5

5

In principle that is what the two disciples saw in chapter 1. But

where is He in this chapter 9?

He is in the outside place; He is outside the camp. We are

exhorted, “let us go forth to him without the camp, bearing his

reproach”, Hebrews 13: 13. In chapter 8 of John the Lord was

under great reproach, it says, “They took up therefore stones

that they might cast them at him” (John 8: 59)—outside, He

was totally rejected and opposed. It says, Jesus “went out of

the temple, going through the midst of them, and thus passed

on”. The Lord is outside; outside the camp; that is where the

Lord is publicly now. “If anyone serve me, let him follow me;

and where I am, there also shall be my servant”. That includes

being outside the camp.

Just as the Lord was under reproach and opposed in chapter

8, this man had the same experience of being under reproach,

and opposed. The Lord, in chapter 8, was an embarrassment

to these religious people; in chapter 9 the man became an

embarrassment.

They took up stones to cast at Jesus in chapter 8, and the

Jews cast this man out in chapter 9, and he found where the

Lord was, “Where I am”, outside of all religious pretension; he

was where the Man called Jesus was.

It says, “And they cast him out. Jesus heard that they had cast

him out”. The Lord is absent in all these verses; the man never

saw Jesus because he was blind, but he was obedient; he had

a personal experience, and he is faithful to his impression of

the Man called Jesus; he stands in testimony, resolutely, then

he is cast out, and Jesus heard that they had cast him out.

“And having found him”; the Lord found him where He was,

outside the camp. Hebrews speaks in chapter

10 of the holiest, inside; that would correspond with chapter 1,

what the two experienced; they would be in principle inside the

veil. This man is outside the camp bearing the reproach of the