Belief and Judgment, a Reflection on John 9:35-41

The respectable religious insiders, perceiving a threat, had been investigating the claims that someone not authorized by them was able to perform miracles. They interviewed the man whose life had been changed by Jesus. When he responded to their queries by asking them, "If this man were not from God, he could do nothing," they accused him of heresy and expelled him.

Jesus returns. We don't know where he has been in the meantime. In verses 6 and 7, he had given the man instructions which the man followed in verse 8. But then, the narrative shifts to the reaction of the people to the man whose blindness has been healed. The reaction had not been positive.

Jesus had been walking along when he first saw the man. Now he comes in response to the news that this healed man has been driven out of his community. Jesus asks him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" The man asks to know who this is so he can believe in him. When Jesus says, "You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he," he responds, "Lord, I believe."

This man who has been excluded from regular life because of one kind of difference--blindness--and then ousted because of another--refusal to give in to the religious hierarchy now admits what he seems to have already figured out (see verses 30-33).

This man can see that Jesus is from God; the religious authorities are blind to this. But, they do seem to have some uncertainty, at least. They ask Jesus, "Surely we are not blind, are we?" Jesus judges that they are. We Christians still have a similar difficulty in accepting that God can send help and love to people who aren't part of our select group, who don't follow the rules that we think are essential.

All of us religious types need to contemplate what Jesus is trying to get across to us when he says, "But now that you say, 'We see,' your sin remains." Let us ask what it is that we can see so clearly that our sight has become an occasion of our sin.

Daily Prayer, Thursday, March 31, 2011

Morning
Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he."


Invitatory Psalm 150

Read and reflect on Psalms 19, 20, 21

Daily Lectionary Reading, John 9:35-41

Lectio Divina
(John 9:38)

(Psalm 23:4)

Prayer for Today:
O Lord our God, you are always more ready to bestow your good gifts on us than we are to seek them, and are willing to give more than we desire or deserve. Help us so to seek that we may truly find, so to ask that we may joyfully receive, so to knock that the door of your mercy may be opened to us; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen (UMBOW 467).

Midday Psalm 119:25-32

Evening
Psalms 22, 28

What We Know, a Reflection on John 9:24-34

It's wasn't just back then that people who are used to being in charge didn't like anybody doing something that disturbs their authority. They weren't willing to accept that this new guy, this Jesus, was able to accomplish something that they themselves hadn't even thought to try to do.

"In the first place," they insisted, "you shouldn't give the credit to anyone that we don't approve of. Credit belongs to God." The man who had been healed refused to enter the controversy. Theology wasn't the topic that concerned him at the moment. He, with some irony, asked why were they so concerned with the procedure that Jesus had used for healing, "Why do you want to know more about him? Are you considering becoming one of his followers?"

They responded negatively and huffily, "We know what true religion is like, and we don't know anything about this new guy."

"What else do you need to know?" he replied to their criticism. "He healed me. Only if he were from God, could that have happened." The religious authorities had had enough of arguing. They expelled the man.

In discussing this episode in her commentary on John, Written that You May Believe, Sharon Schneiders says:

The reader is, of course, supposed to identify with the man born blind. But do we, perhaps, but become sophisticated evaders when that confession has consequences for our reputation or job or safety? Even worse, are we religious authority figures whose first allegiance is to the institution and who are willing to suppress the prophets among us when their testimony to their experience calls that institution or our position within it into question?

Daily Prayer, Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Morning
Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he."


Invitatory Psalm 100

Psalms 12, 13, 17

Daily Lectionary Reading, John 9:24-34

Lectio Divina

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" (John 9:34).

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff--they comfort me (Psalm 23:3).

Prayer for today:
Open my eyes to see the work you are accomplishing all around me. Instill trust in me. Instill courage. Amen.

Midday Psalm 119:17-24

Evening
Psalm 18

Daily Prayer, Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Morning

Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he."


Invitatory Psalm 63

O God, you are my God, I seek you,
my soul thirst for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where no water is.
....
Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands and call on your name.

Read and reflect on Psalms 9, 10

Daily Lectionary Reading, John 9:13-23

Lectio Divina

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 (John 9:16).

He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters (Psalm 23:2).

