Lenten Devotional - Week Three

Music and Art

Play the audio file and click on the image to enlarge it.

What is your initial feeling when you look at this piece of art?

What emotion fills your heart as you listen to the music?

Recognize and sit in those feelings and emotions for a few minutes and allow God to make His presence known.

Scripture

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

“How then were your eyes opened?” they asked. He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

John 9:1-11 (NIV)

Poetry

Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Psalm 46:8-11 (NIV)

Devotional

Jesus is the Light of the World by Emily DeAngelo

When a bride and groom combine each of their lit candles into a singular, brighter flame at a wedding ceremony, witnesses see the beautiful illustration of what Jesus says about Himself: “I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). The light of Christ in one person combines with the light of Christ in another person to make a greater light for the dark world to see Him in us. This is a perfect picture of Jesus and His bride, the church. 

Jesus illustrated this truth about Himself when He healed a blind man who had lived his entire life in total darkness. Displaying the mighty work of God, Jesus spit into the mud and covered the man’s eyes and then instructed him to wash in the Pool of Siloam. “So the man went and washed and came home seeing” (John 9:7). A miracle happens when someone is touched by Jesus. The Light of the world has come into our darkness to touch us, heal us, forgive our sins, and lead us into living in His light! 

Because of the light of Christ in us, we get to be beacons of light to show Him to the world. Jesus tells His followers in Matthew 5:16 to “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” What does this look like in the dark world we live in today? Perhaps it simply means we live our lives without grumbling or arguing and we hold on tightly to the Word of life as He continually makes us more like him to “shine among them like stars in the sky” (Philippians 2:14-16). Bright lights, like morally pure behavior and good deeds, are noticed and cause people to see Jesus in His followers! Shine bright! 

Reflect

1. What question is asked of Jesus about the man’s blindness in John 9:1-11, and what is His response?

2. When you consider the light of Christ in the people you know who are following Him, what characteristics of Christ do you notice in them? Thank the Lord for that beacon of light in your life and consider sending them a note of encouragement today.