Plan B

Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple. As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. (John 8:59 – 9:1)

The context here is that Jesus had just finished speaking at length with religious leaders who were so stubbornly blind in their hearts and minds that it was impossible for Jesus to get their attention on heavenly things as Jesus understood them. Although Jesus had the truth about reality clearly about Him and repeatedly expressed it in various ways to anyone willing to listen, it was rare that many were willing to open their minds enough to receive much of what He was offering.

Yet the purpose of Jesus coming to this earth was not to show us how stubborn and sinful we are but to reveal to us how good and gracious and caring God is. This is why Jesus never gave up trying to reach people who resisted His appeals and loving advances and entreaties. Although the religious people were the most hostile against what Jesus had to say about God, He refused to give up His purpose to do everything possible to win them over to God. But at times He had to change His methods when people made it absolutely clear that they would no longer allow Him to speak to them. God is very keen on the issue of freedom, even for those who don't even believe in it themselves. So when the religious leaders picked up stones threatening to kill Him for saying things they didn't like, Jesus obliged and left their presence and the temple they so insisted on controlling and running their way.

But this did not mean that Jesus had given up trying to reach their hearts. Rather than feeling resentful or bitter about the treatment He received from them, He rested in the care and guidance of His Father. Possibly on the way out of the temple He felt impressed by the Spirit that this blind man had been strategically placed there as the next best option to try to reach the hardened hearts of those He longed to save. Although they had pushed Jesus out of their presence, Jesus knew that this blind man would be able to say and do things on His behalf that could initially get past the resistance these leaders had formed against Jesus Himself. The actions and words of this blind man once healed would act as an overwhelming testimony to convey the very message that Jesus was trying to convey about God that they would no longer allow Him to deliver personally.

Jesus says as much in verse 3 when He answers His disciple's question about the blind man by stating that this man had been foreordained to be there and available for Jesus for this very moment. Since the Jews had refused to believe Jesus or to allow Him to display the works of God among them, Jesus turned to this blind man to display the works of God for the same purpose. Even though He was willing to respect the prejudiced hostility against Him by the Jews, He was ready to use the service of another person who did not yet have such prejudice blocking his access into their midst.

In verse 4 Jesus tells His disciples that we must work the works of Him who sent Jesus into the world. The works of God are to reveal in every way possible the truth about what God is really like and how He really feels toward His children despite all the lies circulating about Him. God is seeking anyone and everyone to work His works in order to reach as many as possible in every way possible to reconcile them back into a trusting fellowship with Him.

If we refuse and resist the works of God from one direction, God is ready to come at us from another direction through another venue or person until we either give in to His loving entreaties and let go of our confused resistance to His love, or we so steel our hearts against Him that we destroy all capacity to receive and return love forever. But it is never God who runs out of patience and suddenly turns into a vindictive judge out to punish evil-doers, it is our own sin and hardness of heart that brings on the ultimate sad fate of the lost upon their own lives. God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are ever and will always be in the business of reconciliation and redemption. But they also believe in freedom as the only atmosphere in which true love can thrive so they do everything possible to bring us into that relationship of love unless we make it impossible for them to do any more, or we surrender and are drawn fully into that love. The choice is always ours.