Hello my friend, and welcome.
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I'm Don Pate from
'Between The Lines',
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and it's my privilege
to spend time with you
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just the next few minutes
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as we go under the
surface of the text
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in the word for a
few minutes with Jesus.
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And I'm just looking forward
to spending time with you
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as we look at
John Chapter 9 today.
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I'd invite you
to join me in prayer
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as we ask the Holy Spirit
to come in and speak to us,
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to give us something
that will be very precious
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for your heart as we
study John Chapter 9.
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Let's pray.
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Lord, thank you so
much for the rich promise
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that we have that Your
word is living and vibrant
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and that you will
energize us through the ministry
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of the Holy Spirit if
we spent time in the word.
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And so Lord, we commit
ourselves just the next minutes
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we commit ourselves to
spending time with Jesus
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in the word and we ask
You to fulfill Your promise.
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This is our prayer in the
holy name of Christ, amen.
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Sometimes when we
read the gospel accounts,
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we tend to move
things into our own culture,
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into our own understanding,
and we have to do that.
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It's like translation.
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Granted you and I are going
to be much, much more accurate
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with the scripture if
we are reading the Hebrew,
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if we are reading the Greek.
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Hebrew of the Old Testament,
Greek of the New Testament.
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You know, granted if you become
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a scholar in the
language as you probably
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are going to be closer
to the original intention,
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but the truth is, you know,
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not many people have
that opportunity, or skill,
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or gifting, or time to
become students of the language
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and so we have to
trust translation.
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We take the text
and we translate it.
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Now the problem of
course with translation.
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On the one hand it's
a wonderful blessing.
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Whenever you translate
something, it's a blessing,
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because if I didn't
translate it, then you know,
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this personal here
could not understand it.
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But as soon as I translate it
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and I move it over
into there verbiage,
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their language
somewhere in between, you know,
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some things get little
corrupted, they get little lost.
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In English let me
show you how this works.
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In English, 'we take a walk',
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well that doesn't really make
sense when you think about it,
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take a walk, a take, of course
in Spanish its 'dar un paseo.'
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'I give a walk' those
of us who are English,
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because we say,
'give him a walk',
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how'd you give or what
well, how do you take a walk?
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Its idiomatic expression
and translation of course
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if I literally were to
take Spanish and translate it
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across I'd say well,
I'm going to give a walk,
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in English you
wouldn't understand it.
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We need to translate,
so that we can understand,
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but as soon as we translate
then we'd loose something
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and certainly that is even
true of the cultural identity
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of the Bible, of
the stories of Jesus,
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because we tend to move these
stories into the 21st century.
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We tend to put them into
our culture, onto our streets.
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We tend to put it into
our racial expectations,
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our sociological expectation.
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And if I don't, I really
don't understand the story,
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it doesn't mean anything
to me, it doesn't speak to me,
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but as soon as I do,
I'm corrupting the story.
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I have a wonderful book at home.
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It was a gift that was given
to me by Jane Dillon Berger.
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She is a
notorious Art Historian,
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a wonderful woman in
Berkeley, California.
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when I was doing
my graduate studies
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at the center for
Jews studies in Berkeley.
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And Dr. Jane Dillon
Berger, Jane gave me
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as an act of gratitude
for something I done for her.
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She gave me one of these
large coffee table books,
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you know, you sit them out
and they got lots of pictures
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big books and it was called
the 'Bible and its Painters'.
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And it's so much fun
to flip through there,
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because you find things
happening in the painter's mind
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as he was
portraying the Biblical events.
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You find Mary kneeling
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and she looks like a
little Italian princess.
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Kneeling in an
Italian palace manner house
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because the Italian
Renaissance paint her.
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To him that was his reality.
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And he put Mary into that scene.
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One of my favorites is done
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by one of the
northern European painters
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he was doing a
Bethlehem manger scene.
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And it's so cute,
because as you look at it
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and there are children skating
on the pond outside the manger.
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There are horse drown
slays going by in the snow
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in front of the
manger, because obviously
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this man had no sense
of the real Bethlehem.
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He had no sense awareness
of the reality of the story.
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He just had transplanted
the nativity of Jesus,
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the birth of Jesus into his
own northern European village.
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Translation is a
blessing, it's also a curse.
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And so I think
it's wonderful for us
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as we have an
opportunity to go back
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into the gospel
stories to really see
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if we can understand
Jesus within His world.
