How to Lose Your Sight; topic: Spiritual Blindness

SCRIPTURE: Luke 6:1-10
¹ One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. ² Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

³ Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴ He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” ⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

⁶ On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. ⁷ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. ⁸ But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there.

⁹ Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”

¹⁰ He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. ¹¹ But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

OBSERVATION: Both of these incidences have to do with spiritual blindness. The Pharisees and their ilk were concerned with following rules, the letter of the law, without any thought given to the reasons (or spirit) behind them. No consideration was given to the "whys" or the heart of what God said. They simply had a check list of "dos and don'ts". Jesus made them angry with his flaunting of the regulations. It did not matter that he was healing a man who had suffered for years from a debilitating deformity. They completely dismissed the possibility that God was showing his approval of Jesus by performing a miracle through him. They were blind to God's work because their focus had shifted from a personal relationship with God to one of feeling spiritually justified by their own "works" of adherence to a set of rules.

APPLICATION: There are many in our churches today who have a "Pharisaical spirit". They are dismissive of those who don't behave in ways they approve of even in the face of evidence of God's approval. I once heard a quote by Rev. Steve Brown that expresses this truth very succinctly,"The degree of spiritual blindness of a person is in direct proportion to their inordinate concern over trivial matters". The trouble is, it's easy to see this trait in others and much more difficult to see it in ourselves. It is easier to have rules of behavior to follow than to seek the heart of God in a matter. If we don't keep current in our relationship with God, any one of us can become a pharisaical person. We all need daily Bread.

PRAYER: Father, keep me from focusing on the minor matters, and convict me by your Spirit if I start to be off track in this regard. I want to learn your heart in increasing measure; to understand the "whys" of your ways without getting prideful in reaching some level of personal holiness in my behavior and then getting stuck there. I always have more to learn and can only credit your grace with any maturity I may have achieved. None of it is my doing. I thank you for your grace in leading and teaching me. In Jesus' Name, Amen.