May 7 - Are You Trying to Teach Us?

May 7 – Are You Trying to Teach Us?

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”

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 your 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.”

So 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 he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his 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. (John 9:13-34)

At the beginning of this story, the disciples asked Jesus who had sinned so as to cause this poor man’s blindness.  Jesus didn’t really respond – He changed the thought process of the disciples to focus on truth, not on sin.

The Pharisees could not get past the fact that something like this had happened at all! They couldn’t get past the sin, the ugliness, the darkness, the pain.  That’s all they knew to focus on because if they had looked toward God in all of this, they might have lost their power.

They took great pleasure in their power over others.  The parents of the blind man were terrified that they might be put out of the synagogue so they refused to answer when asked about it.  Who knows if the blind man was that naïve or not, but he questioned if they simply wanted to become followers of Jesus.

When they pushed back at him and claimed to be disciples of Moses, thereby linking themselves to God, the (formerly) blind man was astounded by the fact that they missed very simple truth.  God would not listen to sinners, and He obviously listened to Jesus by healing his blindness.  Obviously Jesus was from God.

Do we miss the simple truths of God because we lose focus?  Are we more interested in how something came to be or why it exists or how a person could have done what they did than in God’s saving grace? 

Nothing about a relationship with God is difficult … it is we who make it more complex than it needs to be.  The Pharisees came from a long line of interpreters of the Law – which was a description of the relationship God had with Israel.  They didn’t want simple because then anyone could be in relationship with God.  They wanted it to be complex.

The world needs simple.  Do we make this too complex, too difficult?