According to John’s gospel Jesus healed a bind man one sabbath day. Ironically, this gracious act of restoring sight for one man caused quite a bit of confusion for others. According to John, “They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, ‘He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.’ 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 9:13-16).
The religious leaders were in a quandary. How were they to explain what Jesus had done? Yes, he had performed a miracle, but he had done so in defiance of the first commandment. Was this a good thing or not? As John tells us, “they were divided.” Despite their status as teachers of the law, the Pharisees lacked vision. They had the facts in front of them but they could not “see” what they meant. God was at work reconciling the people to God’s self, but the Pharisees could not even be reconciled to one another, and none of them trusted Jesus.
There is a word of warning for the church in this account. The Christian community may be caught up in wrangling over details, may be divided by a misunderstanding of God’s intent while God goes right on helping others to see and to live lives of wholeness and grace. Do we have vision to live as disciples, or are we blind to the work of God?
Prayer: Lord, open our eyes that we may see! In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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