This week we’re looking at the story of the man who was born blind, found in John 9. Specifically, we’re looking at the three responses made to Jesus in this story. You might want to start with Monday’s post to catch up, or quickly read the first 15 verses of John 9. So far, we’ve seen that some people (like the Jewish leaders) are prejudiced against Jesus from the beginning. Others are initially interested, but competing concerns – such as the approval of others – end up winning out (just like the blind man’s parents.) But before we look at the final response, we need to take a quick detour – back to last week’s story in chapter 5. Because John seems to be deliberately contrasting the responses of the two men.
John
A man born blind — John 9 (part three)
This week we’re looking at the story of the man who was born blind, found in John 9. Specifically, we’re looking at the three responses made to Jesus in this story. You might want to start with Monday’s post to catch up, or quickly read the first 15 verses of John 9. Yesterday, we saw that some people (like the Jewish leaders) are prejudiced against Jesus from the beginning. Today, we encounter another kind of response.
Some will be interested, but competing concerns will win out
Because others, will show some interest. At least initially. But as we see in John chapter 9, competing concerns end up winning out. We see this implied in the division between Jewish leaders. Some were prejudiced against Jesus:
A man born blind — John 9 (part two)
This week we’re looking at the story of the man who was born blind, found in John 9. Specifically, we’re looking at the three responses made to Jesus in this story. You might want to start with yesterday’s post to catch up, or quickly read the first 15 verses of John 9.
Some will be prejudiced against Jesus from the beginning
And the first type of response Jesus encountered is no different from many of the responses we get today: some people will be prejudiced against Jesus from the beginning. Like much of the Jerusalem elite, they won’t give him a fair hearing. Why is that?
A man born blind — John 9 (part one)
This year we’ve looked at two encounters with Jesus as recorded in John’s Gospel: the Samaritan woman in John 4 (in May) and the lame man by the pool in John 5 (last week). We’re about to read yet another encounter, that of the man born blind (John 9). It seems this is intended to be read as a parallel story to last week’s, in which we are invited to compare the responses of the two men who were healed by Jesus—both to be challenged about how we have responded to Jesus, and also in how we journey together with others who are checking Jesus out.
The story
Let’s go through the story now:
Jesus on Trial — John 5:41-47
This week we’ve been looking at Jesus on trial in John chapter 5. Jesus gets himself into trouble by healing a lame man on the Sabbath, and then telling him to pick up and carry his mat – both of which were prohibited on the day of rest. In his defence, he says “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” This gets him into more hot water, adding the even more serious charge of blasphemy. Jesus firstly outlines his defence: he’s not setting himself up as a rival god. On the contrary, he’s learned alongside the Father like a son learning the family business, and has come as his authorised representative to do his work. He then musters an impressive array of witnesses to back up this claim: John the Baptist, the miracles he was performing, and even the Father himself through the Hebrew Scriptures.
All that’s left to do is file the counter-charge.
Jesus on Trial — John 5:31-40
This week we’ve been looking at Jesus on trial in John chapter 5. Jesus gets himself into trouble by healing a lame man on the Sabbath, and then telling him to pick up and carry his mat – both of which were prohibited on the day of rest. In his defence, he says “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” This gets him into more hot water, adding the even more serious charge of blasphemy. Yesterday, we saw Jesus outline his defence: he’s not setting himself up as a rival god. On the contrary, he’s learned alongside the Father like a son learning the family business, and has come as his authorised representative to do his work.
Now this is a big claim Jesus makes, but can he prove it? This is what today’s part of the trial is all about.
Jesus on Trial — John 5:19-30
This week we’ve been looking at Jesus on trial in John chapter 5. Jesus gets himself into trouble by healing a lame man on the Sabbath, and then telling him to pick up and carry his mat – both of which were prohibited on the day of rest. In his defence, he says this:
5:17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”This only served to get him in more hot water, as the Jewish leaders understood this to be blasphemy:
5:18 For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.Without wanting to evoke too many overtones of Batman, how will our hero escape this predicament? Read on.
Jesus on Trial — John 5:17-18
This week we’re looking at Jesus on trial in John chapter 5 (see yesterday’s post for the background). At the start of the chapter, we had the statement of facts: Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath, and told him to pick up his mat and carry it – both of which are prohibited by law. This comes to the attention of the Jewish leaders, who then bring this accusation against him.
The accusation
The trouble is, Jesus doesn’t exactly defend himself the way you might expect. His response? (Or his apologia as it is described in v17, which was a technical term for a courtroom-style defence speech.)
5:17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”Not exactly the words of someone trying to avoid trouble. Let me explain why.
Jesus on Trial — John 5:1-16
Although one of my favourite TV shows of all time is Boston Legal, every so often it put God in court – it put religious belief on trial. Here’s a courtroom scene in which a man is suing for unfair dismissal because his employer thought his religious beliefs were detrimental to his doing his job. (Watch here from 22:44 to 24:50, or the transcript is below.)
John 4:27-43
This week we’re looking at the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman, and what we can learn from him about raising people’s interest in his life-giving message. (You probably want to start with Monday’s short post to get the framework.)
Today, we look at two final ways in which is our model witness:.
6. Witness that seeks to impact a whole network
Unfortunately, just as Jesus starts to get somewhere, his dialogue with the woman comes to an abrupt end. The disciples return and she scuttles off, embarrassed. But this turns out to be no bad thing. In fact, she’s been impacted enough by what Jesus has said to go and tell her whole town.
timmacbride.com 