Jesus Disappointed Sin Spotters

What Did Jesus Do?

“It was not that this man sinned, or his parents,
but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
John 9.3

It was obvious to the disciples, in spite of the logs in their own eyes, that a speck of sin had to be the reason for a man having been born blind. The question was, and perhaps this is what the logs prevented them from seeing, “Who sinned?” (John 9.2) The reply of Jesus must have confused, and disappointed, the sin spotters among the disciples, for the Lord was quite clear in stating that the man's disability had nothing at all to do with either his sin, or his parents'.

Today's descendants of those Sin Spotters of old still delight in looking for sin, in others. And they take no small pleasure in wagging their fingers at people and prophesying, “God will get you for that!” Though it is absolutely true that sin always has its (negative) consequences, The Father does not indulge in any sort of “Gotcha!” games with us. While Sin Spotters take, well, there's no other way to put it, sinful enjoyment from the judgment and condemnation of others, the works of God are all about grace and forgiveness and mercy.

For some reason, my hunch is that it's their own sin nature, Sin Spotters like to point out who is lost in the darkness, with a shake of their heads and a click or two of the tongue. In sharp and direct contrast, Jesus, the Son, was sent by the Father to be the Light of the Word (John 9.5), whose chief objective was to glorify his Father by leading people out of the darkness. And there is perhaps no better biblical illustration of this than what Jesus did for the man born blind.

With no reference whatsoever to sin, the Lord simply made up a sort of poultice of his own spit mixed with some dirt, and anointed the eyes of the bind man (John 9.6). The man then needed only to obey the Lord's instructions to go and wash in the pool of Siloam to receive his sight. When the man had performed what Jesus had commanded, he came back seeing! (John 9.7)

While many were astonished by what had happened, a few were incensed. The incensed were not the Sin Spotters, they were, as we pointed out above, confused and disappointed. The ones who were outraged by what had happened were the Sabbath Sheriffs, reckoners of righteousness who were not about to let anyone, even God, work on the seventh day! (John 9.16a) We will take up with the Sabbath Sheriffs another day.

For now, we would all do well to consider that Jesus did not indulge in sin spotting, and likewise refrain from concerning ourselves with the sins others until we have confessed to the Lord all the sins of the one we see in the mirror. Unless we do this, the logs in our eyes will condemn us to remain in darkness where we cannot be part of the works the Father is still doing through the Son by the Holy Spirit. With our own eyes freed of impediment, the Lord may yet use us to lead others into the light. That's what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4