Is that Your Boy?

John 9

One of the most horrible, nastiest, awful, and yes, evil things a person can do is to imply that a sickness or death happen to a person or family because of the sins of that person or their parents.  Case in point is found in John chapter nine and this is the question that was ask of Jesus by his own disciples; “As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.  And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

Put yourself in the place of the parents or the blind man who has only known darkness and it has been whispered and you heard the whispers, it was your fault or your parents fault for being blind, but now Jesus has stated clearly to his disciples that is not true, but it was so God’s works might be displayed, and you are that blind man, wondering and waiting, but also full of joy for it has been said for all to hear, it’s not my fault, it is not my parents fault!

And Jesus spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and placed it on the blind man’s eyes and said, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” and he went and washed and came back seeing.  It’s time to give a party; it’s time to give praise to the Most High God!  That is not what happened, and why, because it was done on the Sabbath and the religious guys had rules and that guy Jesus had once again broken the rules. You and I may wonder, how could the Pharisees not see the joy of the man who had been blind and give praise to God, could it be they were the ones who were blind?

This is the report, the Pharisees kept asking the man how he got his sight, and he said for the third or fourth time, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”  Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”  But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?”  And there was a division among them.”  What happened next is the religious guys began to say we have been conned this guy just looks like the blind guys so they called the parents to witness, and ask is this your boy?  And they answered yes, he is our son, but we do not know how he got his sight or who did it.   You see mom and dad were in good standing at the neighborhood synagogue and the word was out if you were following this Jesus, you’re out of here.  And unlike today when you could just go a block to another church, the synagogue was the only game in town; it was the only place for social and spiritual growth and enjoyment. 

So after the parents said he is our boy and he can tell you what happened, they called him back for the second time and said to him, “Give glory to God.  We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know.  One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”  Now these religious guys kept asking questions of the man who had been blind and this is his last reply before they kicked him out of the synagogue; “The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.  We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.  If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.”

Some have ask, why do you hate religion so much, this should be a good answer, it is evil, but that is not the end of the story; Jesus once more found the man who had been blind and ask this question of him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”  Who is he, sir?” the man asked.  “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”  Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking to you.”  Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.”  My prayer is that if you are blinded by rules and traditions you will do what the man who was born blind did.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice