35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out (the blind man) and when he found him, he said, 'Do you believe in the Son of Man?'
36 'Who is he, sir?' the man asked. 'Tell me so that I may believe in him.'
37 Jesus said, 'You have no seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.'
38 Then, the man said, 'Lord, I believe,' and he worshipped him.
39 Jesus said, 'For judgment I have come into the this world (or cosmos, in Greek - universe), so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.'
40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, 'What? Are we blind too?'
41 Jesus said, 'If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.'
I came across this episode in my devotions this morning, and I wondered if there are any more difficult passages in John. Here are the difficulties:
1. Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath, which was a great difficulty for the Pharisees who would preach to Jesus not heeding 'God's word.' There is a tasty irony with this.
2. The blind man has been thrown out of the presence of the religiocracy for presuming to 'lecture' the Pharisees about theology. (9:30-33) His new found 'sight' has given him courage.
3. Vs. 38 is not in some early manuscripts.
4. Vs. 39 is very confusing from the original language, and beautiful at the same time. A better way of translating (in my opinion) would be ... 'so that those who can't understand will understand, and those that think they understand will become blind to understanding.'
5. What are the Pharisees blind to?
6. This is a great twist of phrasing by Jesus: If you were physically blind, you would not be guilty because you wouldn't have seen me. But because you claim that you understand, your sin sticks with you.
Let's give these difficulties a shot. I am no master at Greek, but the text speaks so well to us when we use it in this passage.
Much of the difficulty that comes from understanding the Pharisees is that we don't have a Christian group like them in the 21st century. Or do we? The Pharisees believe in rigid, fundamentalist reading of scriptures and of course their own interpretations. In order to be in a right relationship with God, every jot and tittle must be followed. There were so many idiosyncrasies, that no one in their right (or wrong) mind would be able to memorize and follow them unless they simply ceased to live. Because Jesus healed this person on the Sabbath, one of the most pre-scripted commandments given, he was considered guilty of breaking the commandment. Unbeknownst to the unbelievers, the Word of God was accused of not fulfilling the written word. At the end of the previous chapter, Jesus, after claiming to be part of the creation process before Abraham, is given a death sentence and stones are picked up. Pharisees are always trying to kill Jesus.
There are certain groups of 21st century Christian Pharisees who are so incredibly bent on following the rules, they actually miss the point of their own religion. You've probably heard these before: "Make sure you stay 'pure' before marriage, because if not..." "Make sure that you tithe to the church, because if you do not, you are making an idol out of money, and then..." "Make sure that you respect your elders, go to church on Sunday, don't kill unless you are in the blessed-by-God military; no stealing, lying, coveting - because if you do, you'll go to..."
Heaven's sakes. It's no wonder Jesus gets frustrated with most of religiocracy and offends them time and time again for their spiritual blindness. It's not as if the commandments are a bad thing - quite the opposite actually, they are the perfect tool for understanding life in relationship with God and community - but they have no use in truly seeing (understanding) what God is all about. When Jesus heals the blind man on the Sabbath, it is in response to the blindness of the disciples who still believe that physical ailments are punishments by God on an unbelieving world. "No," Jesus responds, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him!' (John 9:3)
The blindness, our true lack of vision in life for God, is only removed by an encounter with Jesus, not an interview with the Law. The love and mercy of God in Christ Jesus stands in stark contrast with the unforgiveness and dis-grace that the Law can bring, and when the man who was once blind asks the truth to be revealed, Jesus responds, 'That day is here. You have seen him and recognize him - right here, right now in front of you - before your eyes!"
How difficult that is for Pharisees. To have their whole world of power, privilege and prestige crumble before them by the words of the visible Son of Man! Is it not the same for us? Inside all believers is an inner Do-It-Yourself-Christian that sits like a tiny gold idol in the shape of ourselves near the throne of our hearts. It is painful to give all power and dominion to God - to believe and worship, right then and there. When we encounter Jesus and his word, we are released from our spiritual blindness! And we see and understand!
This scripture is so much less about the man-who-was-once-blind (especially if you read it in some of the early manuscripts where vs. 38 is not there) and so much more about the walking Word of God standing in the midst and confronting all of our unbelief that keeps us blind. And we still hold desperately to that blindness because it seems so much easier to try to keep the Law than to hand the Law back to God.
Now that we have understood, it's time to give up our spiritual blindness. In the midst of spiritual sight, new, hesitant steps can be made going forward. It's almost like learning to walk again. Once you have your sight, everything changes.
God bless you as you believe and worship the one who brings sight back to the world!
No comments:
Post a Comment