November 1924
T HE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
715
although they clearly indicate by the tartness and touchi ness of their reply that they are thoroughly observant of the bad intentions of the inquisitors.— Schaff. V. 22. Evangelical history demonstrates that this man suffered a species of excommunication which did not pre vent him from going about with impunity, while Jesus came under a ban with which a trial resulting in death was con- nected.gl-Lange. V. 27. Plainly perceiving their intention to stamp him also as the disciple of Jesus, if his testimony does not accord with their wishes, he makes use of the ironical and withal defensive expression not without a presentiment of his own destiny.—-Chrysostom. V. SI. First, therefore, comes the testimony to the inno cence and piety of Jesus, and then the enthusiastic testi mony to His unique prophetic glory bursts forth.— Lange. V. 84. When the rulers cast this man out, they cast him right into the arms of Jesus. It is well to he cast out if separation from human fellowship brings the fellowship of Jesus, and it often does.— 1 Torrey. “ When I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (v. 5). “ To Jesus, the blind man was a picture of ‘the world’ in its moral poverty and spiritual blindness; and his word was a claim that he was to give light and vision to all who would trust him.” When DEVOTIONAL Jesus appeared to Paul on the way to COMMENT Damascus, He commissioned him to go John A. Hubbard to the Gentiles “ to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light,” etc. (See Acts 26:15-18). In the physical realm there is a real difference between being blind and being able, to see, be tween being in darkness and being in the light. In the spiritual realm the difference is not a whit less real. What Jesus did for this man born blind, He has done for multi tudes who were born blind spiritually. And the testimony of this man is the testimony of the multitudes: “ One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see”— not “ I think I can see,” not “ I hope I see,” but “ I know.” Thank God for this certainty. The skeptical, Christ-rejecting Pharisees tried to get the once blind man tangled up in their theologr ical theories, “ but he says that he is willing to leave the theological problems to their superior (?) wisdom.” He will hold on to the glorious fact, of which all the theories in the world can not rob him. Thus we may learn that the tactics of the modern Christ- rejecting theologians are not so modern after all. They are the same in essence as those used by the men whom Jesus pronounced blind (see John 9:39-41). “ The dilemma of the Pharisees and their mode of reason ing are ajnusingly or pitifully reproduced today by many reputed wise men who attempt to prove that Jesus is not the divine Son of God. The Pharisees argued that the miracle had not been performed because it was the Sab bath, and God could not have healed a man on the Sabbath and by so working have broken the law of rest. That the Sabbath had been broken was merely their interpreta tion of a law; and they were thus opposing a theory to à fact, and on the ground of a speculation were denying a reality. “ So today, substituting for the religious formula of the Pharisees the scientific axiom of the skeptics and rational ists, men tell us that the supernatural cannot exist, that miracles do not occur, and that the reputed works of Jesus are therefore mere fables; he was not born of a virgin, never opened the eyes of thè blind, and did not rise from the dead. These wise men have theories and so they reject facts” (Erdman). There are those in the world today who have facts, and so they reject the infidel theories of the day.
“We know that we have passed out of death into life” (1 John 3:14). “ We know whom we have believed” (2 Tim. 1:12). “ We know that all things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom. 8:28). “We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. 5 :1). “ We know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he; is” (1 John 3:2). Teacher, can you from the heart say the words of the Gol den Text: “ One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see” ? If not, you are a blind leader of the blind— a terrible responsibility! Get into personal contact with the living Christ, receive Him as your personal Saviour, and He will open your eyes, Jesus Opens A Blind Man’s Eyes John 9:1, 6-17, 35-38. Memory Verse.— “ Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” Psa. 103:2 Approach.-—A few weeks ago I called to see a little girl who was very sick with scarlet fever, which had settled in the eyes, and the doctor had placed bandages over her eyes to keep all light away, and she could not see at all; she was just as though she was blind. There ELEMENTARY were beautiful flowers in ’ her room but Mabel L. Merrill she could only smell them. She could hear her mother speak and feel her touch, but could not see her. ; This seemed sad and it was, but there was joy and happiness, in that home, for the doctor said it would only be for a few weeks, and then the bandages could be taken off and she could see again. Lesson Story.-—I wonderTiow many of us have been Good Samaritans this week, and have found some neighbors whom we could help? One day as Jesus and His disciples were walking along, they saw a blind man sitting by the roadside begging. This blind man had never been able to see for he was born blind. Jesus took some clay and put it on the eyes of the blind man, and told him to go and wash in a pool near by. We do not know what the blind man thought, but he did not ask Jésus any questions, bu* went at once:' and washed his eyes in the pool. My! I should like to have been there and watched the blind man when he came back from, the pool. I think he must have almost jumped up and down for joy when he looked and could see. He would not know what even the water looked like, nor a tree, or flower, or anything, and then to have his eyes opened all at once! It was the Sabbath day whèn he was healed, and some of the people found fault with Jesus because He healed him on this day, and said He was not of God; others called Jesus a sinner. Some of the Jews would not even believe that the man had been blind, so they called his parents, and they said they knew the man was their son, and had been born blind. The parents would not tell who healed their son of his blindness, for fear of the Jews, but when they asked the man himself he told them Jesus opened his eyes, and then they put him out of the synagogue, or church. Jesus heard what had happened, and came and found the man who was blind, and asked him if he believed on the Son of God. The man asked, “Who is he, Lord, that I might believe?” Then Jesus told the man He who was .speaking was the Son of God. The man said, “ Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him. (If time permits give this story in detail emphasizing verse 25). The man was not ashamed of Jesus, and he believed our memory verse. Prayer.
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