Jump Start # 763

John 9:6-7 “When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing.”

Happy New Year, to all our Jump Start readers. A new year begins with hopes and dreams and opportunities. If the Lord allows, this year will bring weddings and births to those around us. The start of a new year is a time that many take an audit of how things are going and they make course corrections. It often takes a person being dissatisfied to motivate them to change. A person who is tired of what they see in the mirror will be motivated to work out. A person who is tired of being broke will be motivated to make a budget and stick to it. A person who is tired of just existing will be motivated to draw closer to the Lord. There are a number of ways that can happen such as: beginning the day with prayer, or reading our Jump Starts every day, or reading a chapter of the Bible every day, or making an effort to attend worship services on a regular basis. Those are starters. Other things may include, making a list of books you want to read this year, people you want to share the gospel with, topics you want to learn. Change and opportunity are some of the greatest blessings we have. You do not have to accept the way things are. You are the drive and the motivation in your life for change.

Our passage illustrates one person whose life was changed in a dramatic fashion. A man was blind from birth. His world was dark and closed. His future would involve begging. A blind man in the first century had little hope of change. There were no schools for the blind. There were no government help for the blind. Braille was not invented. He sat in a dark world with a cup hoping someone, anyone would drop a few coins in it. I’d expect with blindness came misery and desperation.

John nine begins by telling us that Jesus saw this man as they passed by. The disciples wanted to know why God punished him. Was it for his sins or his parents? They didn’t’ think about helping him. They didn’t ask Jesus to make his life better. Simply a curious question. Some are like that. They want to know why someone is in the mess that they are in. They are curious. They do not intend to help, they just want to know. Not only does Jesus answer their question by revealing his blindness was not connected to sin at all, but He offers a changed world for the blind man.

This miracle is fascinating. Jesus spits in the dirt, makes mud and puts it on the blind eyes. Does this man know of Jesus? Is a stranger doing this to him? He is then told to go and wash his eyes in the pool Siloam. He obeys. Interesting the way this miracle unfolds. On other occasions Jesus would heal people immediately. Here, there was mud, a command, a trip to a pool and then the healing. We wonder why all this happened this way. Was trust and faith in something that the blind man could not see important? Was Jesus trying to show the disciples that a man who could not see believed?

I’d expect that this blind man went straight to the pool Siloam when Jesus told him. I would not think that he paused to chit-chat with buddies, or went to the market, or anything else. This was a priority and he was on a mission. He was told to wash and he did. He came back seeing. He came back…much like the thankful leper, this blind man returned to Jesus. He wasn’t through with Jesus. His eyes were opened and now his heart was opened. Jesus changed his life and he wanted to be near the Lord.

Do you see yourself in that story? We were blind as well. Living in a dark world of sin, selfishness and stubbornness, we did what we wanted to do, and we did it the way we wanted to do. Life was not working out because we were on a dead end street going no where. Blind. Lost. Hopeless. His world was physical blindness, our world was spiritual blindness.

Then we met Jesus. Everything changed. Forgiveness, grace, hope, life were offered to us. Go and wash. Go and be baptized. We went. We obeyed. We trusted. And our world was changed. Guilt, shame and hurt was lifted. A new page. A new life. A new way was before us. Like the blind man, we returned to Jesus. We learned. We grew. We became.

Change is hard for some. We become creatures of habit. Ordering the same food in a restaurant. Driving the same roads. Sitting in the same pew. Doing the same thing. It takes some drive to change, but what a difference it makes.

A new year begins with a new you. Will this year be any different? Will you change things? Had this blind man not gone to the pool, he would have remained blind. You have your pool that you must go to if you want a better world. It may be breaking old habits that are holding you down. It may be starting some new ones. The opportunity for a new year and a new year is before you. Being stuck is a terrible feeling and a terrible way to live.

A new you begins with the hope of a better life.

Roger