Friday, February 29, 2008

Today's text

John 9:11-16

He answered, 'The man called Jesus made a paste, daubed my eyes with it and said to me, ‘Go off and wash at Siloam;’ so I went, and when I washed I gained my sight.' They asked, 'Where is he?' He answered, 'I don't know.' They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. It had been a Sabbath day when Jesus made the paste and opened the man's eyes, so when the Pharisees asked him how he had gained his sight, he said, 'He put a paste on my eyes, and I washed, and I can see.' Then some of the Pharisees said, ‘That man cannot be from God: he does not keep the Sabbath.' Others said, 'How can a sinner produce signs like this?' And there was division among them.

Prayer

There are signs of your nearness that are unmistakable, Jesus. They cannot be faked or manufactured by act of will.

Joy is central among those signs. You appear, and there is joy. You heal, and there is joy. You stir this soul of mine in the morning hours, and I am lifted into unnatural joy.

Unnatural? Yes, for it is disconnected with and unrelated to any outward circumstances. It comes not in the absence of struggles but in their midst. I sense you near and all that weighs the soul evaporates in a sea of joyous Presence and liberty of soul.

There is no obvious word of joy for this man given his sight, but how could it be otherwise? You touched him and opened his eyes to the color of the world and the contour of your gracious face. Who can look on these and not know joy?

Well, there are some. Kill joys they are, who cannot abide the joy of hearts you exalt because it would mean the end of their systems and ascendancies, their power and their control. The hunger to destroy the joy of souls is also unmistakable. It is born of the enemy of our souls, your enemy, living also within us.

May your morning joy evict this assassin from our hearts. You made us for the liberty of joy in your presence. May our hearts brim with the unmistakable mark of your nearness.

Pr. David L. Miller