Blinded by the Light

John, chapter 9 - Jesus encounters a man blind from birth.

The disciples want to assign blame - who has sinned here, the blind man or his parents? At the end of chapter 9 we see the Pharisees do the same thing, telling the man he was "born in utter sin" and casting him out of the synagogue.

Jesus, on the other hand, seeks not to assign blame, but to glorify the Father and free the man through healing. I don't know about you, but I like this approach much better. At the end of the chapter, Jesus says, "I came into this world that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind." It is clear from his later statement to the Pharisees that all of us - everyone - is spiritually blind and needs to be healed by Jesus. But the ones who refuse to confess this, and rather say that they can see, exclude themselves from grace and demand judgment.

Yield Sign

Just reading the 13th chapter of Matthew - the parable of the sower. Here is an interesting line that stood out during this latest reading of a very familiar parable. Verse 23:

As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.

It's not enough that we bear fruit, though that is tremendously important, but also that we yield the harvest. That means we give it over to the farmer rather than holding onto the fruit for ourselves. What that means is that God is given glory for what is produced rather than me.

Is the gospel bearing fruit in your life? If so, is the fruit being yielded to the Father?