Interrupted by Jesus

This is our Sunday teaching by our Central Site Pastor, Gaby Ledger. Recorded live at our Sunday Service in Harris Academy Purley, Croydon on Sunday 2nd August, 2026. 

Talk Summary - Interrupted by Jesus

In John 9, Jesus meets a man who has been blind from birth. Everyone knows him as “the blind beggar.” His condition has become his identity—not simply something he experiences, but the defining story others tell about him.

We can live under labels too.

Perhaps ours come from failure, rejection or pain: the one who dropped out, the one who was cheated on, the one who cannot get their life together. Sometimes the labels sound positive: the strong one, the successful one, the dependable Christian. But even flattering identities can conceal our wounds, fears and need for Jesus.

Jesus describes himself as “the light of the world.” He comes not only to help those who know they are blind, but also to reveal the blindness we cannot yet see.

Yet the man’s healing begins strangely. Jesus makes mud, spreads it across his eyes and tells him to wash in the pool of Siloam. Before things become clearer, they apparently become worse.

Sometimes healing feels like spit and mud.

We expect Jesus to make us immediately stronger, more comfortable and more in control. Instead, he may ask us to surrender: to release a grudge, relinquish the victim’s story, seek help, admit our need or let go of an identity we have carried for years. We may wonder why following him seems to have made everything messier.

But the mud is not the end of the story.

The man obeys Jesus, washes and returns able to see. His healing requires a step of trust before he has any evidence that it will work.

Jesus still invites us to “go and wash”—to reject the labels that have defined us and receive the identity he gives. Galatians 4 tells us: “You are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.”

We may not immediately feel free, forgiven or secure. But we can begin by praying what is true:

Father, I am not a slave to my past, my fear or the labels placed upon me. I am your child. Help me surrender my old identity and live today in the peace, strength and promises you have given me.

Jesus is still the light of the world. He still restores sight—and he still tells us who we truly are.