ASSUMPTIONS
Assumptions always get us into trouble. Always. We all make assumptions; I think it is part of being human; but we need to watch when we let our assumptions determine our words and actions which may be based on wrong information. When we do this, (allow our assumptions to determine our attitudes, words and actions); we open ourselves up doing and saying things that we may later regret, things that may be hurtful or at best misplaced and misguided.
In today’s Gospel passage, the disciples, upon seeing a man who could not see, assumed that this was because either the man, or his parents had sinned.
Now, this assumption was not just pulled out of thin air. In the Jewish tradition, there were two causes for sickness: the sins of the parents which produced the suffering of the children (Exodus 20:5) and prenatal sin committed by the fetus. Jesus quickly dispels this theology and assumption. “Neither”, Jesus replies. The man was born this way “so that God’s works may be revealed in him”. And then Jesus shares, “I am the light of the world.
Upon seeing the man who was blind but now sees, the neighbors are confused, “Is the same guy who used to beg?”, “Is this a different guy?” The Pharisees get involved and the Pharisees stance is, is that Jesus could not be from God, as he was healing, or had performed healing on the sabbath, which was against the Jewish mosaic law. The Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day, did not want to see, were not able to see Jesus’ light, because they had preconceived notions of how things were going to be when the Messiah showed up.
Throughout gospels, the religious leaders, instead of embracing and being happy and joyous for others in their healings and in the miracles that Jesus performed, were constantly the naysayers. They didn’t want to see and believe in this Jesus. He was disrupting the religious establishment and their way of life. Instead of having open hearts and being curious about what God may be doing here, instead of allowing themselves to see that indeed, maybe God had come into the world, they held fast to their rules and their established ways of doing things; their order. Anything that lay outside of their preconceived notions of how things were going to be, their predetermined framework, were not things that they could allow themselves to think upon or embrace.
Because of this, they were not able to embrace Jesus. Which speaks to a their own blindness. When religious rules or norms get in the way of life, when religious standards darken your heart to a point that you can’t allow and celebrate life - it is time to rethink some of your religious viewpoints.
The story is not that different from stories today. We don’t have Jesus here on earth smearing mud in peoples eyes and bringing about sight, but Jesus’ point in the healing was to point the people to the fact that he was the light of the world. The Jews, the religious leaders, were so intent on Jesus’ “sin” of healing on the Sabbath, that they could not celebrate and rejoice in the man’s healing. They have a whole thing about it. They go to his parents house to see if this was the same guy; if the man who could now see was really their son. The parents are fearful and aren’t able to speak their truth, they admit that he was their son, that he was born blind and now he sees; but don’t go any further in their thoughts out of fear. They weren’t able to confess or see or even allow themselves to think seriously that maybe Jesus was the Messiah or not, because they were afraid they would get kicked out synagogue.
We see similar things today. The Southern Baptist Convention has been in the news recently with several big rather unflattering stories. Saddleback Church in Southern California, which was founded and led by Pastor Rick Warren, author of the best-selling book, “The Purpose Driven Life, was expelled in late February for installing a woman as pastor, which contradicts the Southern Baptist Conventions statement of beliefs.
The expulsion will do little to affect the church, but the convention felt it needed to take a stand against the ordination of women and felt as if Saddleback was breaking their rules. The convention has ejected four other churches as well, in the spirit of “upholding theological conventions of the S.B.C. and maintaining unity among its cooperation churches.”
I am not here to challenge or try to change their or anyone’s theological convictions. But this does seem to me to be similar to the actions of the synagogue in this passage. And similar to other stances that religious bodies and organizations have taken through the years. Adhering to the “letter of the law” and missing the spirit of the law always seems to move toward pharisicalism and away from God.
Even if a rule is correct, or good, even if the “theology” is correct, the synagogue here erred on the side of maintaining sabbath laws and not seeing with eyes of compassion and love. Instead, they sought to discredit Jesus who was performing miracles, helping the blind to see and restoring life and hope to the hurting. They couldn’t see what was in front of them for their stringent maintenance of Mosaic laws. Jesus had not come to abolish the Sabbath; he believed in it. He later said he had not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.” (Mark 2:27). But when the Sabbath was used as a crutch for not embracing the life that was in front of them and the rule was no longer used for what it was intended - to give rest and restore life - and it was being used to as a yardstick for which to judge people - it was no longer following the intent for which it was established.
