Our series during Ordinary time will explore the revelation of God’s Kingdom through his Son. We will look specifically how the incarnation—the ministry, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ—reveals the long-promised Kingdom of God breaking into human history demonstrating God’s love, destroying the powers that ravaged creation, and displaying the Messiah’s promise (to continue reading this essay, click on image above).

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YOUR KINGDOM COME
Pastoral Resources | 2025-26 Themes At-A-Glance

Week 15: Lent — The Messiah Provides Sight, John 9:1–41
Jesus of Nazareth is the Light of the world, the Messiah-King who came to earth at the Father’s bidding not merely to heal us and correct physical deficiencies but, most importantly, to restore humanity’s deepest need: the ability to see, trust, and worship him. True spiritual sight is something only Christ can give as a gift of grace—to be received by the humble person who admits their natural blindness, something that will always be refused by the proud and self-sufficient. We must surrender every confidence in our own spiritual fitness and readiness to receive grace from the Messiah-King, the Light, who alone grants to the spiritually blind sight and salvation.

Our Focus Today
The King Reframes the Moral Question of Blame, John 9:1–5
When the disciples reduce the man’s blindness to a matter of personal sin, Jesus redirects the inquiry entirely, declaring that this blind man’s condition was an appointed stage for the display of God’s works, and that he himself was the Light of the world sent to illuminate it.

Invocation
Lord Jesus, Light of the world, I confess that I am too quick to explain the suffering of others by blaming them for what they did, by accusing them of receiving the just desserts for their own bad decisions and actions. Quiet my need to supply easy, pat answers for the things that I see in others’ lives and open my eyes and my spirit so I can learn from you, becoming more humble and open to what you have in mind in the lives of others, and in mine as well. Amen. 

Gloria Patri
Glory be to the Father,
And to the Son and to the Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning,
Is now, and ever shall be,
World without end. Amen, amen.

Chronological Scripture Readings for Today
These Scriptures allow us to read through the entire Bible in one year in chronological order.
Monday: 1 Sam 5-8

Psalms and Proverb for Today
These Scriptures allow us to read through the Psalms and Proverbs each month.
Monday: Psalm 9, 39, 69, 99, 129 and Proverbs 9

The King Reframes the Moral Question of Blame, John 9:1–5
When the disciples reduce the man’s blindness to a matter of personal sin, Jesus redirects the inquiry entirely, declaring that this blind man’s condition was an appointed stage for the display of God’s works, and that he himself was the Light of the world sent to illuminate it.

Reflection
In discussing the moral responsibility of who’s to blame for the blind man’s condition, Jesus refuses to allow human suffering to be reduced to a moral ledger of cause and effect. Rather, he suggested that this blind man’s situation was an appointed stage for the display of God’s divine glory. The Light of the world does not merely explain our darkness—he enters into it and transforms it. We are invited to receive our own seasons of blindness not as verdicts of condemnation but as openings for the King’s revealing work.

Engaging God’s Word Today
The disciples instinctively reached for blame as the first way to make sense of the blind man’s condition. In what areas of your own life—or in how you interpret the hardships of those around you—have you been more committed to assigning a cause to their condition than to remain open to what God might want to do through their darkness or disturbing experiences?

Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, The Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.

We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Begotten Son of God,
Begotten of the Father before all ages,
God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God,
Begotten not created, of the same essence as the Father,
through Whom all things were made.

Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven
and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary and became human.
Who for us too, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried.
The third day He rose again according to the Scriptures, ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and His kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and life-giver,
Who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
Who together with the Father and Son is worshiped and glorified.
Who spoke by the prophets.

We believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sin,
and we look for the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the age to come. Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever. Amen.

Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him all creatures here below;
Praise Him above ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Benediction
Thank you, God, that you are willing to forgive the things that we have done wrong. Forgive me for oftentimes being so quick to judge others and to make the condition of their lives the result of what they have done or should have done. Help me now to get released from the burden of blame and the anxiety of unanswered questions. The Light of the world walks with us through every appointed darkness, and you work the works of the Father until his purposes are fully displayed in our lives. Show me how to trust him, and to know that my bigotry and blindness don’t have to be the final word in anybody’s life. Amen.

