Jesus is pretty amazing. I mean, he does a lot of really cool things. Every year when I go to Soul Survivor, Focus, Momentum, or other such places, I come back with all these amazing and crazy stories of the things that he did. Miracles, healings, salvation, transformation, the list goes on. I’m always astounded by what he does and what he lets me experience and see. And it makes me want to bring all my friends there, and let them experience it too. I want everyone to experience God and meet with him like I have, and so if they come to those places too they’ll see it. So far in my look at the “7 Signs of the Messiah” in John, we’ve seen Jesus do some pretty amazing things; healings, salvation, miracles and transformation, and number 6 is no different;
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“As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, ‘Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?’ Some said, ‘It is he.’ Others said, ‘No, but he is like him.’ He kept saying, ‘I am the man.’ So they said to him, ‘Then how were your eyes opened?’ He answered, ‘The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, “Go to Siloam and wash.” So I went and washed and received my sight.’ They said to him, ‘Where is he?’ He said, ‘I do not know.’ ”
So Jesus has just met this blind man and healed him in an unorthodox way. Not only is it on the Sabbath, which was very controversial, but he puts mud in the man’s eyes, and tells him to wash it off in a pool (pretty unorthodox I think). Once the man washes his eyes, he is totally healed, and he can see for the first time in his life! And what is the first thing people ask when they see this transformation? “Where is he?”, “Where is this man who has healed you and transformed your life?”. This question is both extremely stupid, (he has only just got the ability to see things. He has no idea what anything looks like, let alone Jesus to point him out to them!) and it is extremely challenging to us.
People were asking the man who was blind, “who did this to you and where can I meet him?”. There was evidence in his life of a transformation and people wanted a part of that. And what is challenging for us is how often does the change in our lives make others want to know Jesus? How often do our friends and family see the effect Jesus is having on our lives and see it as something they want or need?
I think most of the time they don’t. I think most of the time they see us arguing about equality, sexuality or theology, which are of course important conversations to have. But when we’re talking about Jesus, and arguing about these things and not living lives that display the transforming power of Jesus. We are completely missing the point.
When I come back from a festival, I’m really excited about what God has done and what I’ve seen, and I want everyone to experience that. Often the way I think they need to experience that is by making them come to Focus or Momentum or Soul Survivor, which is amazing and they get to see God move in powerful ways. But if I’m taking people to an event to meet God then that isn’t going to transform their life unless God is in day to day life as well.
The exciting thing for us is that God is with us wherever we go. Psalm 139:7 says “Where can I go from your spirit” there’s nowhere we can go where God’s spirit is not with us, guiding us, speaking to us, transforming us. We just need to let him in and let him be a part of our day to day lives. Then not only will people see our lives being transformed by Jesus, but we can introduce them to him as well!
Let’s stop living lives where we limit God to Soul Survivor, Focus, or occasionally even church, and live lives where God is in everything we do.
