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Discernment is the ability to see, to recognize or distinguish the true nature of someone
or something. Discernment and wisdom are close cousins. Discernment means that I
can "see through" a situation or a person and decide whether that situation or person is
good or bad. I use discretion with a person that I have discerned to be bad for me. I
have discerned, or deducted, through watchful eyes, that not everything is what it
seems to be. Discernment, in general, is also a result of having lived through different
situations and learning the outcomes. In most cases, the older you are the better you
can discern a good person from a bad person. Discernment is skill in perceiving,
discriminating, or judging, clear-sightedness, nose, penetration, perceptiveness,
perspicacity, sagacity.
Lack of discernment is a malaise with affects many people and that could be compared
to blindness. People that lack discernment can be easily manipulated and led astray.
They can be prey of salespeople who, through skilful advertising, lead them to buy
products they do not need, products of questionable quality or even harmful ones.
People who lack discernment can be easily manipulated by politicians to support
doubtful causes and personal interests. People who lack discernment can be easily lead
astray by questionable religious movements and cults. Often this is accomplished by
the power of the media whose tricks, often, we are not aware of.
Jesus of Nazareth has come to heal our blindness so that we see and become people of
good discernment. He is proclaimed by the New Testament as the light of the world and
He is the same today as he was long time ago, as “He went about doing good and
healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” (Acts 10:38).
So you see how this whole incident becomes, in some other way, after having
healed the man from his physical blindness, an object lesson about our ingrained
spiritual blindness, our inability to see people’s needs, our inability to determine
the appropriate time to speak and to act, and, most important of all, our inability
to see that Jesus is Lord and Saviour, the light of the world, the only one who can
heal us from our blindness.
“The man answered, "Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he
comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to
sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God and does his will, God listens to
him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the
eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."
(John 9:30-33)
When they understood that they could not deny the miracle, they even consulted the
man’s parents, but to no avail. Their stubbornness had become utterly comical and
pathetic.
What would you say of a person coming to you today and saying...?
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread,
he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my
flesh." (John 6:51)
"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but
will have the light of life." (John 8:12)
"... I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into
the world--to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my
voice." (John 18:37)
Probably, many of you one might have reacted not differently from most people of His
time: dismissing these words as those of a madman, a self-conceited man.
Some, nevertheless, saw and understood. They could “see through”, they had
discernment; they could distinguish the true nature of the Man who stood in front of
them saying these words and had the courage to respond:
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matthew 16:16); or:
“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost” (1 Timothy
1:15).
Among those who saw, understood who Jesus is, was the man whom Jesus healed from
his physical blindness.” He said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshipped him.” (John 9:38)
In front of Jesus, nobody can be neutral. Jesus used to say: “Whoever is not with me is
against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Luke 11:23) In fact, the
very presence of Jesus in the world represents a separation, a judgement, between
Jesus said: “And this is the judgement: the light has come into the world, and people
loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” (John 3:19).
In order to understand who Jesus of Nazareth is, and how relevant He is for our lives,
we need to be healed from what sadly could be understood as the condition of those
who are born blind. This is something which not everybody is ready to admit. Many, in
fact, would rather say: “I have a perfect 10/10 sight, I can discern and evaluate
perfectly: Jesus’ claims cannot possibly be accepted”. This is like what those Pharisees
did: they saw Jesus with their own eyes but they did not see, perceive, understand, that
Jesus is God manifested in the flesh, that He is God appearing in human form.
There are in this world, this way, two categories of people: Those who admit, freely
acknowledge being spiritually blind and call upon God to give them sight, the light they
need, and those who claim to see and are persuaded they have come already to the
final and definitive conclusion about Jesus: he is a liar, an impostor, a lunatic and ...I do
not care about Him.
There is good news for the first kind of people and bad news for the second.
Jesus restores not only his physical sight, but also his spiritual one: he understands and
welcomes Jesus as his Saviour and Lord. On the other hand, we see in this episode
people who proudly claim to see and discern how things really are... They, in fact, seem
to be sure who Jesus is and yet remain condemned and lost.
