HEARING HIS VOICE

  

I was standing near the river remembering some good times we had had in this remote setting. We had been here many times before. We had just come from Jerusalem to this place where John first baptized. This week Jesus barely got away from the Chief Priests and the Pharisees. The crowd had picked up rocks to stone Jesus. I thought they had Him for sure. 

Peter broke into my reverie, “Thomas, people seem to have found out where we are. There are not many here today, but Jesus says more will come. We need to help spread them out so they will not trample each other. And we need to keep the area near the river clear so Jesus can teach the multitudes and we can baptise. I sent James to direct people in here from the road. I need you to meet them here and keep them from camping right on the river.” 

For months Jesus had seemed to be telling us that He would be arrested by the Chief Priests and handed over to the Romans. I wonder if we misunderstood Him when He said those things. At least He got away from them this time. If we had not been so afraid it would have been funny. One man was shouting that he had Him. Another one of them was screaming that the man had hold of him instead of Jesus. They were still scrambling around after Him as we left the city by back roads. He led us down across the Jordan to this place in the wilderness where John first baptized people. And it looked like He was going to be popular again.

“More and more people found their way to us. Directing the people became a big job. After a few days of Jesus teaching we began to baptise people. Most of them had seen miracles in Jerusalem. I was standing out in the water having just baptised a large family when I saw a man and wife with two daughters coming down to the river. He looked to me like a Pharisee. As he came nearer I was pretty sure I recognized him as one of the men who had argued with Jesus in Jerusalem. I suspected he was here to cause trouble. I would need to question him thoroughly before I could baptise this family. I looked around to see if Jesus or even some of the other disciples would help me. Then I realized that the man that I had just baptised with his two grown sons had confronted this Pharisee. They were speaking loudly and close enough to the river bank that I heard every word. 

The father whose name was Jonah demanded, “Aren’t you one of the people who tried to stone Jesus a few days ago in the city?” The man bowed his head in what looked to me like shame and said something I could not hear. Jude, Jonah’s eldest son, stepped up beside his father. Somehow the fact that Jonah and his sons were soaking wet seemed to accentuate their anger. 

“We think you need to explain yourself,” Jude said. “Why are you even here? Who told you where Jesus would be?” He looked around as if someone in the crowd had betrayed Jesus to the Pharisees. “You have to give an answer. And this whole crowd wants to hear, so you had better speak up.” 

The man remained silent for several uncomfortable minutes. Finally he said, “I am afraid I have some shameful things to confess. And I ask that my wife and daughters not be molested if you decide to punish me.”

The man’s humble tone struck them all. Miriam, the wife of Jonah stepped up and said, “We will not harm any of you. Please tell us your names.” I thought knowing their names might help keep this from being another confrontation like we had in Jerusalem. Miriam’s husband and sons seemed to agree.

“My name is Justice,” the man answered. “This is my wife, Deborah. And these are our daughters.” He did not mention the girls’ names. I climbed up onto the riverbank. I was the only one of the 12 disciples who had come near. I learned later that, although I had not seen, Jesus motioned for us to stay back and let the drama play out. Something occurred to me as I came even nearer. When the Pharisees had shown up to confront Jesus in the past they never had their families with them. 

Justice had begun to speak. He said, “I was indeed part of the group, I suppose I was even a leader of those who wanted to arrest the Master.” I was struck by the tone in which he said, ‘Master.’ He continued, “I was one of the men who asked the blind man’s parents how he could see, if he were really born blind. And while I didn’t pick up a stone, I was standing there with them. I have been with others who confronted Jesus, but for some reason I had never really listened to Him. I confess that I did not at all understand what He was saying that day about being the true shepherd. But His words were somehow comforting. One of us said that Jesus had a demon, and we should not listen to Jesus at all. Others said those were not the words of one who had a demon. As we were threatening Him, Jesus asked for which of the good works that His Father had done through Him were we going to stone Him. It seemed obvious to me that Jesus was either demonized or He was the Son of God. I didn't see how there could be any other options. The main way He told us His identity was by doing works only God could do. When Jesus said, ‘Even if you do not believe me, believe the works my Father gave me to do,’ I realized that He was giving us an invitation to believe and understand.

