“The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents.” John 9:18 (NIV)
When Jesus healed the man born blind, the leaders of the Salvation-by-List crowd initiated an investigation to determine exactly what happened. Yet, it appears the List-Leaders had already determined the outcome. So, when they found facts that didn’t support their predetermined conclusions, they just kept searching until they could find something that did.
Years later, John bar Zebedee, a witness the investigators ignored, shows us snapshots that reveal the flesh-weapons used by the List-Leaders:
- Closed mind and closed eyes. In this story about blindness, we learn that seeing is not always believing (John 9:13–16). The List-Leaders could see the truth running counter to their pre-judgments, so they simply rejected the truth.
- Discredit. The Salvation-by-List crowd asked the man, formally known as blind, who’d healed him (John 9:17). When he said it was Jesus, the leaders attempted to undermine the credibility of God’s anointed, which is perhaps the oldest flesh-weapon we use: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1 NIV). Did God really mean ____?
- Demand. The List-Leaders returned to the question: “What did He do to you?” (John 9:26 (NIV). They demanded an explanation because their focus was on the how instead of the “wow!” Standing in front of them was a man who’d been born blind, but now he could see—wow, God! Instead, they insist on knowing exactly what happened and how it happened, walking by sight and not by faith (the opposite of 2 Corinthians 5:7)
By Jon Walker
Used by Permission
Further Reading
• Abundant Life for the Asking – by Bill Bright
• Courageous Living – by Mary Pinckney
• Fireside Wisdom – by Gail Rodgers