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Jesus with the
mentality of the people
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who were standing
around Him that day,
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because then the
stories begin to sing in a way
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that maybe you've
never heard them before,
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maybe suddenly a
verse will jump out
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and you'll say I've
heard that verse for years,
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but now I understand
that's why Jesus said that,
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or that's why
Jesus asked it this way,
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If I've been around I
might have done at this way,
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but in His world,
He did it that way.
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And when we look
at John Chapter 9,
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there are certain
things that come out from
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between the lines of the
text that when you understand
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what was going on
in the world of Jesus,
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suddenly this story
will begin to sing to you
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as you've never heard before.
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I'd invite you to take a Bible
and turn to John Chapter 9.
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Jesus was in Jerusalem.
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It was one of the
pilgrimage festivals.
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He came back to
Jerusalem with many people
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from around the Roman world
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to join together for
the pilgrimage festivals.
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And as He was there
He passes by verse one
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"And saw a man
blind from birth."
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Now it's terribly important.
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It isn't just a blind man.
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It's a man who
is blind from birth.
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Now in just a
couple of verses here
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you know, you're going
to have an issue raised,
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you're not even going to
get out of the next verse
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before you see it.
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There is going to
be an issue raised,
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and you gonna say, I
don't understand this.
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What kind of
stupid question is that?
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Verse two, "His disciple
said Master, who did sin,
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this man or his
parents, to cause this
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to be part of his life
that he was born blind?"
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Now if you're thinking
you say, wait a minute,
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I can understand
you know, his parents
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maybe they did something wrong.
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In fact the Mishnah discusses
that even evil thinking
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on the part of a pregnant woman
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could potentially create
an issue of a birth deformity.
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but I'm not kidding that's true.
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And so you might say,
well, I certainly understand
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how the parents might be
blamed for the birth deformity,
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for the birth defect
of a child born blind,
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but you can't
blame it on the child.
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I mean what in the
world could he have done.
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We can't prove this.
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There is no documentation
that will allow you
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to prove this back
to the days of Jesus.
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But you certainly can
prove it into the Middle Ages,
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the early Middle Ages.
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Now whether it literally
came from the Second Temple era,
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the days of Jesus or
not, I can't claim that.
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All I know is
upon the foundation
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of Judaism of Jesus
day, upon that foundation,
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later on, you know,
the generations it involved
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or they came to an understanding
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of this and this
might surprise you.
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According to traditional Judaism
of the early Middle Ages,
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one of the
definition or explanations
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for why there would
be a birth deformity
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is related to a superstition.
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The superstition
supposedly is that when a child
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is in the womb, in
uterus that at that point
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the child knows
everything there is to know
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about God, Al torah.
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And just upon
the moment of birth
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according to this legend
superstition in early Judaism.
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That upon the moment of
birth an angel will come
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and touch the lips
of the child in the womb
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to remove from that
child the knowledge of torah,
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all the knowledge
of God. You'd say why?
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I mean wouldn't it
be great to be born
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in knowing
everything, and know about God.
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No, it's a privilege to come,
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to learn, to
grow, to know of God.
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And so the angel, so that
the child would not be deprived
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of the opportunity
to grow to know God.
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The angel will come
according to the legend,
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and would take from the
lips the knowledge of Torah.
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Now every once a while,
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of course you have a
child who's little ornery.
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He doesn't want to surrender
his knowledge of torah.
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He doesn't want to give
up what he knows about God
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and he wrestles with the
angel and it is in the wrestling
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with the angel before birth
that sometimes an ornery child
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will be damaged birth deformity.
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Now you may have
never heard that before
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I can't prove, I can't know,
because we can't document that
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this goes back all
the way to John Chapter 9.
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But it might not surprise me.
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I might not be
completely, you know,
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caught by surprise then
when I see this question
00:10:08.90\00:10:11.60
who did sin this
man or his parents,
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because apparently
sometime in Judaism
00:10:15.58\00:10:18.14
they came to an
expectation that even prenatally
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a child could be responsible
for his own snottily nature.
00:10:22.51\00:10:29.28
Now let's go back to the text.
00:10:29.29\00:10:32.27
Who did sin this
man or his parents
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that he was born blind.
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Now you remember the context
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if you go just in
the chapters in front
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and the chapters
in back in the story,
00:10:43.12\00:10:44.76
you'll find the context.
