Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him.
– John 9:35,38
The narrative of John 9 is among my favorites in the Bible. The reason I like it so much has to do with the tenacity of faith demonstrated by a man who was healed. Some day I want to learn this man’s name, find him in heaven and reminisce with him about the day Jesus walked into his life. The actual healing is only a brief part of the narrative. Most of the text deals with how everyone else reacted to the event. The approach of this blog series is to experience the events through the lives of Jesus’ followers. As such, we will spend these moments (if you will forgive the pun) seeing from the blind man’s perspective.
Skip (let’s call him Skip for now) was having a pretty normal day. I doubt that his days varied too much. He was a familiar presence in the city, likely at or near the same place consistently to beg for a little help from passers-by. I wonder if Skip was able to hear the conversation between Jesus and his disciples as they came close. “Who sinned, this man or his parents?” How many times had he heard the same comments from others? It must have been uncomfortable, always being the subject of analysis. Now the rabbi-du-jour would offer some theological explanation for his blindness and they would move on. Hopefully they would at least leave a tiny offering on the way.
What Skip heard from Jesus was different. He was talking about being the light of the world, doing the works of the Father while it is day. No rabbi had said anything like this before. There was hope in his voice, not judgment. What’s more, the voice of the teacher sounded like it was getting closer. Skip’s anticipation probably rose a notch. It seemed that a gift of kindness might be forthcoming. He waited to hear the clink of a coin, but didn’t. Instead he may have heard the voice of Jesus speaking directly to him. “You’re going to feel something on your eyes.” Really? What is this guy doing? Does he actually think he can cure someone who was born blind? But, why object? What is there to lose? If this rabbi speaks unlike any other, perhaps he IS unlike any other.
Skip then receives instruction from Jesus; “Go to the Pool of Siloam and wash.” Again, why object? He goes, he washes—and he sees. Can you imagine the scene? For the first time in his life he sees, and he is making sure that he is seen by everyone in town. This is where the narrative gets interesting. The people of the city don’t know what to make of it. Is it the same man who used to sit and beg? Some say yes. Some say no, but it really looks like him (see John 9:8-9). It is quite hilarious. Skip says, “It’s me!” His acquaintances say, “No, it just looks like you.” What does he need to do to persuade people of what just happened?
The next step was to involve the Pharisees. If anyone could sort it out, they could. Skip gets the third degree from them. “How did this happen to you?” He replies, “Like I told everyone else, the man named Jesus made clay, put it on my eyes, told me to go wash, and now I see.” The Pharisees refuse to accept his explanation. I don’t know what explanation they actually wanted to hear, but they didn’t like this one. They sent for Skip’s parents. Maybe they could offer some insight.
“Is this your son?”
“Yes, that’s him.”
“Was he born blind?”
“Yes, he was.”
“How does he now see?”
“We’re going to plead the Fifth.”
If you are noticing the theme, Skip is getting hung out to dry. His friends in town won’t buy his story. His parents won’t stand by his side. The people in authority are doing all they can to discredit his experience. How in the world is he experiencing so much opposition on what must have been the most joyous day of his life? Is there any way to resolve the problem?
Actually, yes. In short, all it requires is to deny Jesus’ participation in what happened. Skip could invent some narrative that would be acceptable to the Pharisees. In so doing he could eliminate the scrutiny that was targeting his parents. He could figure out a way to get things back to normal with the people of town (I don’t know, maybe pretend to be blind again?). This is why I like Skip so much. All of the normalcy in the world wasn’t worth denying Jesus. Why? Because Jesus is the one man who radically changed his life, and there would be no denying Him.
Someday I am going to meet him. Maybe he will walk over to me and say, “Hello, I’m Skip. My actual name is….” I will hug his neck and thank him for being relentless in his witness for Jesus. Until then, I hope by God’s grace to be as tenacious as Skip in my witness for Jesus. After all, Jesus is the one man who radically changed MY life.
See you along the Winding Path.
The Winding Path 