The Blind man's
controversy (part 3)
Bible Texts (Concordant Version of the Old Testament and Concordant Literal New Testament with keywords Concordance (Main text: John 9:13-17)
13
They are leading him, who once was blind, to the Pharisees.
14 Now it was on a sabbath day that Jesus makes the mud and opens his eyes.
15 Again, then, the Pharisees also asked him how he receives sight. Now he said
to them, "He places mud upon my eyes, and I wash, and I am
observing."
16 Some of the Pharisees, then, said, "This man is not from God, for he is
not keeping the sabbath." Yet others said, "How can a man who is a
sinner be doing such signs?" And there was a schism among them.
17 They are saying, then, again to him who once was blind, "What are you
saying concerning him, seeing that he opens your eyes?" Now he said that
"A prophet is He."
What
happened to the former blind man was nothing but a huge miracle. His observers
could not believe what they saw. They simply brought him to the Pharisees in
the synagogue to see. I am not pretty sure why they did this. I believe a
miracle like this was surreal and it should be brought to the notice of the religion
leaders. In those days, miracles were not happening but people lived by the scriptures
and the directives of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
The
scripture verses I am focusing on today requires your full attention just as
the previous two blogs. Please, try to read them and ponder on them as well.
This week’s verses begin the plan Yahweh had predestinated for this blind man. Just
like Moses, this blind man had to face the religion authority and doctrines of Jews concerning
the miracles he had experienced.
When miracle baffles religion and
doctrines:
As mentioned earlier, the former blind
man had to deliver the message Yahweh gave him unawares to this man to the Pharisees
and Sadducees.
What baffled
the Pharisees and Sadducees was the fact that such a miracle had never happened
before. They had never had an account of such a thing in the Old Testament. They
were making efforts to psychoanalyze the situation of this man. The news of
this former blind man sounded like a gibberish to the Pharisees and Sadducees
because it was a strange thing in the land of Jew. Therefore, they were throwing
stony questions at this innocent man on this issue. All this man could say was
that the unknown man put mud on his eyes and told him to wash off the mud at the
pool of Siloam. He did so and received his sight. I believe the Pharisees
should be happy for this man and glorify the name of the Lord with him. No. They
were rather trying to make sure this blind was neither blind before nor the
miracle performer was from God. They were trying to find a fault on this incidence.
How sad it was. This miracle without question was not diabolical. It was the
divine intervention of Yeshua. It was the answer to this poor man’s long-time
prayers.
Keeping Sabbath and good work:
Pharisees
would always be who they are. They are the keepers of Mosaic laws. Yet they
forget that Sabbath day does not stop us from doing good work. Yeshua once
confronted them one day to know which of them whose sheep falls into a pit
would not bring it out on Sabbath day (Matthew 12:11). None of the Pharisees was
able to respond to Yeshua’s question. How about a human being who had been
blind since his birth. How hypocritical were these religion leaders. Was this
blind man not more important than the sheep? The great Shepherd found this man
and healed him on Sabbath day but the Pharisees had problem with that. How
hypocritical. The question now is does
not keeping Sabbath makes you a sinner? I think not. Does doing good work makes
you a sinner? I think not. However, doing good work on Sabbath day is great.
You can serve Yahweh on Sabbath day and still do good work. Sabbath is made for
human not other way round (Matthew 2:27 paraphrased). Nowadays, we still have
Pharisees among us. Yes, you will find them everywhere especially in the places
of worship. They believe they are holy and sacred. They are keeping their outside clean but their inside is full of bones and dirt (Matthew 23:26-28).
Sinner or a Prophet?
I wonder why
this religion leaders quickly concluded that the man that healed this former
blind man was a sinner. To them, he was a sinner because he did not keep
Sabbath day. He worked a miracle on the Sabbath day. However, part of the
Pharisees and Sadducees disagreed on this conclusion because they knew that
Yahweh would not work through a sinner to perform such a noticeable miracle.
There was schism among them. What a pity. These religion leaders were blind.
All they could see was a sinner but the former blind man saw Yeshua as a Prophet!
The former blind man simply told them this when his opinion was sought by
the Pharisees and Sadducees. This former blind man’s response was contrary to
their expectations.
This begins the evangelism of the
former blind man who did not only have physical sight but also spiritual eyes
while those who claimed to be the eyes for the people of Jew were truly seeing physically
but were spiritually blind.
Next week will discuss more on this
crucial issue.
Shalom!
Sources:
https://www.concordant.org/version/read-concordant-new-testament-online/04-john/
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