NOT ABANDONED

Psalms 10-12 | Acts 19:1-20

“God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?’” Hebrews 13:5-6

What do we do when everyone has abandoned us? In John 9, after the man born blind was healed by Jesus, the man was interrogated by the Pharisees on how it happened. Even though he repeatedly explained what Jesus did in his life, the Pharisees refused to believe him. They brought the man’s parents to testify whether he was even truly blind. John 9:20-22 tells us, “‘We know he is our son,’ the parents answered, ‘and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.’ His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.” While the man’s parents acknowledged their son was born blind, they were afraid to speak more for fear of being put out of the community, so they decided to let their son fend for himself.

Yet, with each question that the Pharisees posed, the man became increasingly convinced of Jesus’s identity, which led him to boldly state, “If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing” (John 9:33). To the Pharisees’ displeasure, they threw the man out of the synagogue. Although the man born blind gained his sight, in the aftermath of his miracle, he became rejected by his family and cast out by the community of faith. For some of us, the reality of choosing to believe in Jesus may put us at odds with people and even cause us to be rejected by our family and cast out by our community.

The man, however, was not abandoned by everyone. In John 9:35-38, when Jesus heard that the man was kicked out, He found him and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The man answered, “Who is He, sir? Tell me so that I may believe in Him.” Jesus said, “You have now seen Him; in fact, He is the One speaking with you.” The man happily declared, “Lord, I believe.” The man saw God standing in front of him and bowed down and worshipped Him. The man was once was blind, but now he sees. When he saw Jesus for who He is and realized what Jesus had done for him, he could only respond with worship.

Jesus found the man and gave him belonging, a new narrative, a new life, a newfound faith and worship. Even if we are abandoned by everyone because of our faith in Jesus, we are not abandoned by God.