Last week we saw, in John 8, Jesus take the name for himself that God had given for himself to Moses, “I am”. It is a very interesting word. While names are nouns, that particular name is actually a verb. Not only that, but it is a verb in the first person singular imperfect tense. This means it is an action of God that was in the past, is in the presence and will continue to be in the future. God is, by this very phrase, eternal and eternally moving and active.
But, the Pharisees that we see in John 9 are not modeled in that image. They are, at a best, a snapshot. They see their adherence to the law as a trophy, something to be layered and polished and protected and placed up on a shelf. Each day they take it down to apply another coat of lacquer to harden it and make it shine. They buff it and show it off.
The it, of course, is their heart and their faith. What they see as a beautiful trophy, Jesus sees as a stone. What they have polished, Jesus sees as calloused from rubbing. What they see as gold plated, Jesus sees as dead and rotting on the inside.
They don’t move. They don’t dance. They don’t rejoice and give thanks. They don’t scream amen and hallelujah. They are proper. They are refined. They are pillars of the community and the tabernacle. They are upright and admired.
God is not a statue. Man has made plenty of statue gods and our God despises them all. Being like God is not a trophy, it is not hard and polished. Being like God is being alive and active, or more importantly, being flexible and loving and desiring to have His spirit move and shake and dance and serve and sweat and hug and cry with others through us.
When you read the list of character qualities you answer on #14 – Don’t polish them and put them on a shelf. Our God is alive!
My Answers:
12.
a.
Jesus returns to him after he was exited from the temple and revealed himself to be the Son of Man, the man accepted Jesus as his Lord and gave him the ability to see.
b.
Lord, I believe. Thank you, Jesus!
13.
The pharisees had access to the scriptures, they should have seen, but they refused to look with the power of the Holy Spirit. They rejected Jesus from entering their hearts because they were hard and inflexible. To be flexible would be to admit they were wrong and that would have lowered their stature and self-worth.
14.
Compassion, creator, healer, wise, just
The Notes are Good 
Please note the new email address : terrylsemple@gmail.com.
Thank you. Mrs Terry Semple
“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. ” Colossians 4:6 😇