John 9:13-34
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. 17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28 And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.
Reflection
Christ’s miracle produces an ironic conversation between the healed man and the Pharisees. He who sees for the first time in his life reveals the longstanding blindness of Israel’s leaders. They see only the law, but the healed man sees the Messiah—the One to whom the law points. In their arrogance, the Pharisees can boast only about Moses; in his humility, the healed man boasts only about Jesus. The Pharisees charge the healed man with walking in the darkness of sin; but he sees the Light of the World. The Pharisees expel him from the life of the temple; Jesus welcomes him into the true and lasting temple —Christ himself (John 2:19–22; Rev. 21:22).
Hebrews 8:8-13
8 For he finds fault with them when he says:“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”
13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Reflection
God’s “new covenant” (Heb. 8:8) is an agreement that he makes with his people in which he promises not only to forgive their sins (v. 12) but also to change their hearts (v. 10). In the old covenant, God’s commands, which were written on stone (Ex. 24:12), explained what God wanted people to do but did not, in themselves, provide them the power to do it (cf. 2 Cor. 3:3–6). In the new covenant, God’s commands are placed in our minds and written on our hearts. In other words, God not only tells us what he wants from us in his Word, but he performs a spiritual work within us by providing the desire to do what he says (cf. Ezek. 36:26; Jer. 32:40).
We should be greatly encouraged by God’s promise to provide the power we need for the obedience he commands. Our efforts to follow him are fueled by his strength in us: “It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).
Psalm 119:162
162 I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil.
Without the work of God’s Spirit in our hearts we could never obey in a way that is pleasing to him. Has God commanded something in his Word that is difficult for you to embrace? Ask him to change your heart so that his Word becomes beautiful to you in this area, and obedience becomes a delight.