He was blind. Born blind.
The disciples wanted to debate. “Was it his sin or his parent’s sin?
The Pharisees wanted to blame. “You filthy sinner.”
Jesus wanted to reveal the works of God.
After he was healed…
His parents, in fear, wanted to deny.
The Pharisees still wanted to blame and ostracized. “ How dare Jesus heal on the Sabbath.”
Jesus wanted to save.
Yesterday, I did something dumb. I disagreed with someone on Facebook. Ugh. I know better. But reading this story this morning reminded of that incident. You see, the post was about education.
I love teaching. I have absolutely no desire to teach in Christian schools. I feel called to public schools. So when someone makes an outlandish claim about public schools, I find it necessary to comment. Y’all pray for me.
But in that moment, I became like the disciples wanting to debate the Pharisees who wanted to blame. We were both wrong. We should be like Jesus and desire to reveal the works of God in public schools.
Let me tell you a secret, in 23 years of teaching, I have yet to have a student come to me in distress because of the teachings of Marxism, Socialism, BLM, or CRT. Not once. So maybe, all of that is a distraction. Maybe all of that is to stir up the Pharisee in us and get us into debate, blame, and fear.
Let me tell you what I think Jesus would want us to pray:
For the child whose parents are putting him in the middle of their divorce and he is contemplating suicide.
For the student who got the word during lunch that his step mom had died and he doesn’t know how to process his feelings.
For the young man whose friend was killed at NCCU and is struggling with grief.
For the young woman whose friend committed suicide while away at college and she is mourning.
For the kid whose grandma died and the family is in turmoil.
For the young woman who was struggling academically but had to miss school because she contracted Covid.
For the children feeling the pressure from parents to perform better not considering their returning from a pandemic.
For teachers like me, who are helping kids navigate through these tragedies and heartaches (all of the stories above of are true and occurred this academic school year) while dealing with our own pain and uncertainty.
For children who are going to bed hungry and/or homeless.
For children who are bullied and feel unloved and unsafe.
For kids who have suffered such trauma, it has left them speechless and confused about their gender and ethnicity (true story).
For teens who have to get their siblings ready for school because their parent work third shift to support the family.
For the child who has to work because he is the only bread winner in the family.
For kids to feel loved and protected when they enter the halls to matriculate.
For kids to feel the love of God in such a powerful and profound way, revival will start in schools around the nation.
I think these are the prayers Jesus would pray. Will you join me in praying over your child’s school or your community school?
“Lord let your will be done in the school system. Protect and care for our children and their teachers. Keep us safe from danger. Heal the hearts of our students. Send teachers and counselors to speak words of encouragement and prophetic words over student’s lives. Give the adults in their lives discernment to see when something is awry and wisdom to heal it. Send resources to help feed kids who are hungry. Heal our schools, oh Lord. Amen.”
“Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.”
John 9:1-3 NKJV