Scott Ferreira delivered a powerful message on how to switch on the light of Jesus to illuminate our darkness in the natural to guide us, in the spiritual to bring us hope, and even emotionally, to lighten up our dark thoughts.
Using the narrative from John 9 about the man who was born blind whom Jesus healed, he broke it up into 3 scenes, uncovering deeper, often overlooked truths.
In Scene 1, we see that there was no one to blame for the man’s blindness – not the sins of his father nor his own. No matter how much we want to ask God why things happen or understand the cause and effect of the root, so we can change the situation or the outcome, we need to accept that some things happen just to give God the glory. We cannot apply Newton’s Law to what happens in real life. Instead of asking ‘Why?’, we should be asking ‘How can God be glorified in the situation?’ In verse 5, we are reminded that Jesus is the light, that takes away our ammunition to blame others or ourselves.
After Jesus healed the man using a wet mud ointment, the blindness left him and he was able to see clearly for the first time in his life! In Scene 2, we looked at the controversy of the response of the others, especially the Pharisees, who refused to believe the miracle. Not only did they not agree with the healing method, or that it was performed on the Sabbath, they saw Jesus as an imposter. We noted how Jesus did not defend himself or enter into arguments with those who could not process it. They were locked into a set of rules and the law, that didn’t fit into how Jesus healed the man.
But Jesus breaks the process pattern turning it on its head, rejecting our need to want to fix it to find peace and freedom. We don’t need to understand how or what He uses to heal us; we just need to trust His ways are perfect and true.
During the Festival of Lights, where oil lamps were lit on top of the Temple, lighting up the City with natural light, we noted how the Church is a symbol of light to the World. Jesus shines His light for us to follow Him, so we will not remain in darkness. In John 8:12, Jesus is called the light of life.
In Scene 3 we get a clearer picture of where our own blindness is exposed. We may not have reasons to blame for our blindness, but we are accountable for our every fault and failure. Just like Jesus went to find the blind man and revealed himself to him, he wants to do the same for us.
Darkness is real but Jesus sees our struggle of where we are at. All we need to believe is that He is the light and worship Him. Even if God chooses not to heal us or remove the darkness, we need to still see Him and allow Him to shine His light to help us see the way through it.
Life will always be both beautiful and tragic, and our challenge is in our posture and response when Jesus reveals Himself to us. When we believe that He is our light and give God our mourning, loss and grief we are holding onto, He will let His light shine into our tunnel of darkness with His comfort and love.
JESUS IS THE LIGHT