CLOSE MINDED

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight.

“He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”

Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for He does not keep the Sabbath.”

But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?”

So they were divided.

Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about Him? It was your eyes He opened.”

The man replied, “He is a prophet.”

They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents.

“Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”

“We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.”

His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”

He replied, “Whether He is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

Then they asked him, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”

He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become His disciples too?”

Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where He comes from.”

The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where He comes from, yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does His will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!”

And they threw him out.

John 9:13-34

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

There are people in the world who refuse to change the way they believe and admit they may have been wrong, even with the evidence presented to them. Back in Jesus’ day, we see an example of this in the way of the Pharisees, the Jewish religious authorities of that time.

In the opening twelve verses of the ninth chapter of John’s Gospel, we read of another miracle performed by Jesus, this time restoring the sight of a man who had been blind since birth.

Did Jesus do this by way of some special surgical procedure?

Not even close.

The scriptures showed us that He spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva before placing it over the man’s eyes. Then Jesus commanded the man to go and wash the mud away in the Pool of Siloam and when the man did, he could see! What an amazing blessing it was to him and so he went home and amazed his neighbors and others in the community who knew he was blind. As our passage ended yesterday, they wanted to know where to find Jesus, the man who had performed the miraculous healing but the sight-restored man did not know where Jesus was.

As our scriptures begin today, we find the neighbors and community figures bringing the now-seeing man to the Pharisees who began to interrogate him. As background information, we learn that this miracle had occurred on the Sabbath, something the Pharisees would believe is against the law as no work was to be done on that day by God’s command. In fact, as we will see, the Pharisees continued to believe Jesus had no affiliation with God for doing what He did on the sacred day.

Well, after the Pharisees asked how he had regained his sight, the man detailed what had happened in very simple terms:

“He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.”

To which some of the Pharisees replied, “This man is not from God, for He does not keep the Sabbath.”

A debate broke out around this statement among the Pharisees as some in the group wondered:

“How can a sinner perform such signs?”

In other words, those opposing the view that Jesus was not from God essentially were asking, “How could someone who was a sinner, not connected to God or in His favor, be able to do what Jesus had done?”

The scriptures tell us that there was no resolution on the question, despite the valid rejection of the notion that Jesus was not from God.

Did I mention that people can be closed minded sometimes?

Instead of continuing the debate, the Pharisees’ interrogation of the now seeing man continued.

“What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”

The council wanted to know who the man believed Jesus was since they couldn’t seem to agree. The man replied:

“He is a prophet.”

This wasn’t the first time Jesus suffered from an identity crisis. People believed He was everything from a prophet like Jeremiah to a reincarnation of Elijah or John the Baptist (Matthew 16:13-14). It even took His disciples like Peter awhile to grasp that He was Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:15).

Well, not having any luck discrediting Jesus using their opening approach, the Pharisees decided to question the credibility of the man’s testimony, not believing he had really been blind from birth so they summoned the man’s parents and asked them:

“Is this your son? Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”

The parents responded by acknowledging that the man was in fact their son and that he had been born blind. But this is where they stopped. They feared saying anything else regarding Jesus because we get the sense that they believed Jesus truly was the Messiah, something that would get them expelled from the synagogue if they professed it. And so they punted on the matter out of fear and suggested the Pharisees ask their son as he was of age. He didn’t need his parents to speak on his behalf.

And so the Pharisees went back to the sight restored man and asked him:

“Give glory to God by telling the truth. We know this man is a sinner.”

It appears here that the faction of the Pharisees who believed Jesus was not from God was enough of a majority that they carried the day in the questioning. Feeling the man might not have been honest with them, they exhort him to “give glory to God” with his response. And so the man takes them up on that offer. Replying:

“Whether He is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

The man only knew that Jesus possessed the power to heal him from an affliction he had all his life. That was what mattered to him more than anything. Jesus had left a lasting impact on him and as a result, the man became one of His disciples. We know this by his response after the Pharisees decide to ask him a second time how Jesus restored his sight. The man, now frustrated and irritated at the inquiry, said:

“I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”

Obviously, this isn’t what the Pharisees wanted to hear and feeling insulted by the man, they chose to insult him in return, saying:

“You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where He comes from.”

In response, the man doubled down on the close minded Jewish leaders:

“Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where He comes from, yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does His will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

Jesus could not have had a more defense representative than the former blind man. Instead of focusing on what the Pharisees didn’t know, he took aim at what they did. They knew that God would not be in the company of sinners but only the godly and since no other person in history had been healed from blindness as he was, the man asserted that Jesus had to be from God for it would only be by way of God that such a powerful act could have been performed.

It was a great closing argument, one any reasonable, fair minded group would have believed, especially a group who professed to be such faithful believers in God. But the Pharisees would not open their minds or their hearts. They couldn’t find it within themselves to even rejoice and be happy for this man who could see fir the first time in his life. Instead, they verbally assail him, labeling him a sinner who had no right to lecture them before casting him out.

The evidence of the power Jesus possessed, a power that only could have come from God Himself was right in front of the Pharisees and still they chose to not believe. Sadly, many people in the world since them have decided to do the same and will continue to do so until that day when Jesus returns to judge the earth and everyone on it. It will be the best day ever for those who placed their faith and hope in Jesus as Savior but the worst day for the closed minded people who rejected Jesus and His salvation offer.

I pray you won’t be counted in that number, the number of people who will find themselves heading to eternal torment and damnation when they could have entered into glory.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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