to those who pridefully and self-righteously reject their need for Him are now blinded in their sin of unbelief and under the judgment of God for it! This is what Jesus meant when speaking this judgment on the Chief Priests and Pharisees. The scene ends with the Lord Jesus walking away from the Chief Priests and Pharisees as they are left in their state of reprobation and permanent darkness abandoned by the Messiah and God of Israel!! To those who believe in Jesus and the Word of God, their blindness will lift and they will see His glorious Person, more and more. But to those who refuse to see and reject Him, their blindness is conformed and they will only grow more and more blind in their ever increasing, spiritual darkness. The paradox of this event is quite striking: Those who admit they are spiritually blind will see when they let Jesus the Light of the World dawn and radiate into their lives, those who physically see, and dont do this are really spiritually blind to their damnable end. Please start the video at 1:18 and end it at 2:10: https://youtube/watch?v=hxCcvCZkaJc&list=WL&index=32
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 19:22:17 +0000
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