Theology 102

Theology 102

1 . John , the writer of the fourth gospel saw miracles as signs of the kingdom of God . H e included 8 or these :- the turning of water to wine at the wedding in Cana ( John 3 v 1 -11 , the healing of the Capernaum nobleman 's son ( John 4 v 46 -54 , the healing of the lame man (Chapter 5 ,the feeding of the 5 ,000 ( Chapter 6 v 1-15 , Jesus walking on water ( chapter 6 v 17 -21 )the healing of the blind man Chapter 9 , the raising of Lazarus

from the dead (Chapter 11 ) and the miraculous catch of fishes ( Chapter 21

In the healing of the blind man , someone blind from birth becomes the subject of a discussion about sin . Jesus cures his blindness by anointing him . Some of the crowd could not believe the evidence of their eyes . The Pharisees were so blind that they could only see the miracle as a breaking of the law rather than something of God and so as having positive value . The man answers them in verse 25 `One thing I know that , whereas I was blind , now I see ' and in verse 33 ' `If this man were not of God he could do nothing

Although there are many healings of the blind recorded in the gospels this is the only instance mentioned by John . In verse 5 we have the famous words ` I am the light of the world , but these are preceded by another phrase `As long as I am in the world . This hints at two things - firstly that Christ 's earthly ministry will not last for ever , but there is also the implication , although subtle , that perhaps others will be called upon to spread light - he was speaking directly to his disciples at the time . In John 8 v 12 Jesus says `I am the light of the world , he that follows me shall not walk in darkness ' This theme of light , much more important than the healing of this one man , is present right at the beginning of John 's story - John 1 v 4 and 5 `In him was life an d the life was the light of men . And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not ' The idea of passing on this message was obviously important to John . In his first letter , I John I v 3 he says `that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you

2 . As in many other fictional works such as `The Tales of Narnia ' by C .S Lewis and even the Harry Potter books by J .K .Rowling the `Star Wars movies depict a battle between good an devil . A similar battle is described in the Book of Revelation between the forces of darkness and light . In Revelations 11 v 15 we have the victory call :-

There were great voices in heaven , saying , the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord...