John 9 ~ That the works of God might be displayed

Jesus and Disciples, painted by Liz Swindle

John 9

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 

6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

 

 


8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?”

9 Some said, “It is he.”

Others said, “No, but he is like him.”

He kept saying, “I am the man.”

10 So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”

11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.”

12 They said to him, “Where is he?”

He said, “I do not know.”




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.




 

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 

37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 

38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 
 
39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”

 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 

41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains."





John is very cohesively putting his narrative of Jesus.

Jesus always taught if we seek God we will find Him. John's Gospel is very complex and very explanatory - This Gospel is a huge labor of John's Love for the Savior of the World's Millenniums.




Romans 8

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

John 9 is about human Judgment. How flawed human Judgment is in bias and in understanding really. John is telling what kind of Judge Jesus truly is.


John 5:22
Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,


John 5:30
By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

John 8:15
You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one.

John 8:26
“I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”

John 9:39
Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

John 16:8
When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment.






John's Gospel covers the Willingness of God in John 1 and the condition of mankind. to John 21

 The last Chapter of John's Gospel is telling us the Signs, the Miracles, the Display, the Circumstance, the God incidence is so Great - all the Books of the World could be about Jesus. And John sits down to write about how John found Jesus to be God.

John 1 tells us about Jesus being greeted by God Almighty Father of All, Moses and Elijah and Jesus partially changing into Light. John was in certainty at that point. So John decided to tell us of Jesus' titles and work His Life into our understanding. John tells us several times he is eye witness to God.


And exits displaying even more of God's Love from today to Eternity with more of God's Glorious Love and mankind's actual joys and pains.



Jesus tells us of John 1, Jesus is the Light in all mankind

Matthew 23:37
how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings




John 21
Jesus tells us in the breakfast of the fish provided and cooked by Jesus about mankind and the Glory of God's love. Jesus has to restore Peter to Himself, provide breakfast, cook breakfast, have forgiveness, lead and listen as Risen, Crucified, Victorious, Triumphant God to restore all things to Father God - a disciple squabble over God's Glorious Plan.

John 2:25
He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.





When God is for you... in the middle of the Gospels, today - in the middle of your life.

1 John 4:4
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.


Think what God has opened for the man who was a blind beggar. Jesus shows His concern for the living. Jesus has willing joined mankind in life. With His Joy. Jesus is still working, and His Father with Him.

Jesus gathers us. In all seasons. The Willingness and Love of Father God, when we have seen Jesus, we have seen Our Father. The Steadfast Love of God - is the Miracle. And in calling on Jesus Christ with Love, Joy and Belief, we are more than Conquerors in Jesus who is Love.

God - His Promises - for you.



Father God,
We will cast our cares upon You. For You have cared for us - Steadfastly, diligently, tenderly, growing us and nourishing us.

We give You thanks for Your Blessings You have Given to us. We lift to You the concerns we have and for our Loved Ones. The People You have given us. In Jesus.

Please bless our Nation and our communities and Churches. We look to Jesus. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

John 8 ~ I am

John 8

Jesus on the Mount of Olives,  painted by James Tissot

1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.

 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6

 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him.

 Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 

7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 

10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 

13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” 1

4 Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father[a] who sent me. 17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” 

19 They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” 

Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

21 So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”

  22 So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”  

23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”

25 So they said to him, “Who are you?”

Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning.  

26 I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.”

27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father.  

28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.  

29 And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” 30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”


 33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slaveto sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.”

Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.”

They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.”

42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?

47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”







48 The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”

 49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

52 The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?”

54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’

 55 But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”

57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

This is a difficult passage to read. Jesus is doing so many good works, the believing World loves Jesus. And the men fighting him, melted away in time. We would wish Jesus would not have to die. That our sins would not be so awful we could come to Father God.

Instead God says we fight God in our daily lives. What the culture allows, what we wish God would laugh at with us. How we tangle our deepest problems. What to do today. How much to eat. To spend. To spend our time. The way we have negative emotions. We would like Father God to say, "Ok."

Instead Father God was given a new Heaven and a new earth by Jesus taking on the sins of the world. Our sins. And in the new Kingdom, we are covered in the name of Jesus and Given Incredible Forgiveness. We are bought with a Price.

Look at Jesus telling us about Who He Truly Is:

Jesus plainly and clearly bore witness to Himself.



Matthew 11:29
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Jesus repeated what God said to Moses:


Matthew 22:31-32
And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God:
32 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not God of the dead, but of the living."


Matthew 28:22b
Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.


John 5:17
But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I am working."


John 6:35
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.


John 6:51
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."


John 8:12
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."


John 8:18
I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.


John 10:9
I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.


John 10:11
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.


John 10:14
I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me.


John 10:38
but if I do them [works], even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.


