NO LONGER BLIND! – (4)

"As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth." John 9:1

“The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.” John 9:11

Read the story here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%209&version=NIV

Listen to story here:  http://www.biblegateway.com/audio/dramatized/niv/John.9  

Jesus said: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness.” 

But he didn’t just say it.  He acted it out.  He created an object lesson to show the people the truth of who he was.  In the same way he had said “I am the bread of life,” and then he gave them bread.

Jesus did an unimaginable thing in this passage: He created sight.  This man had been born blind.  There was never an illness or injury which robbed him of sight so that sight could be restored.  These eyes did not have the capacity for sight – and Jesus gave them sight.  This is a creative miracle.  Everyone recognized the difference.

Everyone, that is, except an elite group of religious leaders.  You see, Jesus broke a law while doing the creative miracle.  Through Moses, God had given the people  a law: “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy,”   but over the years many more rules had been added.  NO WORK, even if it was helping someone, could be done without breaking the law.  Jesus broke the law, therefore he was bad:  “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”

But despite persecution, the healed man himself declared:

“Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

This is one of the clearest statements—proving Jesus was sent from God because of the miracles he did—in the entire New Testament.  Bravo! to this man who saw things so clearly!

So the story ends ironically.  Jesus said:

“For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

Jesus IS the LIGHT of the world:

With him, we will see;

Without him, we will become blind.

Got light?

NO LONGER BLIND! (3)

“In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”  John 1:4

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

In my last devotional I asked:

Why do both John the baptist and Jesus see a relationship between LIFE and LIGHT?

“All life originates and develops under the influence of …light…”  according to Goethe.  The connection between life and light has been observed for centuries, but in this last century, the experiments of John Ott made real breakthroughs.  He discovered that healthy plant and animal development only occurs under full-spectrum light – what we also know as natural light – that which comes from the sun.  So true light leads to life.

I have been asking the question: How does the life in Jesus become light for mankind?  Maybe I was just thinking of “light” in too narrow of terms.  Light is not just what enlightens and leads mankind, it is actually what gives all life and health to mankind. 

Voilá!

Jesus is the LIGHT of the world.

The true light.  The full-spectrum light.  The only light that is life-giving.

Other interesting quotes:

“All the energy we take into our bodies is derived from the sun,” – Nobel Laureate Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

“…light is the primal nourishment for life.”  - Jacob Liberman

“The body is a biological light receptor, the eyes are transparent biological windows designed to receive and emit light, and all physiological functions are light dependent. … Light guides the eyes, physical movement and physiological function, hence light and life are inseparable, …”– Jacob Liberman

“My studies have indicated that light is a nutrient, similar to all the other nutrients we take in through food, and that we need the full spectrum range of natural daylight.” – John Ott

"If human skin is not exposed to solar radiation (direct or scattered) for long periods of time, disturbances will occur in the physiological equilibrium of the human system. The result will be functional disorders of the nervous system and a vitamin-D deficiency, a weakening of the body's defenses, and an aggravation of chronic diseases."  - from a 1967 paper presented by three Russian scientists to the International Committee on Illumination

“…when we experimentally place plants, animals, or humans in a darkened environment and notice that their life force gradually diminishes, bringing life to a halt.  Without light there is no will to live, we are robbed of the spark that propels our spirit…” – Jacob Liberman