As Jesus was walking along, he saw
a man who had been blind from birth. “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was
this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?” “It was not because of his sins or
his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God
could be seen in him.” (John
9:1-3)
About the only
thing a blind man could do in those days was beg for a living. But the
disciples didn’t look at the blind man so much as an object of mercy, but as a
subject for theological debate because the disciples were convinced that the
man's congenital blindness was caused by sin – either his own or his parents'.
Jesus disagreed. Now, there’s no doubt that both the man and his parents had,
at some time, committed sin, but Jesus didn’t see their sin as the cause of the
man’s blindness.
The ensuing miracle
of Jesus giving this man his sight, however, led to a big problem:
identification. Was this really the blind guy, and if so, who made him see?
First the neighbors asked the man how he was healed, and then the Pharisees
asked him. Not satisfied with his answer, the Pharisees then asked the man's
parents, and then gave the son one final interrogation. But when you think
about it, all of them were really asking the wrong question. Instead of asking
“How,” they should have been asking “Who?” And they could have done that by
simply rearranging those three letters.
When asked to
describe his experience, the man simply told his questioners what had happened:
all he knew was that the man who caused him to see was called “Jesus," (because
he hadn’t actually seen him), and he didn’t know where he went. (For the same
reason) In other words, the man had been healed, but he hadn’t been saved. Now,
since the Pharisees were the FBI of the faith, it was appropriate that the
healed man be brought to them for questioning. The fact that they studied this
miracle in such detail is only further proof that Jesus actually healed the guy,
but working on the Sabbath was illegal. Therefore, anybody who broke the Sabbath
couldn’t possibly be a true prophet of God – even though this man had been
cured of his congenital blindness.
The beggar,
however, wasn’t intimidated by the Pharisees’ threats because when he was asked
who he thought Jesus was the man said, "He’s a prophet!" But the
religious leaders didn’t want to see Jesus given those lofty accolades so they
had to come up with an explanation. And the explanation they chose? Jesus must
have "switched" beggars. Now, if you’re the FBI you’ve got to get
some evidence of the big “switcharoo.” And the best way to get that kind of
evidence would be to interrogate the parents of the beggar. They should know,
right? So they called them in and asked them two questions: "Is this your
son?" and, if so, “How does he now see?" Well, the first one was a
no-brainer, but that second one was a little tricky. So, they passed the buck
and suggested that the inquisitors ask the boy himself because he was of age –
which was the Biblical equivalent of throwing their son under the bus.
Anxious to
settle the investigation, the Pharisees called the beggar in once more, but
this time they put him under oath. The problem, however, was that the court was
prejudiced from the start since they started the questioning with "We know
that this Man (referring to Jesus) is a sinner!"
In other words,
“You’d better cooperate with us or we’ll kick you out of church.” But the
beggar didn’t flinch. He’d experienced a miracle, and wasn’t about to debate
Jesus’ character. And for the fourth time he’s asked again, "How did he
open your eyes?" By this time, the man has lost his patience. I mean, he’s
been blind all of his life and there’s so much to see. He certainly didn’t want
to spend a lot of time in a courtroom looking at the faces of twelve angry men.
But the Pharisees were cautious men who considered themselves conservatives,
when in reality they were more like preservatives. At least a conservative
takes the best of the past and uses it; a preservative simply pickles it.
It seemed
incredible to the healed man that the Pharisees didn’t know who the man was
that had opened his eyes. I mean, how many people were going around Jerusalem
opening the eyes of blind people? But instead of investigating the miracle
worker, they were investigating the miracle. So, the beggar gave the experts a
lesson in practical theology: if Jesus healed a man born blind (which had never
happened before), how could Jesus be a sinner? But religious bigots don’t want
to face either evidence or logic, so they accused the witness of being born in
sin, and then excommunicated him from the local synagogue. So much for seeking
the truth.
The good news is
that The Good Shepherd always cares for his sheep, and he knew that the man had
been excommunicated. So, he went out searching for him, and then having found him
revealed himself to him. And that’s when the real miracle happened. You see,
it’s not enough to believe that he was "a man called Jesus," or
"a prophet," or even "a man of God." Once Jesus identified himself
as the Son of God, the beggar believed and was saved. (John 9:38) And then
Jesus turned to give the Pharisees a little lesson on spiritual blindness.
You know, the
same sun that brings the beauty out of a seed also exposes the vermin under the
rock. The religious leaders were blind and wouldn’t admit it, and the light of the
truth had only made them blinder. “In them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will
be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s
heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have
closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their
ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’” (Matt.
13:14-15)
Stung by the
prophet’s words, the listening Pharisees ask, "Are we blind also?" fully
expecting Jesus to say, “No.” But Jesus had already called them "blind
leaders of the blind" (Matt 15:14), so they already had their answer. You
see, they were blinded by their pride, their self-righteousness, their
tradition and their false interpretation of the Word of God. And Jesus’ reply to
these smart guys was a paradox of epic proportion. "If you were blind, you
would be better off. But you claim to see. Therefore, you are guilty!" (John
9:40-41)
In other words,
blindness would at least be an excuse for not knowing what was going on. But
they knew what was going on because Jesus had performed so many miracles in
their presence. However, the religious leaders simply ignored the evidence so
that they could come up with a results-oriented decision that fit their
theology. In contrast, the beggar was both physically and spiritually blind,
yet both his eyes and his heart were opened. Why? Because he listened to the
Word, believed it, obeyed it, and experienced the grace of God.
The Pharisees,
on the other hand, had good physical vision, but they were blind spiritually. Had
they listened to the Word and sincerely considered the evidence, they too would
have believed on Jesus and been born again. So then, in what sense did the
Pharisees actually see? Well, they saw the change in the blind beggar and couldn’t
deny that he’d been healed. Even Nicodemus, one of their own, was impressed
with the Lord's miracles. (John 3:2) If they had simply examined the evidence
with honesty, they would have seen the truth clearly. "If anyone is
willing to do God’s will, he will know the teaching….” (John 7:17) "Yet
you refuse to come to me to receive this life.” (John 5:40)
You see, the
real crux of the problem was that the religious know-it-alls couldn’t control
Jesus. Here’s God with skin on walking among his people, and the God police are
upset because he doesn’t act the way they think he should. They say, “This man can’t
be of God. Look, he breaks the Sabbath, goes against our customs, has no
respect for our authority and doesn’t even bother to recognize our vast knowledge
of God! We know the scriptures, and our interpretations of them are the only
true way to understand God. We know God, by golly, and this man is not from God!” In other words, they thought
they had it all figured out, and had put God in the prison of their own
understanding.
We should never
become so tied down to our own beliefs that we are blind to see how God is
working in the world today. The Spirit of God is alive and well, and he is all
around us, whether we accept it or not. And whether we believe it or not, God
is moving in our lives. So, who are we to tell him what he should be doing? All
we can do is stand back in awe and wonder at his magnificence.
We never meet
this healed beggar again. And while being excommunicated from the synagogue was
certainly a painful experience for him, he found in his fellowship with Jesus
far more spiritual help and encouragement than he could have ever have found in
his Jewish traditions, or even church for that matter. Now I’m all for church,
but Christ died for a relationship, not a religion. And if our “religion”
blinds us to the person of Jesus, then, as the great Biblical commentator,
Matthew Henry, so plainly stated, there are “(n)one so blind as those who will
not see.”
So, let’s quit
switching beggars because life’s not a shell game.
Grace,
Randy
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