The disciples have had firsthand witness to the healing of the blind man, and though the blind man never wavers in his story, the people just can’t understand what has happened. Their parameters don’t allow them to experience the miracle. Their own assumptions keep them from understanding what has happened.
When do our own assumptions get in our way? Our assumptions about others, and their capabilities? Our assumptions about God?
In the book of Samuel, assumptions also got in the way there. The Lord told Samuel to go to Jesse for one of his sons was going to be chosen as king, for Saul had been rejected as king. Samuel you will remember is an Old Testament prophet. And, even though he was afraid that King Saul might kill him, he obeyed the word of the Lord, went to Jesse and looked upon his sons. And one by one, based on their appearance, and the assumption that God would follow the established law of land, eldest son first, the prophet Samuel assumed that each one ‘must be the Lord’s anointed’. But they weren’t. It was the youngest one - the one keeping the sheep - the one overlooked and forgotten that the Lord chose, David. The system of choosing the eldest son was overlooked, broken. The Lord used a different system for choosing who would lead Israel.
The heart seems to be the criteria for all things. David was tending sheep. The Lord looked at his heart. The man who couldn’t see had an open heart - it must have seemed silly to go and smear mud on his eyes - but he followed what Jesus told him and did and then he could see.
His spiritual sight came a bit later. It developed. All he knew was that he had been healed physically. He was questioned by the religious leaders and he said, “I have already told you my story - you want me to tell it to you again?”
And then the blind man said this to them, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes… if this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” He began to understand that Jesus came from God; but the religious leaders who should have been looking for the Messiah, did not believe. And they drove the man out of their society and their synagogue.
Jesus, after the man had been driven out of their society, their synagogue, found the man and asked if he believed. He said tell me and Jesus did, and then the man believed.
The Pharisees on the other hand, receive a sharp rebuke. Jesus did not judge the blind man for not being able to see - and in the last verses of John today he is not speaking of physical sight. Jesus tells them that he came so that the blind may see - but those who do “see” and choose to not “see” well then, their sin remains. (John 9: 41) “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see’, your sin remains.”
And that is crux of it. Choosing to not see when you have the gift of sight, when God has been revealed to you - that is sin.
God is all around us. May we choose to see. May we not be blinded by our assumptions. May we be open to the see the light. May our lives reflect this light.
Amen.
In today’s Gospel passage, the disciples, upon seeing a man who could not see, assumed that this was because either the man, or his parents had sinned.
Now, this assumption was not just pulled out of thin air. In the Jewish tradition, there were two causes for sickness: the sins of the parents which produced the suffering of the children (Exodus 20:5) and prenatal sin committed by the fetus. Jesus quickly dispels this theology and assumption. “Neither”, Jesus replies. The man was born this way “so that God’s works may be revealed in him”. And then Jesus shares, “I am the light of the world.
Upon seeing the man who was blind but now sees, the neighbors are confused, “Is the same guy who used to beg?”, “Is this a different guy?” The Pharisees get involved and the Pharisees stance is, is that Jesus could not be from God, as he was healing, or had performed healing on the sabbath, which was against the Jewish mosaic law. The Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day, did not want to see, were not able to see Jesus’ light, because they had preconceived notions of how things were going to be when the Messiah showed up.
Throughout gospels, the religious leaders, instead of embracing and being happy and joyous for others in their healings and in the miracles that Jesus performed, were constantly the naysayers. They didn’t want to see and believe in this Jesus. He was disrupting the religious establishment and their way of life. Instead of having open hearts and being curious about what God may be doing here, instead of allowing themselves to see that indeed, maybe God had come into the world, they held fast to their rules and their established ways of doing things; their order. Anything that lay outside of their preconceived notions of how things were going to be, their predetermined framework, were not things that they could allow themselves to think upon or embrace.
Because of this, they were not able to embrace Jesus. Which speaks to a their own blindness. When religious rules or norms get in the way of life, when religious standards darken your heart to a point that you can’t allow and celebrate life - it is time to rethink some of your religious viewpoints.
