Jesus came to expose our iniquities and show us that we always fall short of the glory of God. We learn this by studying His Word, the bible. Don’t you want to know how much He loves us?
John 9:39-41
39 And Jesus said, “ For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” 40 Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “ We are not blind too, are we?”41 Jesus said to them, “ If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”
I have to admit, when I first read this passage and didn’t quite understand what Jesus was saying here, a small wave of fear swept over me because I wondered if I was one of the people He was talking about. And what if He was? Then I would know what I need to work on, right? I’m sure I do need to work on it in some capacity. Ok, what is it that I need to work on?
I looked up the word judgment because it didn’t quite seem to fit here. One of the definitions I found was, “to criticize or condemn someone from a position of assumed moral superiority.” When I read this, I see that it fits perfectly, given that the Pharisees got defensive about it right away. We’ve discussed defending our self-righteousness in varying degrees, as Jesus has continued to point it out throughout these stories. Here, He is telling us that it is His purpose to expose it. How often are we confronted with our own piety? Maybe it isn’t Jesus standing in front of us pointing a finger, maybe it is someone else telling us we walk around with a “holier than thou” attitude.
What is Jesus getting at in the final verse of this passage? He is exposing to us the purpose of The Law. The Pharisees were hardcore students of the Law. They studied it religiously (pun wholly intended) and took pride in upholding it. The Law was designed by God to show us our iniquities and understand that we could never be God. The religious zealots of the time thought they were godly by upholding them. Here, Jesus is telling them that they know better and because they know better, they are sinful. They are breaking the rules. The more they understand and study the rules, the more they are subject to them.
Does this mean that in order to remain sinless we must refrain from studying the Word? Quite the contrary. In studying God’s Word we learn how much He loves us. He loves us despite all of our transgressions. He wants to have a relationship with us. This is the part that the Pharisees kept missing because they were too focused on “being right with God” and “being holy” that they missed the point altogether.
How are you missing the point? Do you see God’s revelation of your sin as a burden or curse instead of a blessing? Do you read God’s Word to understand how much He loves you?
