Recognition
Day 679, Sunday, June 21
John Chapters 9 – 10
Why do some people see what others do not?
I’ve always been in awe of people who can compose music. When I hear music, it makes sense. The sounds work together like they’ve always been meant for each other. Words seem natural like they were meant to be. But arranging those sounds and words out of nothing is just not the way my brain works; it’s like the composer of music sees things I don’t.
Creative endeavors like composing music result from a combination of gift and grit. Recognizing what can be is a gift. Crafting that recognition so that others can see it too takes work and uses skills that can be learned.
Today’s reading is about recognizing and responding.
It begins with a healing story of a man born blind. You would think that a dramatic healing like that would be the end of the story, but it’s really just the beginning.
What John really wants to communicate is the reactions to the healing. The man, his neighbors, his parents and the Pharisees all have different responses. Seeing, it seems, requires more than having eyes that work properly. Sight is a gift. Seeing is a choice.
In 9:39 Jesus says, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” The judgment is not based on who can see, but on who will see. A couple of verses later Jesus tells the Pharisees, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”
Jesus continues talking about recognizing—and not recognizing—with the familiar image of the sheep and their shepherd. “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
Jesus does the work of the shepherd with us. He protects, defends and leads. Mostly, though, he is simply present, calm and reassuring in a world of turmoil.

Sunday meditation

Psalms 147:1-9
Praise the Lord.
How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.
Sing to the Lord with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp.
He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call.

Prayer focus
Savior, like a shepherd lead us.

-Rev. Mark Fleming