Today’s Reading: John 9:13-15 (NIV)
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. 15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”
Good morning!
I sat on the edge of my bed last night, watching Kirk Cameron interview one of my favorite Christian groups, Avalon, while rubbing my tired, dry feet with moisturizing lotion. This is the time of year when dry skin gives me grief. I’ve kept warm winter boots on for a couple of months now, and just like the tulips peeking through the crusty hard soil in my garden bed, these tiny toes are screaming to break out into some colorful spring sandals. Do you fight with patches of dry skin in the winter time?
The man whom Jesus healed, had been blind from birth. His neighbors assumed that this boy was the byproduct of some lifelong sin that had occurred, causing him to be blinded from birth. He was tolerated in his hometown by the locals. Like a patch of dry, crusty, skin, they lived with him, much to their dismay. People would go out of their way to avoid this lonely beggar, as he sat and asked for help each day. A few kind souls had compassion on him. They would drop off a sack lunch – a few fish and some unleavened bread so he wouldn’t sit there and starve. Occasionally, he would receive a coin or two from a generous heart. No one wanted to be near the man with eyes that could not see. He was an eyesore to the righteous ones.
Jesus made miraculous mud packs from the dirt of the soil and with his saliva, placed it on the man’s eyes. The scales fell off in the water as he washed. Everything that had been dry and cracked, broken and bleeding, became soft and pliable with His holy touch. The blind man was desperate for healing. Desperate situations require complete and total faith. He was tired of being the community’s callous; the flake that sat at the edge of the world hoping his life might one day be transformed. Jesus gave this man a new life, perfect vision, and a softened heart.
One would have thought the Pharisees would have been relieved to have seen such a miracle with their very own eyes. But they were far more concerned that this man, who obviously didn’t deserve to be healed, was forever changed on their Sabbath, the most holy and high day of their week. Who do you think had the driest skin of all: the man whose eyes were opened, or the ones who couldn’t accept the miracle that had occurred?
Oh Lord, how I need to be washed in your miraculous mud pack today. You alone can remove the dry and crusty scales that have built up over time, transforming my hardened heart into something brand new. Heal my brokenness today, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Grace and peace,
Deb Spaulding
Faith UMC -
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