00:10:44.77\00:10:45.90
This is one of several
places where Jesus said
00:10:45.91\00:10:48.10
I am the light of the world.
00:10:48.11\00:10:49.91
Now notice that He
says that in the verse 5.
00:10:49.92\00:10:52.95
He says this in
the presence of a man
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who has never
seen the light of day.
00:10:56.22\00:10:58.58
You may not really
be aware of something.
00:11:00.14\00:11:02.29
In the Roman world, the
empire of the Jesus day,
00:11:02.30\00:11:07.29
the reality of Jesus
day, there was one thing
00:11:07.30\00:11:09.97
that the Romans they
oh, they just desired,
00:11:09.98\00:11:12.53
I mean this was the
ultimate attainment, glory.
00:11:12.54\00:11:17.38
Now you probably
know in the Greek world,
00:11:17.39\00:11:19.02
in the Hellenistic
world, the world of Alexander,
00:11:19.03\00:11:21.21
the Great, and his children,
00:11:21.22\00:11:23.91
his heirs, his followers.
00:11:23.92\00:11:26.56
You probably know
that in the Greek world
00:11:26.57\00:11:29.25
the ultimate
attainment was wisdom.
00:11:29.26\00:11:31.97
The Old Testament
into the New Testament
00:11:34.11\00:11:36.56
reveals to us
over and over again,
00:11:36.57\00:11:38.41
that within the Hebrew
mind the ultimate attainment
00:11:38.42\00:11:42.53
the thing to be
desired was light.
00:11:42.54\00:11:47.96
Light is precious
from the second verse
00:11:49.41\00:11:51.72
of the Bible
onward, access to light.
00:11:51.73\00:11:55.64
And if you think about
that think of all the passages
00:11:55.65\00:11:58.23
you know in the
Bible about light.
00:11:58.24\00:12:01.10
There is something very powerful
00:12:01.11\00:12:03.36
in the sense of the
mind of the Bible writer
00:12:03.37\00:12:06.68
about the concept of light.
00:12:06.69\00:12:09.38
And Jesus said, I am
the light of the world
00:12:09.39\00:12:13.26
in the presence of a
man who had never seen
00:12:13.27\00:12:16.44
one ounce if you can use
00:12:16.45\00:12:19.20
ounces of sunshine in his life.
00:12:19.21\00:12:21.96
I am the light of the world.
00:12:23.05\00:12:24.38
And when he had
thus spoken, verse 6.
00:12:24.39\00:12:27.19
Here he goes,
"When he had thus spoken,
00:12:27.20\00:12:30.18
he spat on the
ground, and made clay."
00:12:30.19\00:12:31.95
It's curious.
00:12:34.12\00:12:36.32
What is Jesus doing spiting on
the ground to heal a blind man?
00:12:36.33\00:12:39.50
I mean how many
miracles did Jesus performed
00:12:39.51\00:12:43.47
where He didn't even
have to be in the same town.
00:12:43.48\00:12:47.64
Jesus did not have to
touch people to heal them.
00:12:47.65\00:12:50.69
Jesus himself didn't even have
to be proactive to heal him.
00:12:53.08\00:12:56.58
We even have the
story-- of course the woman
00:12:56.59\00:12:58.11
who reached out and
touch the hem of His garment
00:12:58.12\00:12:59.95
and she stole the healing
if you want to use that term.
00:12:59.96\00:13:02.79
Jesus has no need
to spit on the ground
00:13:04.71\00:13:08.84
to heal this blind man.
00:13:08.85\00:13:11.57
So why is He doing it?
00:13:11.58\00:13:12.99
The Mishnah tells
us certain things about
00:13:14.35\00:13:18.65
the world of Jesus did
bring to clarity some of these
00:13:18.66\00:13:22.25
mysteries to us
in the 21st century.
00:13:22.26\00:13:24.68
One of the tractates
the little booklets within
00:13:24.69\00:13:28.06
the Mishnah is
the Tractate Sabbath.
00:13:28.07\00:13:31.47
Now Shabbat as we
will see in the story,
00:13:31.48\00:13:33.96
this is the Sabbath day event,
00:13:33.97\00:13:35.79
this is happening
on the Sabbath day,
00:13:35.80\00:13:37.83
because it comes to
clay in the verses later on.
00:13:37.84\00:13:41.79
Jesus is doing
this on the Sabbath day.
