3rd Friday of Lent (March 13). One thing I do know

Prepare to Listen.  The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
 
Prayerfully Read John 9:24-34
24So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God!  We know that this man is a sinner.”  25He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner.  One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”  26They said to him, “What did he do to you?  How did he open your eyes?”  27He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen.  Why do you want to hear it again?  Do you also want to become his disciples?”  28Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.  29We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.”  30The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing!  You do not know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.  31We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will.  32Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.  33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”  34They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?”  And they drove him out.
 
Prayerfully Wonder
Jesus healed a man born blind on the sabbath and people were talking.  The Pharisees heard them and interrogated the man.  He politely told his story.  But when they questioned him a second time, he was sarcastic, and refused to change his story to suit their beliefs about Jesus.
 
Their angry demand, “Give glory to God!” was another way of saying, tell the truth.  But they didn’t want the truth.  They insisted Jesus wasn’t from God.  He was a sinner, incapable of giving sight to the blind.  The man’s story was false.  The once blind man would not submit to their attempts to change his story.  He didn’t know if Jesus was a sinner or not, but, “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”  He refused to be bullied into rejecting his new sight to suit the Pharisees’ blindness.  The result was harsh.  “And they drove him out.”
 
One thing I do know.  The Pharisees tried to make him change his mind.  It happens today when leaders, political or religious, distort reality to suit their desires and ideologies.  They tell us we didn’t really see what we know we did see and experience.  They want us to believe their distortions.  The former blind man stuck to what he knew from his experience.  It convinced him that Jesus was of God.  He boldly challenged his leaders to turn towards the truth, and accept that Jesus was from God.  They wouldn’t change.
 
What caught your attention in this story?  What one thing do you know and how does it help you stand on the side of truth?
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord Jesus, help me stick to what I know is the truth, resisting those who seek to distort events so that people believe their lies.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Stand firm on what you know is true.