Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him." --John 9:3
Some animals get a bad rap. Take the badger as an example. Badgers are small, furry carnivores native to the northern United States. The state in which I now reside is known as the Badger State. The University of Wisconsin has the badger as their mascot.
Somewhere around the 16th century the term "badgering" was coined. Badgering is believed to be inspired by the behavior of this harmless furry creature, known for its persistent digging. The term "badgering" evolved from an earlier meaning related to trading and haggling, eventually taking on connotations of annoyance.
If you have ever seen a courtroom drama on television or in movies, you may be familiar with a certain phrase: "Objection! Badgering the witness." I think of this phrase every time I read the ninth chapter of the Gospel of John.
One of the pitfalls of doing a verse-by-verse Bible study is that sometimes you lose context. When you break down Scripture into tiny segments to glean nuggets of wisdom, you sometimes overlook the big picture. You may even miss the point entirely.
With that in mind, today I am going to break out of my usual routine. I like digging into Scripture. But if you keep digging incessantly and miss what God is saying, it can be annoying. So let's take a broader view, shall we?
With the exception of a mis-placed passage about a woman caught in adultery, John chapter 7 and 8 are all about Jesus being on trial. No, it's not set in a formal courtroom, but rather on the Temple steps. The Pharisees and Jewish lawyers keep interrogating Jesus while He is trying to teach openly. They keep badgering Him about who He is, where He came from, and what He is doing.
Their main objection is not His healing people, but rather His desecration of the Sabbath. The Scriptures command that the Sabbath should be a day of rest. No work should be done on this day. There are many writings in Jewish literature documenting debate on the definition of the word "work" for purposes of keeping the Sabbath. "Keep the Sabbath holy" was the fourth commandment. The Mosaic law went on to say anyone who goes out and gathers from his field or works the ground on that day should be cut off from His people, and even stoned to death.
Scripture gives us seven miracles that Jesus performed specifically on the Sabbath:
- Withered hand--Matthew 12:9
- Demoniac at Capernaum--Marck 1:21
- Simon's mother-in-law--Mark 1:29
- Woman bowed down 18 years--Luke 13:14
- Man with dropsy--Luke 14:1
- Paralytic at Bethesda--John 5:10
- Man born blind--John 9:6-7
These acts were considered so dangerous that the Pharisees truly believed that Jesus must be stopped. In fact, at the end of John chapter 8 they took up stones to kill Him, but He walked away.
It is in this context that, when the followers of Jesus come upon a man begging near the steps of the Temple, they start asking questions. The poor blind beggar probably was calling out, "Please help me. I was born blind. I've never been able to work, to support myself. Can you please give me a little money?" This is most likely how they knew that the man had been born blind; because he told them.
So the disciples are asking Jesus about the blindness, which obviously was a result of sin. In verse 2, they ask Jesus, "Who sinned, this man or his parents?" Jesus answered in verse 3, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him." In other words, this man was born blind so that Jesus could make a point right here in front of the Temple on a Sabbath.
Remember the passage in Ruth, where she was worried about some testimony she had to bring before the king? She was told, "Perhaps you were born for such a time as this." I believe this poor blind man was there that day to become a witness for Jesus. As we will see in the coming verses, testifying for Jesus was not all sunshine and buttercups.
Jesus heals the man by spitting on the ground and making mud, then applying the wet dirt to the man's eyes. Some commentaries say that in ancient times, they believed that applying spit (especially saliva from a righteous man) had medicinal purposes. Anyway, Jesus asks the man to go wash the mud off at the pool of Siloam.
When the man does this, he can see. So instead of going back to begging in front of the Temple, the man goes home. Verses 8 and 9 say that the neighbors saw him and started talking. "Is this the same guy that was born blind, the one who sits by the road and begs?" They were perplexed. "Sure looks like him." This is the first opportunity that the man has to testify to what Jesus did for him.
When he tells his neighbors about Jesus, they want to see Jesus, too. They ask him where Jesus is. He answers truthfully. "I don't know." So the next day they take him to the Temple, where he last saw Jesus. The Pharisees were sitting in session at the Temple, and they took note of him. They probably recognized him as one who had been begging for alms, and now he can clearly see. They question him. Was he lying all this time to get sympathy, to prey upon people's sympathy? So they question him.
This is the second time the man gets to testify about what Jesus did for him. As soon as the Pharisees hear the name Jesus, they warn the man: this Jesus is a bad guy. There is some discussion--how bad could Jesus be if He was able and willing to make a blind man see? The Pharisees then ask the man what he thinks of Jesus, since He had opened the man's eyes. The man identifies Jesus as a Prophet.
The Pharisees launch an investigation as to whether this man was truly born blind. They get his parents and interrogate them.
"Is this your son?"
"Yes, he is our son."
"Was he born blind?"
"Yes, he was born blind."
"Well, then, how is it that he now clearly can see?"
"We don't know. Ask him, he is of legal age."
The parents didn't want to be expelled from the synagogue. They had heard that anyone who spoke in favor of this Jesus would not be welcome to worship there anymore. They were afraid. Fortunately, their son had more confidence. He was willing to speak truth to power, and even give them a little lip, a little sass.
He was called back before the Pharisees and was told, "Give glory to God." This was basically telling him to swear to the truth, even if it resulted in his death. You can find this same phrase in Joshua 7:19 when Achan had disobeyed God's direct command and had kept some spoils of war. Joshua adjured him to "give glory to the God of Israel and confess what you have done." In Achan's case, that confession would mean the death penalty. In the blind man's case here in John 9, it would mean his excommunication from the Jewish synagogue.
The Pharisees let him know what they thought of Jesus. He was a sinner, in that He didn't honor the Sabbath. The man gave this memorable answer: "Whether He is a sinner or not, I do not know. One thing I do know--I once was blind, but now I see."
He told the truth. His testimony is sung about in churches even today.
The religious leaders pressed him. Think about what you are saying, they seemed to warn him. What exactly did He do for you? The man answered, "I told you once already, and you didn't listen. Why do you want me to tell you again? Do you want to be His disciple, too?"
After some harrumphs and well-I-never's, they cast him out of the synagogue. He was cut off from his family, his community, and his former faith. All because he told the truth.
In John chapter 8, amidst the same harassment and accusations from these same Pharisees, Jesus said to those who did believe in Him, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." For the man born blind, he was free now to exercise his new-found faith. This idea was scary to his family, who had held their opinions of Jesus to themselves for fear of being ostracized.
Sharing your faith may come with consequences. You may be expelled from school or lose your job because of your testimony. In some countries today you could be jailed (or worse) for testifying to the truth. God calls us to speak the truth anyway, no matter the cost.
At the end of John chapter 9 Jesus finds the man, and gives him some encouragement. He says the man who was born blind can see the truth of Christ clearly, but those who reject Him are in fact blind. The Pharisees asked stupidly, "Are You talking to us? Are You saying we're blind?"
Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin." After all that they had seen, however, they were compelled to believe in Him. If they did not believe, then they were stuck in their sinful ways.
Following Christ may come with a cost.
We should testify of all He has done for us, whatever the cost may be.
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