EXALTING BROKEN PEOPLE

Jesus often taught that He would exalt those who humble themselves by confessing their sins and acknowledging their need of the mercy of God:

·       Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11; 18:14)

I have been encouraged to see many examples of this. As a probation officer and also as a teacher at homeless shelters, I have been honored to work with broken people, knowing that our Lord can and does exalt even the lowest (Daniel 4:17).

However, when we look at the broken and the infirmed, we don’t see their God-given glory. Even Jesus’ disciples had been unable to see it. They had the same elitist beliefs as the Pharisees, and they demonstrated this in many ways. If someone had wealth, learning, or status, they were sure that it was because they were morally superior and deserved such blessings. They were also convinced that those who lacked these things were morally inferior and undeserving. Therefore, they asked Jesus:

·       “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. (John 9:1-3)

The disciples were convinced that the blind man received what he deserved. Instead, there was another purpose for his brokenness. Jesus healed him, and this caused such confusion among the crowd that they brought him to the Pharisees, who dismissed the possibility that the man who had healed him could have been from God, since Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. Finally, they asked the healed man what he thought about the Healer. He answered, “He is a Prophet” (9:17). The Pharisees found this answer unacceptable, and they called his parents, who affirmed that this man was their son and had been born blind. However, they still were unable to accept the fact that he had been healed, and so they again asked the former blind man to repeat his account, hoping to find some flaw in it. However, this lowly man responded with great wisdom, far surpassing that of the Pharisees:

·       The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out. (John 9:30-34)

What a display of arrogance! They reviled the man and cast him out of the synagogue. Why? Because he dared to correct the Pharisees! Through this lowly man, God had humbled the proud. He also exalted the humble.

Afterwards, Jesus found the formerly blind man, revealed Himself to him, and he worshipped Jesus, even though it was in the presence of some of the Pharisees. What courage from a “degraded” man “born in utter sin!”

Jesus concluded with one of His difficult sayings:

·       “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains. (John 9:39-41)

What form did this judgment take? He humbled the proud and exalted the humble. Because many of the Pharisees had gladly exalted themselves above all others, they would never humble themselves before Jesus and even the many evidences of His divinity. Therefore, their “guilt remains.”

We are all broken people, but our Lord has an encouraging message for the broken:

·       The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. (Psalm 34:18-19)

Would God have been as close to us had we not been broken? I doubt it. I would not have been exalted had I not been humbled to the point of utter brokenness. Instead, had God blessed me in my prior prideful state, it would have convinced me that I was blessed because I deserved it more than others.

I therefore tell my students that they do not need have two PHDs to interpret Scripture correctly. The true blessing of wisdom comes from God, and, on many occasions, I have marveled at the sight of this.