Saturday, December 27, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: John 8-10
- Secondary Reading: Psalms 149
Key Verse
John 9:13 — “They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind.”
Devotional Thought
It is the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, winter, and Jesus walks in Solomon’s porch. The city still glows with the memory of the Maccabees’ rededication of the temple, and into that festival of light comes the Light of the world Himself. John 8 opens with a woman dragged into the temple courts and set in the midst, her accusers quoting Moses while secretly baiting Jesus. He stoops and writes on the ground, then rises with the words that emptied the court: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” One by one they leave, the eldest first. Left alone with her, Jesus speaks neither stone nor dismissal, but mercy and command together: “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”
From that scene He declares, “I am the light of the world,” and the debates that follow are sharp and searching. The Pharisees challenge His testimony; He answers that the Father bears witness with Him. He tells them plainly, “Before Abraham was, I am,” and they take up stones. Yet He passes through their midst and, in chapter 9, stops before a man blind from birth. The disciples ask whose sin caused the blindness; Jesus answers that it was neither his nor his parents’, “but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” He spits, makes clay, anoints the man’s eyes, and sends him to wash in the pool of Siloam. The man returns seeing.
What follows is one of the most moving interrogations in Scripture. Neighbors doubt, parents equivocate out of fear of being put out of the synagogue, and the Pharisees press the healed man again and again. His simple testimony stands: “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.” For that, they cast him out. Jesus finds him and asks, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” He answers, “Lord, I believe,” and worships. Then comes the shepherd discourse: “I am the door”; “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” The sheep know His voice; He calls them by name and leads them out.
In the days after Christmas, when the decorations begin to come down and the year exhales, these chapters hold up a steady lamp. The Christ who was laid in a manger is the same who stooped in the dust before an adulteress, who knelt to make clay for blind eyes, who claims to be the very door of the sheepfold. He is no distant king but a Shepherd who knows His sheep by name, who lays down His life of Himself, and who offers life “more abundantly.” Psalm 149 calls the saints to sing a new song, to rejoice in their Maker and King, to take pleasure in the One who takes pleasure in His people. The healed man’s worship in John 9 is that new song in miniature. Whatever darkness this winter holds for us, the Light still shines, the Shepherd still calls, and mercy still says, Go, and sin no more.
Reflection
- The healed man could not explain everything about Jesus, but he could say, “Whereas I was blind, now I see.” What has God plainly done in your life that you can testify to, even when you cannot answer every question others raise?
- Jesus told the woman, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more,” holding mercy and holiness together. Where might you be tempted to separate what Christ joined—either excusing sin or withholding grace—and how does His voice as Shepherd correct you?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, Light of the world and good Shepherd, we thank Thee that Thou didst stoop to write in the dust, that Thou didst make clay for blind eyes, and that Thou dost call Thy sheep by name. We confess that we have walked in darkness and gone astray, each to his own way. Forgive us, as Thou didst forgive the woman in the midst, and send us out to sin no more. Open our eyes to see Thee clearly, unstop our ears to know Thy voice, and keep us following Thee through the winter days until we dwell in Thy house forever. Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 149:1 — “Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.”