Though I was Blind, Now I See

Week Eight - Day 3

Today's Reading

Gospel according to John 8:12 to 10:21

One feature I've noticed in John is that there are extended dialogues and/or teaching moments that Jesus engages in with either his religious opponents or with people on the margins. He has had one with Nicodemus, with the woman of Samaria, and today he has two with "the Jews" (8:12-59 and 10:1-21).  At times Jesus' words are neither comforting or inviting, but rather confrontational and inflammatory.  Twice he says he knows that they want to see him dead (8:37 and 8:40), and then goes on to call them children of the devil (8:44) and liars (8:55).  It's no surprise that they want to stone him, and so Jesus slips away from the temple and heads off to a destination unknown.

As he goes his way, however, he has an encounter with the man born blind, whose story encompasses the entirety of chapter 10.  Jesus puts a healing in motion by rubbing mud on the man's eyes and telling him to go wash in the pool of Siloam.  The man comes back able to see for the first time in his life, and nobody can believe it's the same person.  His neighbors are confused and bring the man to the Pharisees to see if they could figure it out.  They seemed more concerned that the healing had occurred on the Sabbath, resulting in their denounce of Jesus as a sinner.  The more the man tries to explain what happened, the more the Pharisees deny that it could have happened.  They drag the poor man's parents into it, but they beg off saying that their son is an adult and can speak for himself (John also want us to know that "the Jews" were to be feared by anyone who expressed belief in Jesus as the Messiah).  Further interrogation of the man is made by the Pharisees.  When, however, the man finally says that Jesus must be from God or else he could not perform such a healing, he is driven out by the Pharisees.  Jesus then finds the man, and the man openly confesses his belief in Jesus.

The final dialogue/teaching of the day is the second of the two he has this day with "the Jews."  Jesus, in another series of "I am" statements says that he is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.  His words are accepted by some and rejected by others, so that "the Jews were divided" because of Jesus' words.  It was certainly the situation that existed in John's day, and he reflects it once again in his gospel account.