This story reaches its height with the following astonishing and seemingly paradoxical
statement:
Jesus said, "For judgement I came into this world, that those who do not see may
see, and those who see may become blind." Some of the Pharisees near him
heard these things, and said to him, "Are we also blind?" Jesus said to them, "If
Some, in fact, presume to be able to see, to discern how things are and obstinately
stick to this idea. But Jesus’ coming, for them, is the seal of their damnation, because
they are made inexcusable. They will never be able to justify themselves claiming not
to have had the opportunity to be confronted with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those, nevertheless, who freely and humbly admit that sin blinded their spiritual
perception and call upon the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to restore their spiritual
sight, receive from Jesus the gift of the Holy Spirit, regenerating them to spiritual life.
Consequently they will see, understand who Jesus is, they will be led to repentance and
faith in Him and will be eternally saved by God’s mercy.
“Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God,
that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this
in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting
spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the
things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to
understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:12-
14).
Thanks be to God, that as we come to Jesus like trusting little children, acknowledging
our blindness and need, and asking Him to heal us, His mercy gives us the sight we
need. This is why Jesus could rejoice in the Holy Spirit and say:
“I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these
things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes,
Father, for such was your gracious will.” (Luke 10:21)
Conclusion
Do you aspire to be someone of “good discernment”? Jesus of Nazareth has come to
heal our blindness to make us that if we will come to Him.
Let us pray as the Psalmist did when He said: “Teach me good discernment and
knowledge, For I believe in Your commandments” (Psalm 119:66 NASB). Let us say to
God in prayer:
Le us also continue to pray also for those we know, who are still not completely aware
of whom Jesus is and who are still in a doubt about Him.
Lord, open, o Lord, the eyes of their minds and hearts, so that they come to Jesus
with repentance and faith and do like the man who was healed from his
blindness. As they are asked: "Do you believe in Jesus, the Son of Man?” may
they also reply: “I believe” and worship Him as their Saviour and Lord. Amen.
Organ prelude
Greeting
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Amen. (2 Corinthians 13:13)
It is a pleasure for me to be here today and worship God with you, and especially to
have the privilege and responsibility to lead you into this service, bringing to you and
expounding God's Word. We cannot do this by ourselves: together we need the Holy
Spirit of God leading our hearts closer to Him, inspiring reverent worship, making us
receptive to His voice, understand it and be willing and able to apply it to our own lives,
faithfully and obediently.
Call to worship
May the words of Psalm 95, which I am going now to read, be today for us God's call to
worship:
Psalm 95
Let's pray.
Let's now respond all together by singing hymn no. 8: “All People that on Earth Do
Dwell.
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him,
"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that
the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do
the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5While I
am in the world, I am the light of the world."
Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put
it on the man's eyes. "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word
means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
His neighbours and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn't this
the same man who used to sit and beg?" Some claimed that he was.
Others said, "No, he only looks like him."
But he himself insisted, "I am the man."
He replied, "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."
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day on
which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath.
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."
Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the
Sabbath."
But others asked, "How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?" So they were
divided.
Finally they turned again to the blind man, "What have you to say about him? It
was your eyes he opened."
The man replied, "He is a prophet."
"We know he is our son," the parents answered, "and we know he was born
blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don't know. Ask him.
He is of age; he will speak for himself." His parents said this because they were
afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who
acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. That
was why his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."
A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God,"
they said. "We know this man is a sinner."
Then they asked him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"
He answered, "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want
to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?"
Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this fellow's disciple! We are
disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we
don't even know where he comes from."
The man answered, "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 man 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."
To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!"
And they threw him out.
Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do
you believe in the Son of Man?"
"Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him."
Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you."
Jesus said, "For judgement I have come into this world, so that the blind will see
and those who see will become blind."
Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you
claim you can see, your guilt remains.”