Seeing with Heart
It can be astonishing the lengths to which we will go to discredit others. When we don’t understand someone or something, we can try with great gusto to put others down, or to deride their stories. Such is the case in today’s gospel reading, where, instead of rejoicing in a healing, the Pharisees delve into minute details, and the story is ripped apart. How different things are when we see from our heart.John 9:1–41
Blindness and other ailments were often viewed in ancient times as punishment for sin. The disciples of Jesus and the leaders who oppose him assume this. Biblical scholar Richard Rohrbaugh speaks of an ancient custom of spitting in the presence of the blind in order to protect oneself from the “evil eye.” Jesus transforms that act of disdain into one of healing.Sabbath keeping was the most visible mark of practicing Judaism. Its weekly ritual of renewal reflected—even as it worshipped—the God who “rested” (translating the Hebrew shabath) on the seventh day of creation (Genesis 2:2). In this story, Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath creates the initial controversy (verse 16). At issue is what can or cannot be done on Sabbath. Many oral traditions had developed to provide guidance. “Kneading” was technically forbidden. Jesus’ making of mud (verse 6) could be viewed as such activity. The larger question involves Sabbath and healing. Has Jesus broken or kept the law by performing this act?
The healing creates division within the community. Neighbors divide over whether this is the same man they had known (verse 9). Pharisees divide over whether Jesus is from God, or not (verse 16). The man’s parents distance themselves from their son for fear of the religious leaders (verses 21–22). The divisions within the narrative hint at divisions between church and synagogue in the author’s time. Verse 22’s threat of expulsion from the synagogue can be heard as reflecting that later state of affairs.
The transformation of the one who is healed is not just from blindness to sight. Initially, he is a passive recipient of Jesus’ actions. The healed one becomes more active as the story goes on. By reporting what has happened, he becomes a teacher of theology to the teachers of theology. Eventually this healed one becomes a disciple of the one who healed.
The story begins with Jesus seeing this man. From that seeing comes healing. Later Jesus finds this man, and from that finding comes belief. The story does not end there. Jesus and the religious leaders speak. On the surface, Jesus’ words levy judgment. The leaders’ presumption of seeing is interpreted as indication of sin (verse 41). But is that not where the text began? Did Jesus not heal and restore sight to one presumed to be a sinner? The text leaves it open as to whether these leaders, and the rest of us, may yet find healing.
Connecting scripture and life
A couple was living in a small, remote community on the west coast of Vancouver Island. One day the community was rocked by the news of a single woman’s suicide. Some time later, the couple were relating the story to some relatives. “The worst thing is,” one of them said, “we just learned the woman was a Christian. If only we’d known that sooner, we could have befriended her.”
- What is the challenge for us, as individuals and as the church, in this story? in the story about the one born blind?
- In what ways might love be calling you, individually and as the church, to revisit and perhaps reinterpret some of the established ways of doing things, in order that God’s love might prevail?
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