The story is not that different from stories today. We don’t have Jesus here on earth smearing mud in peoples eyes and bringing about sight, but Jesus’ point in the healing was to point the people to the fact that he was the light of the world. The Jews, the religious leaders, were so intent on Jesus’ “sin” of healing on the Sabbath, that they could not celebrate and rejoice in the man’s healing. They have a whole thing about it. They go to his parents house to see if this was the same guy; if the man who could now see was really their son. The parents are fearful and aren’t able to speak their truth, they admit that he was their son, that he was born blind and now he sees; but don’t go any further in their thoughts out of fear. They weren’t able to confess or see or even allow themselves to think seriously that maybe Jesus was the Messiah or not, because they were afraid they would get kicked out synagogue.
We see similar things today. The Southern Baptist Convention has been in the news recently with several big rather unflattering stories. Saddleback Church in Southern California, which was founded and led by Pastor Rick Warren, author of the best-selling book, “The Purpose Driven Life, was expelled in late February for installing a woman as pastor, which contradicts the Southern Baptist Conventions statement of beliefs.
The expulsion will do little to affect the church, but the convention felt it needed to take a stand against the ordination of women and felt as if Saddleback was breaking their rules. The convention has ejected four other churches as well, in the spirit of “upholding theological conventions of the S.B.C. and maintaining unity among its cooperation churches.”
I am not here to challenge or try to change their or anyone’s theological convictions. But this does seem to me to be similar to the actions of the synagogue in this passage. And similar to other stances that religious bodies and organizations have taken through the years. Adhering to the “letter of the law” and missing the spirit of the law always seems to move toward pharisicalism and away from God.
Even if a rule is correct, or good, even if the “theology” is correct, the synagogue here erred on the side of maintaining sabbath laws and not seeing with eyes of compassion and love. Instead, they sought to discredit Jesus who was performing miracles, helping the blind to see and restoring life and hope to the hurting. They couldn’t see what was in front of them for their stringent maintenance of Mosaic laws. Jesus had not come to abolish the Sabbath; he believed in it. He later said he had not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.” (Mark 2:27). But when the Sabbath was used as a crutch for not embracing the life that was in front of them and the rule was no longer used for what it was intended - to give rest and restore life - and it was being used to as a yardstick for which to judge people - it was no longer following the intent for which it was established.
The disciples have had firsthand witness to the healing of the blind man, and though the blind man never wavers in his story, the people just can’t understand what has happened. Their parameters don’t allow them to experience the miracle. Their own assumptions keep them from understanding what has happened.
When do our own assumptions get in our way? Our assumptions about others, and their capabilities? Our assumptions about God?
In the book of Samuel, assumptions also got in the way there. The Lord told Samuel to go to Jesse for one of his sons was going to be chosen as king, for Saul had been rejected as king. Samuel you will remember is an Old Testament prophet. And, even though he was afraid that King Saul might kill him, he obeyed the word of the Lord, went to Jesse and looked upon his sons. And one by one, based on their appearance, and the assumption that God would follow the established law of land, eldest son first, the prophet Samuel assumed that each one ‘must be the Lord’s anointed’. But they weren’t. It was the youngest one - the one keeping the sheep - the one overlooked and forgotten that the Lord chose, David. The system of choosing the eldest son was overlooked, broken. The Lord used a different system for choosing who would lead Israel.
The heart seems to be the criteria for all things. David was tending sheep. The Lord looked at his heart. The man who couldn’t see had an open heart - it must have seemed silly to go and smear mud on his eyes - but he followed what Jesus told him and did and then he could see.
His spiritual sight came a bit later. It developed. All he knew was that he had been healed physically. He was questioned by the religious leaders and he said, “I have already told you my story - you want me to tell it to you again?”
And then the blind man said this to them, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes… if this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” He began to understand that Jesus came from God; but the religious leaders who should have been looking for the Messiah, did not believe. And they drove the man out of their society and their synagogue.
Jesus, after the man had been driven out of their society, their synagogue, found the man and asked if he believed. He said tell me and Jesus did, and then the man believed.
The Pharisees on the other hand, receive a sharp rebuke. Jesus did not judge the blind man for not being able to see - and in the last verses of John today he is not speaking of physical sight. Jesus tells them that he came so that the blind may see - but those who do “see” and choose to not “see” well then, their sin remains. (John 9: 41) “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see’, your sin remains.”
And that is crux of it. Choosing to not see when you have the gift of sight, when God has been revealed to you - that is sin.
God is all around us. May we choose to see. May we not be blinded by our assumptions. May we be open to the see the light. May our lives reflect this light.
Amen.