John 11:25
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live."


John 12:32
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.


John 14:6
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.


John 15:1
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser."


John 17:9
I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.


John 10:30
The Father and I are one.


John 4:26
Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he [Messiah, he who is called Christ].”


Mark 14:62
And Jesus said, "I am [the Christ, the Son of the Most Blessed] , and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven."





Father God, 
You are the Light of the World. Reach into the darkness and make Love Shine with Light. We ask You to take what is broken and mend this. We ask that we have patience and kindness in all we do. We ask for Your Help. In Jesus. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

The Movie RISEN

The Movie RISEN tells the story of a Roman inquiry into the reported resurrection of Jesus Christ, who was called by his disciples the "Messiah" and sardonically by Pontius Pilate, "King of the Jews".

The Pharisees and scribes of the day told the Roman prefect, Pontius Pilate, that the followers of Jesus were claiming he would rise again in three days, and so requested to have soldiers guard his tomb to prevent his followers stealing the body and claim he had risen.

The order was given and the soldiers were posted, but three days after the crucifixion, the tomb was found to be empty. Pontius Pilate orders his Tribune (Joseph Fiennes) to lead an investigation in order to recover the corpse of Jesus and arrest those disciples who perpetrated the crime.

The centurion soon finds himself on a road of discovery learning who Jesus was and why the Jewish leaders felt threatened.




The Beautiful aspects of this movie, the millennium of believers have wondered and been intuitive about what the eye witnesses would have seen. What has been seen in science and history is included in the discovery process.


Biblical narratives are included out of sequence and miracles occur. Actually this is Mark 16:20. Renew us in the Love we know for Jesus!


Alive - Jesus is alive. He is not more mystical than Love. The believers of the ones Jesus calls "Blessed to see" are the people we witness today who Love the Risen Christ - Jesus.

A Spectacular Movie. Just Pray it makes the list of the 15 movies our 500 channels run!

A Blessing!

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John 7 ~ Jesus proclaimed, "You know Me." +

 

John 6:42

They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

John 7

7 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. 

He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. 2 Now the Jews' Feast of Booths was at hand. 

3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For not even his brothers believed in him. 

6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.”


 9 After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

Mary, Mother of God, was having a very rough day. John 6 Records the seamless family of Joseph and Mary. Today, we see even God's Family has ups and downs.

10 But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private.

11 The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?”

12 And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.” 13 Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.

14 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching.

15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?”

16 So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. 18 The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?”

20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?”

21 Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it. 22 Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? 24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

25 Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? 26 And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? 27 But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.”

28 So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. 29 I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.”

30 So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.

 
31 Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

 

32 The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.

 

33 Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. 34 You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.”

 35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him?
 Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?

36 What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”

37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

40 When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43 So there was a division among the people over him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.




45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?”

46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!”

47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”

50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?”

52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

Jesus, being God, is perfectly suited to judge by right appearances. When you consider:

John 3:17
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Jesus is declared to be the Sunlight Visiting us in Luke 1

The word "World" is considered in all of the Books of the Old Testament for a total sum of 149 times.

"World" is considered 184 times in the New Testament.

Now, the Disciple John, walked with Jesus Christ, found Him to be God's Son and declared with Awe and Wonder, "God is Love." John alone did not ever leave Jesus. John considers the "World" 61 times. Just about half as many time all the Prophets and Books of the Old Testament.

John wants to constantly go over what it was that the world could see the blind see, the deaf hear, lepers are cleansed and the Poor have Good News preached to them, and Jesus has been slain. John is Extremely Interested in the condition and culture of the World - why - Jesus Gave. Jesus Gave His Life to Save the World. John wants to see why Jesus would do this Great Sacrifice looking over the goodness and the evil of the world.

Jesus' brothers are the pinnacle of this good and evil. They certainly hoped Jesus would flop and Trouble would happen.


John 3:19
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

Jesus dealt with this with Jesus ease. And Jesus expectation of their better goodness to occur.

John 6:14
When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

John 8:23
He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world."

John 9:5
As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”


The people who could see Jesus with eyes of faith said this:

John 11:27
She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
>This is actually the process in progress:

John 12:31
Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.

This is what Jesus knows of His own Brothers:

John 12:46
I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.
How, today, this Scripture is relevant for all we the People we Love and Pray for:

John 12:47
I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.

Father God,
Your best friend on earth, John, left us a benediction. We will pray this together.

For the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever:
Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

We pray this for the love we have for others and their needs. We ask the concerns of our soul will rest in expectation of Your goodness and each day will be filled seeing that You fill us with Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Gentleness, Comfort, Encouragement, Expectation, Dignity, Self Control and Diligence.

In Jesus we ask the Holy Spirit awaken all believers and this generation will see Your Glory Shine Forth.

Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †