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Tuesday, March 31st
John 9:18-41
The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them 'Is this son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?' His parents answered, 'We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.' His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus* to be the Messiah* would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, 'He is of age; ask him.' 2So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, 'Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.' He answered, 'I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.' They said to him, 'What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?' He answered them, 'I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?' Then they reviled him, saying, 'You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.' The man answered, 'Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but God does listen to one who worships God and obeys God's will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.' They answered him, You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?' And they drove him out.
Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, 'Do you believe in the Son of Man?'* He answered, 'And who is he, sir?* Tell me, so that I may believe in him.' Jesus said to him, 'You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.' He said, 'Lord,* I believe.' And he worshipped him. Jesus said, 'I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.' Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, 'Surely we are not blind, are we?' Jesus said to them, 'If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, "We see", your sin remains.
At this point, don't you want to simply say, "Give it a rest!"? Talk about being hard headed! How many times does the blind man have to tell the story of how he was healed? They were not going to believe, and his frustration at the persistent interrogation was evident. We see the pattern continue here of taking things that are difficult to comprehend or understand, and attempting to dismiss them, and even extinguish them. People were afraid, persecution was under way. If they professed belief in Jesus as the Messiah, they were being put out of the synagogue.
The parallel today is so clear. How many stories have we heard of people "put out" of their churches because they've professed who they really are, whether LGBT, divorced, living with a partner unmarried by law, or any number of other things we can think of. How fearful are we, that if we tell the truth of God's love for all, if we minister to those that do not "fit in" or fulfill our expectations of who they should be, that we too will be expelled? May we challenge ourselves today, to consider Roman's 10:13, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. May we refuse to be like the religious leaders of that day, and even some of this day, and walk boldly, proclaiming God's love for all. kdd
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