The Wrong Question

The Wrong Question

“’I don’t know whether he’s a sinner or not,’ replied the man. ‘All I know is this: I used to be blind, and now I can see.’” John 9:25

We are all influenced by our perceptions. And, when we are young, we often have little cognitive ability to tell the difference between what we have taught is right and what might actually be true. I was fortunate to grow up in a home that taught racial equality as a core value. That was unusual at the time, born in 1955 and growing up in the 60s with both parents from the South. Dad was born in Missouri; Mom in Oklahoma and I was born in Texas. We moved to Southern California when I was in second grade.

But I also knew, as a child, the attitudes of some of my peers. Growing up in a small West Texas oil town, we had a mix of Mexican and White families. I remember quite vividly walking home from school with friends when they saw a dark-skinned classmate ahead of us. They all said we needed to walk on the other side of the street. My friends were not born with the perception; they were taught.

In John chapter 9 we have a story of the religious rulers who cannot get past their false religious perceptions and assumptions. Jesus heals a man who has been blind from birth, a most unusual healing, and the only one recorded of congenital blindness. Not even the disciples are immune from false perceptions.  They ask, “Whose sin was it that caused this man to be born blind? Did he sin, or did his parents?”

First of all, does it strike you strange that the ask about a man blind from birth if his ailment was a result of personal sin? Our presumptions can take us to outrageous and nonsensical ideas. They also ask about the parents, which is more reasonable. But Jesus tears down their entire argument at its base.

“He didn’t sin, nor did his parents.” Take that in, please! Jesus puts to rest the whole idea that catastrophe is some evidence of God’s displeasure. No, hurricanes are not cause by homosexuals. Floods are not caused by unmarried sex. And tornadoes are not caused by abortions. By this reasoning, the United States would have been destroyed many times over for its genocide of Native Americans and its enslavement and dehumanization of African Americans. Sin does have consequences; but most often, they are the natural bad results from evil.

And, by the way, do you notice that those who want to attribute catastrophe to God’s judgment have a very narrow list of the sins God is pissed about? Why? Perception, assumption, just like the religious leaders in our story.

They did not like Jesus much. In fact, that say he is from the devil and a sinner more than once in this story. Why would people who were supposed to lead the nation to God be so jealous and blind when the Son of God appears? One reason is that He disassembled their perceptions about God, sin, and righteousness.

They, like the disciples, assumed there were “righteous” and “unrighteous” people. The righteous got God’s blessing, the unrighteous his wrath. They didn’t like the story where Jesus describes a religious leader going into the temple, praying the way that good religious leaders do:

“God, I thank you that I am not like the other people – greedy, unjust, immoral, or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I get.” (Luke 18:11-12) Maybe you have heard similar prayers in your church. Maybe not. Hopefully not. But the sentiment permeates much of evangelical thinking. “Look at me and how good I am for God!”

The tax-collector referred to in the Pharisee’s prayer stood a long way off, not even lifting up his eyes to heaven. Beating his breast, he prayed simply: “God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am.”

Jesus says this man was the one who went home vindicated by God and not the other. The Pharisees didn’t like that.

They didn’t like that Jesus made a hated Samaritan the hero in his story about being good neighbors. They were offended that He did good to outsiders: lepers, tax-collectors, prostitutes, those outside of Israel’s elect. They were angry that He didn’t kowtow to their religious power, but advocated, not a violent overthrow of oppression, but the peaceful reign of God.

So, with all their false perceptions, these “leaders” cannot even recognize that this healing of a man blind from birth could ever be from God. Why? Because Jesus did it!

The Pharisees call the healed man and say, “Give God the glory! We know that this man (Jesus) is a sinner!” To which the man replies, “All I know is this: I used to be blind, and now I can see.”

When you see grace permeating someone’s life, can you open your heart to the possibility that Christ is involved? When you see someone who acts in compassion toward those who can give back nothing, can you suppose they might be working for the Kingdom of God? Jesus called Samaritans, sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes and the like to be His people.

Jesus is knocking at the door of the church. Please don’t let rigid religious assumptions, a self-righteous attitude toward sin, or an unholy nationalism keep you from seeing what Jesus is doing. And once you see what He is doing, jump on board. The ride may be scary at first, but you will never be the same.