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Jesus loves me this I know, cause the Bible (and others) tell me so. But if He really loves me, then why is He letting me leave prison? Yes Jesus loves me, and if He knows my parents are addicts, then how can He let me go home? I don’t want to leave prison. This is the best I’ve ever lived. And if I leave in two months, does He know I’ll be homeless and I’ll die? I can’t go back home, I can’t go back home. Is Jesus really listening to me?
She is 17 years old and in a few months the State will give her $70.00 and a bus ticket to go wherever she wants to go. Her parents are addicts and since being in prison she has learned self-worth. Thus she does not want to go back to her old lifestyle.
Thanks to the love and support of God, my wife and this church family, I experienced the Epiphany weekend this past weekend. A weekend that shall always be with me as the team (of which I was part of as a co-spiritual leader), ministered to 27 teenaged ladies incarcerated in a reformatory for women.
What do you say to give hope, when you have faith in the power of God... and you see no hope in front of you? When you share that God will take care of her, she rolls her eyes and her non-verbals clearly say, “YEAH RIGHT” with tears in her eyes and anger on her face. What do you say, what do you do, to give hope when you have faith in God and you see no hope before your very eyes?
John 9:1-4:
As Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And Jesus 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 made manifest in him.” We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work.”
Did you notice in verse 1 what Jesus did? “As Jesus passed by,” as Jesus walked by, he saw a man blind from birth.” Imagine being blind from birth, not being able to see the people we love and the world around us. To be asked if you are blind because either your parents or you are sinners?
When I was diagnosed with Leukemia, a pastor came to pray over me and told me if I had lived my life right this cancer would not have lived. Can you imagine what that feels like? You’re already physically, psychologically and emotionally struggling then to have someone say something like that to you?
Then, people wonder why do people give up? Why do individuals get arrested again to go back to prison? Show me the hope.
John 9:5-7
“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” As Jesus said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle (When Jesus humanly walked the earth mixing clay with saliva was a common practice used for eye infections.) and anointed the man’s eyes with the clay saying to him, “Go wash in the pool of Silo’ am (which means Sent). So the man went and washed and came back seeing.
First of all, this man must have trusted Jesus to let Jesus near him, let alone to put mud made with Jesus’ spit on his eyes.
John 9:8-17
The neighbors and those who had seen the man before as a beggar, said, is this not the man who use to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is he;” others said, “No, but he is like him.” He said, “I am the man.” They said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made clay 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.” (Keep in mind the Pharisees are members of a Jewish sect that interpreted strict interpretation of the law). They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been formerly blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. The Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” There was a division among them. So they again said to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
So what do you do if you can’t agree and come to terms on what lies before you? You interrogate some more,
John 9: 18-23
The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight, and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself. His parents said this because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, “He is of age, ask him.”
Do you see what’s going on here? The synagogue was not only a place of worship but a place of fellowship, and to be banned from the synagogue is to be an outcast from your society, from fellow believers, and to have no contact with the world you live in. To be excommunicated was a most serious punishment, because it involved forfeiting ones social relations and religious privileges as a Jew. Today we still see that happening within the Amish community who do not believe in marrying outside their religion.
So the Jews threatened that which was important to the parents of the man who was blind and in anger, the parents made it clear that our son is an adult and we do not need to speak for him.
Sometimes in life to believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior is seen even today in 2008 as a threat, for it is a sign that you can think for yourself. And in believing in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, to some is a threat. For you are not permitting them to control you. That is why in 3rd world countries people meet in underground churches and cannot openly express their faith in Jesus Christ.
Also take note that the Jews made an issue that Jesus performed a miracle on the Sabbath, which is a holy day, and one is to do no work. And if they do, they will have to answer for their behavior.
Thus, Jesus performing a miracle on the Sabbath was a sin. But you know what, God will perform a miracle any time that God wants to perform a miracle irrelevant of the hour or day of the week.
THANKS BE TO GOD.
John 9:24-33
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give God the praise, we know this man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you too want to become his disciples?” And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Why, this is a marvel, in other words this is amazing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that any one opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they threw him out into the streets.
