There’s just so much I enjoy about the ninth chapter of John’s gospel. It’s rich in characters: a young man who has his life so radically changed that he can get snarky with the religious authorities, religious authorities who are so set in their ways they couldn’t recognize God’s actions if they bit them in the butt, a set of parents so afraid of ostracism they’re ready to throw their formerly disabled son under the bus, some bystanders who don’t believe in miracles even when they see one, and the usual clueless disciples. Also Jesus.
Anytime I write or speak on John Chapter 9 I feel I have to reference the disciples’ classic question in verse 2:
“Rabbi, who sinned—this man or his parent—that he was born blind?”
The disciples have concluded that being born blind has to suck. Admittedly, blindness has its drawbacks. Being a sighted person, however, I may be making a judgment about something I don’t know anything about. If you’re born blind, it’s just part of who you are and how you roll. But, the disciples think because this poor guy has to sit on the street corner with his Solo cup in hand asking for spare change that God must be mad at him or his folks for something. It must be comforting for the disciples—and for the rest of us, too—to think there’s a reason for everything.
In this story the Pharisees are again cast in the role of the bad guys, and they really live up to it. In fact, I think their behavior here in John 9 is a quintessential example of what it is to be real dumb-assed jerks.
So how do these Pharisees see the world? These guys have such a rigid world view that nothing can shake them. Jesus can’t be holy because a truly holy person would observe the Law of Moses and never do any kind of work on the Sabbath. Period. Forget compassion. Forget mercy. The law is the law, and they are its smug and self-righteous guardians.
This makes me ask: what absolutes might we believe? Every word of Scripture is divinely inspired and literally true. All abortion is wrong. There is but one true expression of the Christian faith. Male homosexuals are all pedophiles. Women are not as smart as men. Every American should have the right to own a firearm. My brother-in-law is selfish? Big business is out to screw you. Foreigners sponge off our country. Everybody should pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Some people never change. Everything is their fault.
Conservative or progressive, rich or poor, Black or white, we all have ideas in our heads which we think are unshakable. We think we see it all clearly, but maybe we don’t. And sometimes we just need to surrender. That’s what repentance is—changing our minds. Admitting there’s another way to look at things. Remember, the 18th century ship captain John Newton once believed it was okay to transport Africans to the New World as slaves, but God opened his eyes to the truth. In return, Newton, who went blind in later life, wrote the poem which became the lyrics for “Amazing Grace:”
“I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind, but now I see.”
Is there a place in your life open to mystery? Or a place in your heart open to change? Can you accept you might be wrong?
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that this Lent is meaningful and brings you a new vision. May you see differently as if looking through the eyes of Jesus.