Scripture Memory for this season
Matt. 11:2-6 (ESV): The Messiah’s Healing of the Sick: The Kingdom’s Compassion 
² Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples ³ and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” ⁴ And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: ⁵ the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. ⁶ And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

Scripture Engagement
As disciples of Jesus, the Churches of Christ the King strongly seek to engage the Scriptures to discover the centrality of Christ and his Kingdom in the prophetic and apostolic writings. You will find a rich treasure of resources on engaging Scripture at the Center for Scripture Engagement of Taylor University.

Books We Are Reading this Church Year, and When
• The Most Amazing Story Ever Told, Dr. Don Davis (during season of Advent)
• Get Your Pretense On, Dr. Don Davis (during season of Christmas)
• Destined for the Throne, Paul Billheimer (during season of Epiphany)
• The Presence of the Future, George Eldon Ladd (during seasons of Lent, Holy Week, Easter and Ascension)
• Thy Kingdom Come, Rev. Terry Cornett and Dr. Don Davis (during season of Ascension)
• Kingdom, Church and World, Howard Snyder (during seasons of the Coming of the Holy Spirit, Headship and Harvest)
• The Gospel of the Kingdom, George Eldon Ladd (during the seasons of Hope and Remembering the Saints, Exalting the King)

Book Reading Reflection: Destined for the Throne
(Reading “The Presence of the Future,” during season of Lent, Holy Week, and Resurrection)

“The Old Testament Promise Our earliest Gospel introduces the ministry of Jesus with the words, “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand’ ” (Mark 1:14–15). Although the burden of Jesus’ message was the Kingdom of God, he nowhere defined it. It is not recorded that anyone asked him what “the Kingdom of God” meant. He assumed that this was a concept so familiar that it did not require definition. To discover what the Kingdom of God meant to Jesus’ hearers, we must first survey the Old Testament promise and then the Jewish interpretations of that promise in the apocryphal literature. It is not our purpose to trace the history and development of this concept,1 but to analyze the prophetic hope as background for the New Testament message. Our concern is with the questions: How did Judaism interpret the Old Testament hope? What are the differences between the prophetic and the apocalyptic messages? How was Jesus’ proclamation of the Kingdom related to the prophetic and the apocalyptic traditions? Was he a prophet or an apocalyptist? Therefore, we shall attempt first to analyze the prophetic hope of the Kingdom to determine its outstanding characteristics and then to see how the apocalyptic writings modified the Old Testament hope.  

Although the expression “the Kingdom of God” does not occur in the Old Testament, the idea is found throughout the prophets.2 God is frequently spoken of as the King, both of Israel (Exod. 15:18; Num. 23:21; Deut. 33:5; Isa. 43:15) and of all the earth. (II Kings 19:15; Isa. 6:5; Jer. 46:18; Ps. 29:10; 47:2; 93; 96:10; 97:1 ff.; 99: 1–4; 145:11 ff.). Although God is now the King, other references speak of a day when he shall become King and shall rule over his people.3 This brief glimpse of the idea of God’s kingship provides the outline for the entire Old Testament concept. While God is King over all the earth, he is in a special way the King of his people, Israel. God’s rule is therefore something realized in Israel’s history. However, it is only partially and imperfectly realized. Therefore, the prophets look forward to a day when God’s rule will be fully experienced, not by Israel alone but by all the world. Our main concern is with the Kingdom of God as a hope. Indeed, Bright defines the Kingdom of God as the rule of God over his people, and particularly the vindication of that rule and people in glory at the end of history.” 

~ Ladd, George.  The Presence of the Future: The Eschatology of Biblical Realism. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids: MI, 1974. Electronic Edition, location 45.

On Eagles Wings Prayer Focus: A Long Time Comin‘
The Messiah Provides Sight, John 9:1-41

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