In this lesson, students learn about the blessing of our senses.
Devotion
John 9:6-7 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.
When Jesus performed miracles, He revealed Himself to be true God, the Maker of heaven and earth. As He who created all things, Jesus also has the ability to recreate.
In the case of the blind man, Jesus took the dust from which Adam was formed and recreated eyeballs which work. But this miracle was temporary. That blind man long ago, now in the grave, his eyes no longer work.
Jesus’ miracles all served the purpose of revealing His divinity, but each across the three years of His public ministry fade in comparison to the everlasting miracle of His death and resurrection.
On His cross, Jesus took upon Himself that which makes every body decay, sin, and rose again from the death each of us will someday face in order to give you eternal life in Him.
This means, when He returns, He who can make eyeballs out of clay, will recreate you from the dust of the grave into a glorious body never to decay again.
Through human birth God gives you your eyes, ears, and all your members, but though spiritual rebirth He gives you new life, new powers: “And so it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:45).
Dead in sin, He makes you alive through this Gospel word: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).
Human eyes will eventually close in death, but with your spiritual eyes focused on Jesus, your vision will grow and grow until you see Him face-to-face.
The lesson
46 They came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, a blind man, Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many told him to be quiet, but he kept shouting all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
They called the blind man, saying, “Cheer up! Get up. He is calling you!”
50 He tossed aside his outer garment, jumped up, and went to Jesus.
51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.
The blind man replied, “Rabboni,[a] I want to see again.”
52 Jesus told him, “Go. Your faith has made you well.” Immediately he received his sight and began following Jesus on the road.
Footnotes
Mark 10:51 Rabboni means my rabbi (my teacher, my master).
31 Jesus left the region of Tyre again and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis.
32 They brought a man to him who was deaf and had a speech impediment. They pleaded with Jesus to place his hand on him. 33 Jesus took him aside in private, away from the crowd. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 After he looked up to heaven, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”) 35 Immediately the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was set free, and he began to speak plainly. 36 Jesus gave the people strict orders to tell no one, but the more he did so, the more they kept proclaiming it. 37 They were amazed beyond measure and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”
Jesus healing blind Bartimaeus, by Johann Heinrich Stöver, 1861
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by[c] one Spirit we all were baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free people, and we were all caused to drink one Spirit. 14 Furthermore, the body is not one member, but many. 15 If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not part of the body,” it does not on that account cease to be part of the body. 16 If the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not part of the body,” it does not on that account cease to be part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But now God has arranged the members in the body, each and every one of them, as he desired. 19 If they were all one member, where would the body be? 20 But as it is, there are many members, yet one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need for you,” or again the head to the feet, “I have no need for you.” 22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are much more necessary. 23 As for the parts of the body we consider less honorable, these we provide with more honor. We treat our unpresentable parts with more modesty, 24 whereas our presentable parts have no such need. But God put the body together in a way that gave more honor to the parts that lack it. 25 He did it so that there might not be any division in the body, but that the members might all have the same concern for one another. 26 So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
Questions.
The four miracles in Exodus 4:1-12: staff to snake, hand to leprosy, Nile to blood, getting our senses
The same reason that God wanted Moses to have his senses fit for us, too--Telling people what God wants us to know.
Hearing and speaking are both important to spreading the Gospel. We need to listen to the people to know what part of the message they need.
Jesus told His disciples and us not to be afraid to speak. The Holy Spirit will guide our words when the time is right and we need not be anxious.
The King James version has a variant reading that is not well supported by other texts. But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.