00:13:41.80\00:13:45.23
The Tractate Shabbat
lists the areas of probation
00:13:45.24\00:13:50.18
the 39 areas,
categories of probation
00:13:50.19\00:13:52.74
for appropriate Sabbath
activity according to the Jews
00:13:52.75\00:13:56.68
of Jesus day what they believed
00:13:56.69\00:13:58.74
the rules that they had defined.
00:13:58.75\00:14:01.10
Now you're not gonna find
these all in the scripture.
00:14:01.11\00:14:03.51
In fact the truth is
that the scripture itself
00:14:03.52\00:14:06.80
if you're taking the
Bible alone the Bible
00:14:06.81\00:14:09.86
is really very skeletal, very
minimal in the black and white
00:14:09.87\00:14:15.51
definitions of
appropriate Sabbath activity.
00:14:15.52\00:14:18.20
It gives principals more
than it gives real define
00:14:18.21\00:14:23.51
you do not do
this, you do not do this,
00:14:23.52\00:14:25.66
you do not-- there are
really aren't that many
00:14:25.67\00:14:27.76
within the scriptures itself.
00:14:27.77\00:14:29.09
In fact as you remember
Jesus himself in the gospels
00:14:29.10\00:14:31.68
got in trouble with
the authorities around Him,
00:14:31.69\00:14:34.99
because His
understanding of appropriate
00:14:35.00\00:14:38.07
Sabbath day
activity was not the same
00:14:38.08\00:14:41.92
as what their expectation was.
00:14:41.93\00:14:44.37
And so Jesus understanding
the rules of the day
00:14:44.38\00:14:48.91
the Mishnah that the
things that were they understood
00:14:48.92\00:14:51.42
traditions of the
people of His day.
00:14:51.43\00:14:54.08
It's all it's defined
in the Tractate Shabbat.
00:14:54.09\00:14:56.99
And there are categories
the things you are not to do
00:14:57.00\00:14:59.22
according to the Mishnah.
00:14:59.23\00:15:01.18
Now you don't find
these in the Bible.
00:15:01.19\00:15:02.84
According to the Mishnah
they believed that it was
00:15:02.85\00:15:06.78
inappropriate to go
swimming on the Sabbath day.
00:15:06.79\00:15:09.23
And this may surprise you why?
00:15:11.06\00:15:12.61
Because when you swim you break
the agricultural probation.
00:15:12.62\00:15:17.16
You'll say excuse me
agricultural probation,
00:15:17.17\00:15:20.65
agricultural probation
you see when you go swimming
00:15:20.66\00:15:23.25
you get down in the
water you come back up
00:15:23.26\00:15:24.63
your swimming suit is wet,
you go walking across the path,
00:15:24.64\00:15:26.94
there maybe a blade of grass,
00:15:26.95\00:15:28.28
your swim suit will
drip a drip of water,
00:15:28.29\00:15:30.69
a drop of water goes
off of your swim suit
00:15:30.70\00:15:32.51
hits that blade of
grass you have irrigated
00:15:32.52\00:15:34.81
that little grass
on the Sabbath day.
00:15:34.82\00:15:36.62
You have been
involved in agriculture.
00:15:36.63\00:15:38.50
Guess what my friend
when you spit on the ground
00:15:40.18\00:15:42.13
you're doing same thing.
00:15:42.14\00:15:44.51
You accidentally may hit a seed
when you spit on the ground,
00:15:44.52\00:15:48.10
you've broken the
agricultural probation.
00:15:48.11\00:15:50.25
More than that one
another area that was disallowed
00:15:50.26\00:15:53.60
for behavior
activity on the Sabbath day
00:15:53.61\00:15:55.71
was the work of the potter.
00:15:55.72\00:15:58.57
Well, if Jesus is spitting
on the ground reaching down
00:15:58.58\00:16:01.03
and making clay guess what?
00:16:01.04\00:16:02.03
He's doing what a
potter does, he works in clay.
00:16:02.19\00:16:06.45
In two specific areas
already Jesus has already
00:16:06.46\00:16:10.22
cross the grain of the
expectation of the people
00:16:10.23\00:16:13.48
standing around Him
by the very fact that
00:16:13.49\00:16:15.18
He spit on the ground
and He did something like
00:16:15.19\00:16:16.99
what a potter does
He actually, you know,
00:16:17.00\00:16:18.81
crosses the agricultural
probation in this verse
00:16:18.82\00:16:21.61
more than that
why was the man there.
