An Eye-opening Encounter

Psalm 27        Luke 18: 35-42

Lately we have been considering the splinters in our eyes.

In Luke 18, the pharisee in the temple thought he was good, not other people. The rich ruler believed he had kept all god's commandments since he was a boy. They needed their vision unblocked.

Today we look at the blind beggar in Luke 18 and how Jesus opened his eyes to see.

In every case an eye-opening encounter with Jesus was needed.

This speaks to us all if we really listen. All of us who are blind to sin's destructive darkness in our lives need the cross.

Not that the blind man's condition was caused by sin, as we read in John 9: 2,3; but that God's work as light giver might be displayed. Jesus, the light of the world, shines into the dark recesses of our being and exposes its darkness for what it is.

We most likely have seen the statement " I have seen the light". By this we mean I know about my own sin and about Jesus death at the cross when he unburdened me of my condemnation before the Holy God. Now I see that Jesus is the light giver, the source of everlasting life and truth as God has meant things to be.

In our passage last week the young ruler went away sad (Luke 18: 23) because he had invested in a good life without the cost of association with Jesus, and to follow Jesus seemed secondary, even wasteful of life itself. He remained sadly blinded to the reality of his lostness and was headed for destruction.

By contrast, Jesus opens the blind man's eyes to see Jesus as the light and draws him out into the light where true life exists, a life following the cross.

May today be a time we come with wide open eyes to see Jesus as the Light of the world and the One who has rescued us at the cross from the blindness of our own fallen condition.