Journey to the Cross 
Pause
“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else.”
C.S. Lewis, Christian Theologian
Do you see — yourself, others, the world — as God sees? Or have distractions blinded you from seeing God’s vision?
By God’s grace open your eyes and see.
Listen
As Jesus walked along, he saw a man who was blind from birth. Jesus’ disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned so that he was born blind, this man or his parents?”
Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents. This happened so that God’s mighty works might be displayed in him. While it’s daytime, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” After he said this, he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and smeared the mud on the man’s eyes. Jesus said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (this word means sent). So the man went away and washed. When he returned, he could see.
John 9:1-7
Think
He’s already blind, Jesus. No need for a spit-laced mud pie to the face! After all, you healed countless others without saliva and dirt. Hasn’t this man been through enough?
Blind since birth, this person never looked into his parent’s eyes or witnessed a sunset. Without seeing-eye dogs, Braille, and schools for the blind, this ancient man was forced to beg in alleyways. Worse, people then understood blindness as God’s curse for the sins of this man or his parents. Why the unnecessary mud pie?
Perhaps through this unique healing act, Jesus was visually demonstrating something deeper. He says the man’s blindness “…happened so that God’s mighty works might be displayed in him.” In other words, this man’s suffering is not a sign of God’s judgment but an opportunity for God’s salvation.
Life can be a muddy mess. But with God’s help, your mess never has to define who you are. God can even use your mess to heal you and those around you. Even mud in one’s eyes can bring sight.
Matt Andrews
Pray
Creator God, my life can be awfully messy. Help me believe you can and will bring order and healing back into my life. Amen.
Go
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
naught be all else to me, save that Thou art:
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
from “Be Thou my Vision,” traditional Irish hymn
Even now, God is giving you a new vision. What do you see?
What journey must you take to make God’s vision a reality?