“In the turmoil that followed I was not sure if Jesus had got away. I went home and told my wife all of these things. One of our servants overheard me and said that Jesus might have come to this place on the river. He had already been baptized but he came here with us. My wife and daughters had come to believe before we arrived here. We understood from our servant that being baptized was the way we could say that we believe Jesus is the Messiah.”

I was aghast that the others had moved aside and the Pharisee’s family was now coming my way. I nearly fell as I backed into the water. Justice came to me first. I had hardly baptized him when I saw Phillip preparing to baptize his wife. Two others then baptized their daughters. All the crowd began to sing praise to God and to His Son. 

This story was taken from John 10.

Lord, you must be who you showed us you were rather than a demon from hell. We place our faith in you.

 

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THE SIGN OF BLINDNESS

 

There was always great excitement in those early meetings of the church in Jerusalem. The opposition mounted by the leaders of our people and even Roman authorities added to the thrill of gathering in the name of Jesus. Some of us met every day of the week. Our largest gatherings were on Sundays because we did not have to compete with the Sabbath services led by the priests, although many of us still preferred our Sabbath traditions. People began gathering in the outer courts of the temple at daylight. Many slaves and laborers had to work on Sunday and every other day as well. We began the day singing psalms and new hymns that were being written. We worshipped and encouraged one another for hours before the Apostles addressed the entire fellowship. On one particular Sunday, Peter stood as usual, and we all became as quiet as possible to hear what he would say.

He began, “My brothers and sisters, today I want to tell you about something Jesus did here in Jerusalem. We passed a beggar at the edge of a market who had been blind from birth. We asked Jesus, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?’ Jesus said, ‘It was not because this man sinned or because of anything his parents did. This happened so that the work of God might be revealed in his life.’

“I would like you to think about how important that man had to be in the Kingdom of God. Every evil and painful thing he had endured happened so the works of God might be revealed. You also need to see how important you must be in the Kingdom of God. Every bad thing that blind man endured happened so that the works of God might be revealed to you.

“Through the blind man Jesus gave us a parable. ‘While I am in the world,’ He said, ‘I am the light of the world.’ And He spat on the ground and made clay. He took the clay and anointed the man’s eyes, and told him to go wash in the Pool of Siloam where his eyes were opened. Jesus was showing us that His presence would open our eyes to the things of God even in the ordinary dirt of this world.

“We have something exciting to share with you today,” Peter said, “That man, who has not lived in the city for a while, has returned to visit his parents who often worship here with us. He came this week to visit an Apostle that he knew well. And he has agreed to speak to you this morning.” Peter then turned and welcomed a man onto the platform. All the people crowded nearer not expecting his voice to be as strong as Peter’s. His voice was not loud, but he had an anointing of the Holy Spirit similar to Peter’s, and the sound of his words carried to the far reaches of the crowd.

“My name is Liscus. Greetings in the blessed name of our Lord Jesus the Christ.” Liscus had said no more than this when the entire church began to sing.

“Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

I will praise the Lord as long as I live;

I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.”

When we came to the words,

“The Lord opens the eyes of the blind,” 

some of the ladies sang a high counterpoint to the men’s lower notes. Tears were spilling from the eyes of Liscus as the psalm concluded,

“Our Lord will reign for ever,

His Father to all generations.

Praise the Lord!”

When the congregation became silent again Liscus said “I am always thrilled to praise our Lord for all His wonderful works. One of my first vivid memories is of falling on my knees before Him.

“Our dear brother Peter was right when he said that everything that happened to me came about to reveal God’s works. However, I do not have many clear memories from the years before Jesus opened my eyes. I do remember the pain of occasionally being shoved or falling. And I remember an unnamed fear that often came over me. My clearest memories were of words and sounds that I heard. I remember my father reading the Torah on the Sabbath. I remember my mother singing over me at night. And I remember hearing the Rabbis teach when they didn't know I had snuck into the temple. But no memory is as bright in my mind as everything that has happened after Jesus came along. I remember hearing Him talk about me to His disciples even before He opened my eyes. And I remember his gentle touch as He put His hand on my shoulder and told me he was going to anoint my eyes with clay. 

