Friday, November 03, 2017

Fifth Sign

There was a common belief among the Jews in Jesus’ day, that personal misfortune (poverty, handicap, or disability) was God’s punishment for a person’s sin. And, in the case of a man born blind, there was the possibility that it was punishment for the parent’s sin. (Apparently, no one read the Scripture where God told one of his prophets that he did not consider the parent’s sin when dealing with children, or the children’s sin when dealing with the parents. He dealt with each person individually, with their behavior alone.)

So, given this belief, when the disciples see a man born blind, they ask a seemingly natural question: Who sinned?

One might think Jesus would quote the prophet I mentioned above. Rather, he approaches the issue from a very different direction. He said the man was blind so God could reveal his glory.

Jesus spat on the ground, mad mud, and dabbed the mud in the man’s eyes. He told the man to wash his face in a particular pool. When the man did, he could see.

So, now we have an interesting situation. If a blind man washes mud from his eyes, and afterward, he can see, that must be an act of God. But, a Jewish teacher had used that exact scenario as an example of not keeping the Sabbath. (When Jesus healed the man, it happened to be on the Sabbath.)

So, according to the Jewish leaders point of view, a miracle was performed, that only God could do, for a man who God was punishing for his sin, through a man who was sinning by doing the miracle on the Sabbath.

No wonder they were confused!

So, the leaders call the man to investigate. They asked the man what happened. They called his parents to confirm he had been born blind.

Then, the man and the leaders have the weirdest debate of recorded history. The leaders insist that God did not work through Jesus, because he broke the Sabbath. And the man points out that only God could heal a man born blind, and God does not listen to sinners. So, if Jesus had sinned, he could not be used by God in this way.

Since, the leaders were the experts, and have all the answers, and the man posed a problem that upset their pre-conceptions, they got mad, and threw the man out.

Later, Jesus found the man, and asked him if he believed in the Son of Man, and then, identified himself as the Son of Man. And the man accepted that, and bowed to Jesus in submission.

And Jesus proclaimed that he came into the world to give sight to the blind – that is, to show people the truth. And to convince the one who think they have it all figured out, that they don’t.

Some Pharisees standing there, asked if he thought they were blind. And Jesus replied that the ignorant were held accountable. But, because they thought they held all the answers, God held them guilty.

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