The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1

What are the Odds?

I'm taking a required statistics class this summer.  Now, anyone who knows me even a little bit knows that math and I are not friends, and that I view math as a terrible thing, on par with natural disaster, to do to a summer!  However, even though I know absolutely nothing about statistics, and am sure that I have a summer of hard work ahead of me, I'm not stressing about this math class even half as much as I did about the algebra class I had to take last summer.  Why not?  Because through that algebra class, I got to know the instructor.  I found him to be one of those rare math-brained people who is compassionate toward non-math-brained dunderheads like me!  He is an instructor who patiently explains each step, is also willing to explain again during his office hours or in e-mail, and offers many practice assignments for extra credit for those who(ahem) really need it.  Knowing the teacher, not the subject matter, is the source of my peace.

            In John 9, when the man who had been born blind received his sight, it created an uproar among the Pharisees and leaders of the synagogue.  They were troubled because the healing had taken place on the Sabbath which they understood to be a day of rest, and wasn't this a work?  How could this Healer be from God if He didn't keep the Sabbath in the way they believed it should be kept? And so they questioned the formerly blind man about receiving his sight.

He answered and said, "A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed, and I received sight."  vs. 11

This simple answer didn't satisfy them, so they interrogated the man's parents.  Was this seeing man really their son who had been born blind?  Yes, he was, but for fear of themselves being thrown out of the temple, they referred the religious leaders back to their son for the details of how this had come about.  Again the Pharisees questioned the healed man, pressing him to explain how the Man had healed him, and from where the Man had received the power to do so.

I told you already, and you did not listen.  Why do you want to hear it again?  Do you also want to become His disciples?  vs 27.  Why, this is a marvelous thing that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes!  Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.  Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.  If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing. "  vss. 30-33

This man whose eyes had been opened didn't understand the biological mechanics of how the Man called Jesus gave him sight, nor did he understand how the Pharisees could view this marvelous healing as a bad thing.  In fact, biology and men's doctrines didn't matter to him at all.  What did matter was that he could see, and he knew God well enough to know that this Healer had come from Him!

Later, after the Pharisees kicked the man out of the temple for what they perceived as arrogance, Jesus came to him and offered a further explanation of Himself as the Son of God.  The man's response?

            Then he said, "Lord I believe!" And he worshiped Him. vs. 38

            What are the odds that, upon becoming a believer, this man suddenly came to an understanding of all of the biology and theology behind his healing?  Well, I don't know enough about statistics to even begin to guess at that, but I'm thinking the chance is mighty slim.  However, just like me with my good-hearted math instructor, this man came to know the Teacher, and that was peace enough.

Daye Phillippo

May 2011