00:16:21.62\00:16:26.04
A man born blind,
well was he begging.
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We see that in a
number of gospel accounts
00:16:29.93\00:16:31.87
and on in the Book of
Acts that people would be
00:16:31.88\00:16:33.91
somewhere near the temple
are hoping for generosity.
00:16:33.92\00:16:36.85
May you earn merit in
heaven by me, they would say,
00:16:36.86\00:16:41.40
that heaven is gonna pay
attention and smile at you
00:16:41.41\00:16:44.16
if you're generous with me,
because I'm the broken person.
00:16:44.17\00:16:46.76
Often we saw beggars near
the temple in the scripture.
00:16:46.77\00:16:50.53
If this man on
Sabbath was there for a reason
00:16:50.54\00:16:54.01
for an agenda of
begging then he's intending
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to be involved in money
exchange and that's another
00:16:56.89\00:16:59.86
crossing of Sabbath probations.
00:16:59.87\00:17:02.17
And certainly we find
that in the last chapters
00:17:02.18\00:17:04.53
of the Book of Nehemiah anyway.
00:17:04.54\00:17:07.34
So in several ways
there are possibilities here
00:17:07.35\00:17:11.07
of the Sabbath
being desecrated at least
00:17:11.08\00:17:16.24
in the eyes of the
people standing around.
00:17:16.25\00:17:19.86
But that still
didn't answer the question?
00:17:19.87\00:17:22.16
Why does Jesus spit on
the ground to heal this man
00:17:22.17\00:17:24.85
when He didn't have to?
00:17:24.86\00:17:25.92
Did Jesus just do
it to make trouble?
00:17:25.93\00:17:27.96
That Jesus just
spit on the ground,
00:17:27.97\00:17:30.09
so that these people
who were standing around
00:17:30.10\00:17:32.45
who had faulty
expectation could be challenged
00:17:32.46\00:17:36.34
and confronted and he'd
have to look them in the eye
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and say okay you
know, deal with it.
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This is what you
think, but I'm showing you
00:17:41.60\00:17:42.81
something else, deal with it.
00:17:42.82\00:17:44.08
Was Jesus just
doing it to make trouble?
00:17:44.09\00:17:46.17
Was He doing as
a teaching object?
00:17:46.18\00:17:47.40
No, let me share
with you something,
00:17:47.41\00:17:49.00
they had very few
Christians would know,
00:17:49.01\00:17:50.70
that is such a
wonderful insight.
00:17:50.71\00:17:52.92
One other things
that we find in Judaism
00:17:52.93\00:17:57.08
of the Second Temple
era, the days of Jesus
00:17:57.09\00:17:59.27
is 100 years
before Jesus was born
00:17:59.28\00:18:02.86
and there was a great deal
of messianic ferment going on.
00:18:02.87\00:18:06.61
There was lot of
messianic expectation.
00:18:06.62\00:18:09.11
People were going around
saying the time is at hand.
00:18:09.12\00:18:12.97
When John the Baptist
step forward to proclaim
00:18:12.98\00:18:15.51
the day of the Lord,
he wasn't the only one
00:18:15.52\00:18:17.93
in town who was doing that.
00:18:17.94\00:18:19.41
There were many
people throughout the region
00:18:19.42\00:18:21.49
who would lay
getting the same claims
00:18:21.50\00:18:24.75
and the same expectation
of messianic era and age.
00:18:24.76\00:18:27.82
Beyond that there were
false messiahs running around.
00:18:27.83\00:18:30.83
We actually have
the name of several
00:18:30.84\00:18:32.70
within the Book of Acts.
00:18:32.71\00:18:34.06
They say well you all remember
there was Judas of Galilee
00:18:34.07\00:18:36.93
and there was Thudas in there.
00:18:36.94\00:18:38.17
You know, these
were supposed messiahs.
00:18:38.18\00:18:40.46
There was a lot
of messianic ferment
00:18:40.47\00:18:43.22
going on in the days of Jesus.
00:18:43.23\00:18:47.26
He was not the only
available choice for the people.
00:18:47.27\00:18:50.90
Jesus did
something that fulfilled
00:18:53.11\00:18:56.70
a messianic
expectation of the age,
00:18:56.71\00:18:59.41
a 100 years
before Jesus was born.