They worshipped Moses but they did not know Moses. For God’s word tells us that God did not give Moses new abilities and strengths. God molded Moses until his abilities and strengths were suited to God’s purposes.
They were disciples of the law and in the law they were narrow and believed this man was blind for he was born into sin and besides that, “what could someone like you teach me? STAY BEHIND THOSE PRISON WALLS AND ROT TO DEATH!”
Let me tell you what I love about Jesus? What I love about Jesus is what fuels my desire to answer the call to enter the jail, the prison, and meet in fellowship with believers and non-believers alike. What I love about Jesus is that Jesus loves us, irrelevant of what we have done. Jesus loves you in the pew and me in the pulpit and those who are not in church today as much as He loves those in jail and or prison. Jesus sees over the imperfections we stumble over.
Do Lord, do Lord, do you remember me? Luke 9:35-41:
Jesus heard that they had cast him out, in 2008, they threw him out to the streets, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of man? He answered, “And who is he sir, that I may believe in him?” (Jesus did not get mad, was not rude as in how dare you don’t know and or walk away.) Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you.” The man said, “Lord, I believe;” and he worshipped Jesus. Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near Jesus heard this, and they said to Jesus, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you are blind you will have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.
In this morning’s scripture lesson and sermon text, the Jewish leaders looked to his
(Jesus') earthly origin. While the man who was blind and healed worked backwards from his healing, to recognize the divine origin of his Healer. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did not come into this world to con-‘damn’ people but to represent a judgment to those He met who had to decide what choice they would make.
The Pharisees rejected the light Jesus offered and thus cast a dark shadow over their nation. Jesus sought to not only bring healing to the physically blind; He also decided to bring healing light to the spiritually blind. While the world judges the exterior of the person, God knows the truth of what is on the inside.
As I left the Reformatory on Sunday evening, I left feeling God’s presence in a strong and powerful way. I left with the faces of the twenty-seven stars, the women inmates, on my mind and a prayer. A prayer that not only would every woman there feel God’s presence,
and to know that they were beautiful because God doesn’t make junk.
A prayer, that as we followed Jesus’ example on His journey to Golgotha and we walked the walk with ladies who are imprisoned and must pay a debt to society, who are hurting, struggling, feeling hopeless and helpless... that they would know the truth of Jesus Christ in their lives. I prayed that as we walked with them, not con-‘damning’ them, but offering them the light of Jesus Christ… that they felt and saw a light of hope.
Some of them may live and die in prison. Some of them may walk out that prison front gate with $70.00 and a bus ticket in their hand but nowhere to go, or hope to keep them alive. A few might have someone waiting for them. A few may be paroled with stipulations as to where they can go. Sadly many will be rearrested and re-incarcerated, due to lifestyle and or survival.
It has been one week since the team and I have been in that reformatory and Epiphany #18, and I can still see the faces of the stars, the team, corrections officers and the prison and I can still feel the strong cold wind that slapped us in the face as we stepped outside. And I can clearly see the room where Epiphany #18 met, where Jesus did not walk away from those who some in society call outcast. And in that room, I saw women come in Friday morning blind to that of this world, with faces that looked hard and hurt... while begging for something that they were not sure of. Then, as we all felt the presence of Jesus Christ, the stars began to live as children of the light. Smiling, interacting, laughing, crying, thinking, absorbing all that was going on around them.
Ephesians 5:8-9, came to life,
For though your hearts were once full of darkness, now that you are full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should show it For the light within you produces only what is good and right and true.”
On this fourth Sunday of Lent, are you feeling comfortable in your pew seat which is reserved just for you? Or are you walking the walk with Jesus on the road to Golgotha, not for damnation of others, but with love in your heart for them?
How we walk will determine how they come to know God in their life and believe that God not only knows them, but loves them unconditionally. Through our presence, they may come to believe they are not a mistake, but a vessel of God’s unconditional love.
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now I’m found; was blind, but now I see.
Let us be in an attitude of prayer,
Father God of light, you do not see others as others see; You look beyond our limitations and find us strong and beautiful for your purpose. Help us now to see Jesus your Son who, though He was despised and rejected, became our beautiful Savior. Show us Jesus' face in the face of those who suffer and lead us to give your healing touch to all. Amen.
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