New Beginnings: Surrendering Our Lives to God

TUE EP Reflection 010422 New Beginnings (John 9: 1-41) Today I would like to talk about New Beginnings. Many Bible stories show new beginnings like the story of Creation in Genesis, the story of the birth of Twins: Esau and Jacob which characterized their lives and many more…Some verses also point us to new beginnings: 1 Peter 1:3 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” 2 Cor 5: 17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” Today’s Gospel lesson also pointed us to a new kind of beginning of a man born blind. It is hard for us to fully appreciate the depth of gratitude from a man who has never been able to see anything and who finally was able to see for the first time. What’s such beginning like? Can we imagine it? The sheer exercise of discovery; to figure out what’s what, who is who and the joy to see for the first time one’s own family after you have heard their voices all your life! I admit that this kind of new beginning is epic. There is another new beginning similar to this one: living in darkness and seeing the light of Christ for the first time. (No amount of rehabilitation can turn around a person like the way God does when a person repents) John is interested in Jesus who is bringing light and life into a world full of darkness. He sees this healing as a sure testimony of Christ’s gift of life to us all. The former blind man met his healer Jesus and said to him: “Lord I believe!” and he worshipped him. The situation here is to recognize our blindness/our blindspots. If we are unable to recognize our blindness (Or spiritual poverty), it means we think we can see, therefore we don’t believe we need healing/correction. This made me think of another instance when Jesus asked the person to be healed: “What do you want me to do for you?” By your own admission, you have to confess it with your mouth, what you need from Christ. I am pretty sure we all want new beginnings… More earnings to cover shortages of our needs… new beginnings in relationships… Well managed and better relationships; new beginnings like a clean conscience, peace with God and with our neighbor. Should these be our goal? Or our relationship with God should be our primary goal so that everything else would fall into place. (Matt 6:33) “But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Often enough we are distracted by things that are not conducive to our Salvation, nor build our character in Christ. The disciples were preoccupied by questions like: “Why was this man born blind? Whose fault, is it?” which reveals our struggle to make sense of our adverse human experience. Lesslie Newbegin tells us in his commentary that we are not called to make sense of a world in darkness by explaining it, we are rather sent/called to change the world…to transform it; to be a beacon of light…A light on top of the hill to illuminate the rest of the world/ to dispel darkness. This is Christ’s work, to destroy darkness. The Bible tells us that the darkness has not overcome the light. It also tells us that men love darkness more than the light. The truth is that we can only make sense of the dark by allowing the light to come in! Maybe your new beginning will begin with asking for the light of Christ to shine brighter in your life this year! Jesus is willing to make it happen. He told his disciples that the man was born blind so that the works of God may be revealed. This is a fascinating answer because, Christ is divine, and He brings order where there is disorder or Diseases. He heals us, he is our redemption. He makes things right! It doesn’t matter what kind of obstacle we face or ailment we suffer, the issue is are we surrendering our lives to God’s power through it? It’s like swimming in the Mississippi! It is absolutely dangerous and unadvisable to do so. If life seems like swimming in the Mississippi, then our surrender should be to the power of God, that can paddle against the fierce forces of the river. Today Christian believers are facing the fierceness of the spirit of rebellion. We are almost starting to learn again what it means to obey God, to seek and discern God’s will in our lives through reading Holy Scriptures. I hope and pray that our new beginnings count obedience to God is vital to our Christian journey. May you know God’s healing in this New Year! May you be victorious in the spiritual battles against the God of this age and its rebellious spirit.