00:18:59.42\00:19:02.08
There was a fairly
common a very well known
00:19:02.09\00:19:05.83
rabbinic prophecy, a
prophecy of the Rabbis
00:19:05.84\00:19:09.12
the teachers that
said when messiah comes
00:19:09.13\00:19:12.59
even His spit shall
bring healing of the nations.
00:19:12.60\00:19:16.34
And it was also
though Jesus looked and said
00:19:18.46\00:19:20.17
look I know that
this is what your plan,
00:19:20.18\00:19:22.73
I know that this
is what you expect,
00:19:22.74\00:19:24.24
if this is what you
expect I'll give it to you,
00:19:24.25\00:19:27.42
you know I won't do it
every time but just wants
00:19:27.43\00:19:30.26
to fulfill this prophecy,
so that some of you may say
00:19:30.27\00:19:32.56
wow, you know
maybe this is the one.
00:19:32.57\00:19:36.56
He spit on the
ground to heal the nations.
00:19:36.57\00:19:39.03
But He did on the
Sabbath which is curious,
00:19:39.04\00:19:42.79
because you know
that man probably
00:19:42.80\00:19:45.23
if he'd been blind
for birth, he was probably
00:19:45.24\00:19:46.63
gonna be blind the next day.
00:19:46.64\00:19:47.98
Jesus could have come back
on the first day of the week
00:19:47.99\00:19:50.67
and cross this man's
path spit on the ground
00:19:50.68\00:19:53.10
healed him and avoided
an awful lot of trouble.
00:19:53.11\00:19:56.65
So there is more to it than just
00:19:56.66\00:19:58.09
the fulfillment of the prophecy.
00:19:58.10\00:19:59.75
Verse 6, "He spat on the ground
and made clay of the spittle,
00:20:02.82\00:20:05.95
he anointed the eyes of
the blind man with the clay."
00:20:05.96\00:20:08.35
Verse 7 "Go, wash
in the pool of Siloam."
00:20:08.36\00:20:12.20
And the man went and by
the fulfillment of doing
00:20:14.90\00:20:20.11
what Jesus asked of him
00:20:20.12\00:20:22.66
a great miracle was performed.
00:20:22.67\00:20:26.09
His faith again made him whole.
00:20:26.10\00:20:29.75
It wasn't the mud
that made him whole.
00:20:29.76\00:20:32.26
It wasn't the spit
that made him whole.
00:20:32.27\00:20:38.65
It was the man's
faith that made him whole.
00:20:38.66\00:20:41.65
He acted upon the
expressed desire of Jesus
00:20:41.66\00:20:46.97
and heaven
responded and made him whole.
00:20:48.94\00:20:51.90
And he came
seeing it says verse 7,
00:20:51.91\00:20:55.69
verse 8 and all the people
around the neighbors therefore
00:20:55.70\00:20:59.70
they which before had
seen him when he was blind,
00:20:59.71\00:21:04.56
they scratch their heads.
00:21:04.57\00:21:05.71
It says they sat
and is this not the one
00:21:05.72\00:21:08.74
I mean wait a minute
there is something wrong
00:21:08.75\00:21:12.04
going on here, is this real.
00:21:12.05\00:21:13.86
Have you been kidding
us, have you been fooling us
00:21:13.87\00:21:15.80
ever since you were
child you know you've been
00:21:15.81\00:21:18.00
making like you were blind
and you're really not blind.
00:21:18.01\00:21:22.47
And we've been
generous with you all this time
00:21:22.48\00:21:24.24
and it was a
farce, it was a joke.
00:21:24.25\00:21:26.35
They were astounded,
the people who normally
00:21:26.36\00:21:29.07
you know for years had
been used to have been blind
00:21:29.08\00:21:32.42
were astounded at the fact
that he was no longer blind.
00:21:32.43\00:21:37.05
And of course the rumor went
right to the temple authorities
00:21:37.06\00:21:39.99
as we continue in the
text, they got frustrated.
00:21:40.00\00:21:42.98
It says verse 16,
some of the Pharisees
00:21:42.99\00:21:45.15
gathered together and
they said this can't be a God.
00:21:45.16\00:21:48.13
Now He can't be a God why?
00:21:48.14\00:21:49.98
Because it doesn't
fulfill what we think,
00:21:49.99\00:21:53.34
because God refused
to stay in the little box
00:21:53.35\00:21:56.04
that we created for Him,
therefore He can't be God.
00:21:56.05\00:21:58.85
That's a
terribly important thing.