“When I came back from the pool where he had sent me with my eyes open, those who had seen me begging were stunned. Some of them began to say, ‘Isn’t this the blind man who sat here begging?’ Others said, ‘It can’t be him, but he certainly looks like him.’ But I kept insisting, ‘I am the same man.’

“After I had convinced them, they took me to see the Pharisees in the yeshiva school at the temple. I don’t suppose I need to tell you that was a little frightening. They made me tell them every detail of my healing. The most outspoken of them were aghast that Jesus healed me on a Sabbath as if my healing was not an appropriate expression of worship. They said, ‘This Jesus cannot be from God. He does not keep the Sabbath.’ But others asked how a sinner could give us such signs?’ Some of the Pharisees asked what I thought about him. ‘After all,’ they said, ‘he opened your eyes.’

“‘He is a prophet.’ I answered. I didn’t know what else to call him at that time, but I knew He had to have come from God. Most of the Pharisees did not believe I had been blind until they questioned my parents. Of course, the Pharisees completely intimidated them. They brought them up and they stood them beside me at the front of the hall and demanded, ‘Is this your son whom you say was born blind. How is it that he can now see?’ What could my parents say? I had told them that Jesus healed me. But the Pharisees had made it clear that anyone who confessed that Jesus was the Messiah should be put out of the synagogues. That would have been serious in Galilee or even Alexandria. But if you were cast out of a synagogue away from Jerusalem, you could probably still sneak into the temple on holy days. Being put out here meant you were no longer considered to be an Israelite.

They said, ‘We know that this is our son. And we know he was born blind. But we don’t know how he received his sight or who healed him. Ask him. He is of age. He can speak for himself.’ I had not left the temple when the Pharisees caught up with me again. They said, ‘Give glory to God. We know this man is a sinner.’ I answered, ‘I don’t know what kind of man he is, but I do know I was blind and now see.’

“They asked me to tell them again how Jesus had opened my eyes. I said, ‘I already told you, and you wouldn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become disciples of Jesus too?’ This enraged them. ‘You are his disciple. We are disciples of Moses. We know God spoke through Moses. We don’t even know where this fellow comes from.’

“By this time I was exasperated. I said, ‘This is amazing! You don’t know where this man comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. It has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. How could he have done that if he were not from God?’ That was too much for them. They said, ‘You were born altogether in sin. And you dare to lecture us!” And they put me out permanently.

“Jesus had evidently heard that they had cast me out. He found me and asked if I believed in the Son of Man. I said, ‘Tell me who he is sir so I can believe in him.’ He said, ‘He is talking to you right now.’ I fell to my knees and worshipped Him. I continue to worship Him to this day.”

As the man stepped down we began to sing again. Before we had sung very long, John, one of the Apostles, stood up and motioned for our attention. When we had quieted down he said, “Jesus said some other things regarding this great sign that I think I should tell you. After Jesus told Liscus who He was, He said, ‘For judgment I have come into this world, that those who are blind may see, and that those who see may become blind.’ You need to know that our hearts are blind to the things of God. We can only see as Jesus opens the eyes of our hearts.

“Some of the Pharisees heard Jesus say this. They asked, ‘Are you saying we are blind?’ 

“Jesus said, ‘If you were blind you would not need to be forgiven for not seeing, but since you insist that you can see, your sin remains.’

“Earlier Jesus had said, ‘We must do the works of Him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work.’ We join Jesus in doing the works of His Father. He sent Liscus to wash in the pool of Siloam. In Hebrew Siloam means “sent.” We are sent to the ends of the earth with the good news of Jesus. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world might me saved through Him. 

This story was conceived from the events recorded in John Chapter 9.

Father, open our eyes that we may see your works and believe with all our hearts in you.

 

http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/

http://theanchorofthesoul.blogspot.com/

http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/

http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/

Website

http://daveswatch.com/

YouTube

https://goo.gl/PyzU

Amazon Author Central page.