In the 9th chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus heals a man who had been born blind. I love that story; especially because of the transformation of that young man who started that morning as a helpless beggar. At the beginning of the story, he is the passive subject of what sounds like an academic dilemma: “Who sinned? Whose fault was it that he was born blind?” But as the story progresses, he goes from passive subject to protagonist; from having no idea who Jesus is to deducing that He is a prophet sent by God, and boldly proclaiming so.
In John 9:34, after the young man, now with eyes open both physically and spiritually, tells the Pharisees off, they kick him out.
In the context of the story, it probably meant they kicked him out of the synagogue altogether: excommunication. After all, he plainly declared that Jesus had come from God. And from the story we know that his parents said nothing because the religious leaders “had already agreed that if any one confessed him [to be the] Christ, he should be excommunicated from the synagogue.”
So, this young man, who suddenly has a whole new life ahead of him, on purpose (again, boldly) crossed that line! He is now cast away from his community for refusing to believe what the Pharisees wanted him to believe.
John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him, he said to him, Thou, dost thou believe on the Son of God?
I like the way Jesus puts the question to him: “You, do you believe in the Son of God?”
You are the subject of this divine intervention. You are the one that matters here. It doesn’t matter what those Pharisees want you to believe. It doesn’t even matter what your parents were willing to believe. What matters, if your eyes have truly been opened, is, what do you believe?
You see, at the crossroads of that question there can only ever be one person.
You.
John 9:36 He answered and said, And who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him?
Again, at every turn, I am amazed by this young man. He is utterly humble and yet completely up front. Maybe growing up as a blind beggar taught him that: destined to never be of any use to his parents, a burden on them all his life; the subject of derision by others (as the question the disciples asked revealed). How would that have shaped your character?
We can imagine being bitter, blaming the world for our misfortune, maybe even blaming God. But we don’t see any “baggage” like that clouding the actions of this man. Everything that happened to him from the moment Jesus put mud on his eyes became for him a chain of cause and effect. Each event, each lesson, is received, analyzed, and responded to in the only way that makes sense to him. And every response is right… even when it means challenging those in authority!
How did he develop this character? Maybe he is a living example of what Jesus told them earlier:
John 6:45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God.
John 7:16-17 Jesus therefore answered them and said, My doctrine is not mine, but [that] of Him that has sent me. If any one desire to practise His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is of God, or [that] I speak from myself.
So, the young man, to whom it has become obvious that Jesus has words of Life, that He has only good in store for him, hears Jesus’ question and simply says: “Ok, if you are telling me I need to believe in this Son of God, just point him out.”
John 9:37-38 And Jesus said to him, Thou hast both seen him, and he that speaks with thee is he.
And he said, I believe, Lord: and he did him homage.
And then and there, according to John 1:12, that young man became a child of God; born again.
But there are others watching this exchange, listening. And Jesus goes on:
John 9:39 And Jesus said, For judgment am I come into this world, that they which see not may see, and they which see may become blind.
That word “judgment” used here is krima in the Greek. It is not the action of judging as much as the result, the verdict. Jesus did not come to this world to be the Judge, but He did come into the world to reveal the hearts of humanity.
He is the ultimate Either-Or. You cannot just ignore Him. When faced with Him, we have only two choices: either we accept Him for Who He says He is or we reject Him.
But the key to that decision lies in knowing ourselves:
Either (A) We think we have it all figured out; that we are doing fine; that we can live our lives our own way, and that there will never be a price to be paid. Or (B) We understand how broken we are, how easily we hurt those who we want to love, and how often we mess up our lives.
You can guess where the Pharisees stood:
John 9:40 And [some] of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and they said to him, Are we blind also?
And Jesus’ answer is scary…
John 9:41 Jesus said to them, If ye were blind ye would not have sin; but now ye say, We see, your sin remains.
True ignorance could have been an excuse.
But really, if you are like me, and have taken position (A), do you think we could claim ignorance? We think we have it all figured out…