00:21:58.86\00:22:00.43
That to me is maybe in
this story as important
00:22:00.44\00:22:03.78
as anything else for my
life in the 21st century.
00:22:03.79\00:22:07.83
Is the question that
comes back to me even
00:22:09.16\00:22:12.51
as a committed
Christian, even as a pastor,
00:22:12.52\00:22:14.85
the question comes back to me?
00:22:14.86\00:22:16.62
Am I going to shape
God to my expectation?
00:22:16.63\00:22:20.61
Make a graven image of my God,
or will I allow Him to be God.
00:22:23.28\00:22:27.83
And He gets to
operate and choose
00:22:27.84\00:22:29.82
as He defines not
as I define for Him.
00:22:29.83\00:22:33.91
This is not of God, because it
doesn't match our expectation.
00:22:33.92\00:22:38.94
This is not of God because
He keep it not the Sabbath day,
00:22:38.95\00:22:43.22
not the way we
expected can't be.
00:22:43.23\00:22:46.49
Can't be of God,
because we have define.
00:22:46.50\00:22:49.36
We've put the
parameters, the borders around
00:22:49.37\00:22:52.66
what we expect of God and Jesus
you stepped outside the line
00:22:52.67\00:22:55.84
and therefore
it can't be of God.
00:22:55.85\00:23:00.44
That is a very strong insight
into the story my friend.
00:23:00.45\00:23:04.34
I think that every Christian
should deal with that issue
00:23:04.35\00:23:07.74
to look up to heaven
and honesty and said Lord
00:23:07.75\00:23:09.69
do I do that and
I do I ever shape
00:23:09.70\00:23:12.96
and mold You to my comfort zone.
00:23:12.97\00:23:14.83
That's
blasphemous, it's idolatrous.
00:23:16.38\00:23:19.65
And of course they
called the man in for trial
00:23:21.12\00:23:23.08
as you continue on verse
22, verse 25, verse 28, verse 29
00:23:23.09\00:23:28.30
they called the
man in and they say,
00:23:28.31\00:23:29.40
look how does this
could done, were you really,
00:23:29.41\00:23:31.18
really, really,
really blind, you know,
00:23:31.19\00:23:33.09
come on this-- just confess
to us this is all a fake.
00:23:33.10\00:23:36.00
You weren't really
blind, and you know,
00:23:36.01\00:23:38.34
we won't be that angry
with you for lying to us.
00:23:38.35\00:23:41.37
Not as angry as we'll
be if God acts in a way
00:23:41.38\00:23:44.56
that we don't want Him to.
00:23:44.57\00:23:46.01
And the man says, I
was blind and of course
00:23:48.21\00:23:49.82
as you read in the stories
you continue through the text.
00:23:49.83\00:23:52.35
It says well, who healed you,
00:23:52.36\00:23:53.84
and he says, how shall I know.
00:23:53.85\00:23:55.19
You know if I heard the voice
again I might recognize Him,
00:23:55.20\00:23:58.21
because I couldn't
see I was still blind
00:23:58.22\00:24:00.71
and I went to the
pool then I could see,
00:24:00.72\00:24:02.83
I have no idea if I
heard the voice again
00:24:02.84\00:24:04.35
I'd recognize the voice.
00:24:04.36\00:24:05.53
They called in his
parents you remember
00:24:05.54\00:24:07.67
before the chapter ends.
00:24:07.68\00:24:08.96
And the parents were
under threat of well,
00:24:08.97\00:24:12.62
there were actually three
levels of rebuke within Judaism.
00:24:12.63\00:24:16.59
There was sort of a
temporary slap on the wrist,
00:24:16.60\00:24:18.62
and then beyond that there
was a period of reevaluation
00:24:18.63\00:24:23.31
and then beyond that
there was what in Christianity
00:24:23.32\00:24:25.50
sometimes its
called excommunication,
00:24:25.51\00:24:27.10
I mean just removal cut off from
the society, from the house.
00:24:27.11\00:24:31.48
His parents were under risk
here, because the authorities
00:24:31.49\00:24:35.28
are not happy with
how things have involved,
00:24:35.29\00:24:37.40
how things have developed.
00:24:37.41\00:24:38.68
And so his
parents, when his parents
00:24:38.69\00:24:40.04
were brought in they
said is this your son?
00:24:40.05\00:24:41.46
Yes, he is our
son. Was he born blind?