Prayer for today:

O God, who dost forgive our iniquities and heal our diseases, we cry unto thee.
....
In thy good keeping, all is well. Into thy hands we commend our bodies and our spirits. Do with us as thou wilt. Amen. (taken from the prayer, In Time of Illness, UMH 460)

Midday Psalm 119:9-16

Evening
Psalms 11, 14, 15, 16

Investigation after the Miracle, a Reflection on John 9:13-23

John gives us a look at how religious people can behave. When confronted with a miracle, they asked some questions then pronounced their opinion that this Jesus could not have accomplished what was purported for him to have done. Their rationale--some of them asserted that he was not scrupulous enough in following the rules of their religion. Others categorized Jesus as a sinner and remarked that sinners weren't able to do the kinds of things that had been credited to him.

Since they weren't able to agree among themselves, they interviewed the once-blind man himself. He said "He is a prophet." Not yet satisfied, they then interviewed his parents. Because of their fear of what would be thought of them, they refused to say what they thought. Instead, they merely repeated what their son had told them. "If you want to know what he says that happened, ask him, not us."

As we consider the evangelism efforts of our particular local churches or our denomination, we might consider who represents us in this story. Are we the official religious types that can judge whether someone has been able to do the work that God wants to be done or even who is eligible to try? Are we the parents who are so afraid of others' opinions that we are incapable of admitting the good that God has done in our lives, how people close to us have been helped? Or, are we like the man who had been healed--able to recognize what has been done for us and willing to say so?

How much blindness is self-inflicted? How much blindness is protective when we really don't want to see something anyway?

Offertory Prayers for April 2011

The GBOD has posted Offertory Prayers for April.

Blindness, a Reflection on John 9:1-12

Theological reflection (that I find troubling so I'm going to skip over) followed by action. Jesus sees a problem that needs to be solved, so he gets to work immediately.

Notice that the blind man did not ask Jesus for help.

Onlookers don't accept that a miracle has occurred. Their responses include questioning whether it happened at all to asking how it did happen. When the no-longer-blind man tells them that and how Jesus cured his blindness, they wanted to know where Jesus was now.

Did they want to thank him? Did they want him to do something for them now? Did they want to learn how to help other people who needed it?

Do we recognize miracles?

What is our reaction to someone's being healed? What do we want to know? Why?

Can we remember (or imagine) being brought out of something as difficult as blindness?

Daily Prayer, Monday, March 28

Morning
Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and the one speaking to you is he" (John 9:37).

Invitatory Psalm 95

O come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Lets us come into God's presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise with songs of praise!

Read and reflect on Psalms 1, 2, 3, 5

Daily Lectionary Reading, John 9:1-12

Lectio Divina

But they kept asking him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" (John 9:10)

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want (Psalm 23:1).

Prayer for today:
O Lord, I say you are my shepherd. I know you are my shepherd. I have relied on your care. O Lord, make these assertions true for me. Remind me, keep me aware, of all that you have already done for me. Amen.

Midday Psalm 119:1-8

Evening
Psalms 6, 7, 8

Justified, Saved, Reconciled, a Reflection on Romans 5:1-11

excerpted from FRIDAY, MAY 28, 2010, Reading toward Trinity Sunday:

Looking for them, we can read about God, about Christ, and about the Holy Spirit in these verses. We usually are focusing on the "justified by faith" part--as opposed to being justified in any other less satisfactory way. This week we focus on how that happens--that our justification by (or our faith in?) God comes through Christ. Christ models for us suffering and the product of suffering. Further, the means of that process occurs because the Holy Spirit pours God's love into our hearts.

Repeat from WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2008

Peace, Hope, Love, Thinking about Romans 5 while reading the newspaper
I read Paul's words about suffering and hope. I read about God's love for sinners. And then I read a couple of stories in the newspaper that seemed to be examples of this message.

The headline is "Vermont: Poetry Classes for Vandals." Twenty-eight young people broke into Robert Frost's house, got drunk, and damaged the place. The prosecuter has asked Jay Parini, a Frost biographer, who believes in the redemptive power of poetry, to lead them in a study of Frost's life and work. The New York Times, June 3, 2008, page A21.

The headline is "Where Illegal Guns Can Do No More Harm." In New York City, thousands of firearms are taken by law enforcement officers each year. Instead of crushing and burying them, they are crushing and re-using them. They have found a way to turn spears into plowshares. Guns are sent to scrap processing plants to be chopped up into tiny pieces and sent to foundries from New Jersey to China. The former firearms will be ultimately be used to build water pipes, chain link fences, or appliances. The New York Times, June 3, 2008, page A22.