This story from today’s reading is pretty funny.  It is a story of a man getting healed of blindness, looking for people with which to celebrate, and finding only judgement...in the end I am sure he was in a confused state.  How can a man that was healed from blindness not be celebrating at the end of the story?  How can the parents not be elated for him?

Well, this is a chapter that you really need to read or listen to - it is really straight forward.  Maybe the only thing that might be confusing is the fact that, at this time, people thought physical afflictions like blindness, leprosy, deformity, etc. were the result of a person’s sin, or their parents’ sin.   Jesus twisted that idea and told this man directly in the story that his blindness was put there by God so the Jesus could heal him and demonstrate who he is.

What this story really illustrates is the link to which we will go to justify our beliefs, to maintain our narrative, and to be “right“.  I think most of us looking at this story would think the Pharisees are crazy at this point. However, in the areas of our lives where we are acting similarly, and hypocritically, we are just as blind to our ridiculousness as were they.

I feel like this idea keeps coming back to me, each time I read and journal on one of these miracles that John shares with us.  I feel like I need to spend a little extra time thinking through what God might have for me in this vein; where am I missing something obvious because I’m hanging onto what I want to be true rather than what is true?