00:24:41.47\00:24:43.47
Yes, he was. Is he blind now?
00:24:43.48\00:24:45.60
He doesn't look like
it, he looks like he have.
00:24:45.61\00:24:48.21
This man had never
seen his mother's face.
00:24:48.22\00:24:50.29
The parents don't know
how to deal with the healing.
00:24:53.09\00:24:55.01
He is adult
you'll have to ask him,
00:24:57.19\00:24:59.06
we don't know whether
this is of God or not,
00:24:59.07\00:25:01.27
we don't even
understand this thing,
00:25:01.28\00:25:02.77
because this is all
just breath taking to us.
00:25:02.78\00:25:05.92
Something marvelous has happened
00:25:05.93\00:25:07.61
but we can't explain it.
00:25:07.62\00:25:09.24
The man himself
cannot explain the miracle.
00:25:09.25\00:25:12.74
The story continues.
We don't know verse 29
00:25:12.75\00:25:18.14
whether this is from God
or not, we just can't know
00:25:18.15\00:25:22.71
and finally the end of the story
00:25:22.72\00:25:24.43
as we come to the
end of the chapter.
00:25:24.44\00:25:25.87
Jesus, he hears that voice
and now he gets to see the face.
00:25:25.88\00:25:29.49
He hears the voice, he is
never gonna forget that voice,
00:25:29.50\00:25:32.91
the man who said to
him, go wash in the pool.
00:25:32.92\00:25:37.38
He hears the voice
and the voice asks him.
00:25:37.39\00:25:42.61
Jesus asks him, verse 35
00:25:42.62\00:25:45.09
"Dost thou believe
on the Son of God."
00:25:45.10\00:25:47.98
Do you really. Verse
36, "He answered and said"
00:25:47.99\00:25:51.81
I know who it is, that's
basically what it says here
00:25:53.93\00:25:56.71
"Who is he Lord, that
I might believe on him?"
00:25:56.72\00:25:58.91
If I knew who it was,
00:25:58.92\00:26:01.98
I would believe,
but you're asking
00:26:04.12\00:26:07.10
something of me that
I don't have the answer.
00:26:07.11\00:26:10.10
And Jesus verse 37
says, if we take it into
00:26:10.11\00:26:14.88
our common vernacular
today, you don't look in at him.
00:26:14.89\00:26:18.21
"Jesus said thou
hast both seen him,
00:26:20.77\00:26:22.64
and it is he that
talketh with thee."
00:26:22.65\00:26:25.35
And the man's response
verse 38, "Lord, I believe.
00:26:25.36\00:26:30.72
And he worshipped him."
00:26:30.73\00:26:32.95
It is a great story,
it's a story that teaches me
00:26:34.72\00:26:38.61
that maybe I am blinded,
00:26:38.62\00:26:44.94
maybe I have such a degree
00:26:44.95\00:26:47.28
of set expectation and
comfort zone with Jesus
00:26:47.29\00:26:50.80
that I need him to fit into,
00:26:50.81\00:26:52.61
you know, my little expectation.
00:26:52.62\00:26:54.98
And if Jesus ever
takes me out of what I think
00:26:54.99\00:26:58.08
he should do then he
becomes unacceptable to me.
00:26:58.09\00:27:01.28
Will I allow God to be
God, or will I somehow try to
00:27:01.29\00:27:07.53
manipulate God to my comfort
zone, that is what the story
00:27:07.54\00:27:11.99
says to me in the 21st century
that am I willing for Him
00:27:13.33\00:27:18.16
to be the light and
He becomes the light
00:27:18.17\00:27:22.70
that defines everything
for me as to what is right
00:27:22.71\00:27:27.43
and what is wrong, what
is truth, what is error.
00:27:27.44\00:27:29.98
How He feels about me.
00:27:31.67\00:27:34.89
How He feels about you.
00:27:34.90\00:27:37.81
What He sees is His
dream and His destiny for you.
00:27:37.82\00:27:40.85
I'd urge you to spend
time in John Chapter 9.
00:27:42.92\00:27:46.22
Go back under the
surface of the story again
00:27:46.23\00:27:48.89
and put yourself into
the sandals of the blind man
00:27:48.90\00:27:52.59
and say Jesus clarify
my thinking, my vision.
00:27:52.60\00:27:57.06
Do it for me, please.
00:27:57.07\00:27:58.17