Readings for today: 1 Samuel 20-21, John 9, Psalms 113-114, Proverbs 15:15-17
"For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind." (John 9:39)
Jesus came to turn an upside down world right-side up again. In the Kingdom of Jesus, the last shall be first and the first shall be last. The poor shall be rich and the rich shall be poor. The privileged will be the first to serve those who are underprivileged. The blessed will share generously with those who have not. Hate will be met with kindness. Hurt with forgiveness. Brokenness with healing. Creation will be cared for rather than exploited. Selflessness shall replace selfishness. We will exchange all our “identities” for the only one that truly matters...our identity in Christ.
In our passage today, Jesus heals a man who was born blind. In those days, being born with a disability meant someone had sinned. Perhaps it was your parents who did something wrong or perhaps you had committed some error in the womb. Whatever it was, blindness was seen as God’s righteous punishment on the wicked rather than an expression of the brokenness of our world. Jesus corrects this misunderstanding. He heals the man. He takes the opportunity the man’s blindness affords to show forth the glory of God. To remind His disciples that this world is not as it should be. It is not as God intended it to be. And this is why Jesus was sent in the first place.
What does it mean to “do the works of God” like Jesus? It means living right-side up in an upside down world. I happen to believe the one Christian doctrine that is empirically proven is total depravity. Human beings are naturally inclined towards selfishness. They naturally put their own needs, wants, and desires first. They naturally prioritize the accumulation of wealth and possessions and power in order to ensure their own personal safety and security. When human beings possess political power, they codify their selfish desires into law thus creating systems of oppression and injustice and privilege that help them maintain control. One sees this played out on the world’s stage over and over again and throughout human history. Those who throw off the chains of oppression tend to take up the tools of the oppressor and become oppressors themselves.
Where can we find hope? Only in the way of Jesus. Only in the Kingdom of Jesus. Only by surrendering our lives to Jesus and allowing His Spirit to reshape our hearts and reorder our desires. Jesus came to give sight to the blind but His ways also result in bringing blindness to those who think they have sight. If we persist in thinking/believing our ways are better than the Way, we remain blind and in our blindness, we perpetuate the very problems we are trying to solve. Need an example? Consider sex education. Despite rising rates of sexual addiction, the proliferation of pornography that objectifies women, sexual harassment and abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, broken relationships, etc., we still believe the answer is teaching kids to practice “safe sex.” Rather than recognize the sacredness of the sexual act and the deep intimacy of giving oneself physically to another person, we treat sex as a commodity to be used for our personal enjoyment. Need another example? Consider gender dysphoria. Somehow we believe it is right and true to teach children who are psychologically incapable of abstract thought that they should disassociate from their biological gender. We are teaching them that gender is a social construct, denying the scientific, biological reality of their chromosomes. We are celebrating their choices despite the overwhelming evidence that it leads to higher rates of depression and suicidal ideation. Need yet another example? Consider the recent rise in identity politics. Human beings attacking other human beings simply because of the color of their skin, sexual orientation, economic wealth, educational privilege, etc. The rise in tribalism in our nation is tearing apart the social fabric of our country. The blindness is real, friends.
Jesus comes to make us see. See things from God’s perspective. See one another as human beings made in God’s own image. See the world as God’s beloved creation. He comes to teach us the ways of God’s Kingdom. Selflessness. Service. Forgiveness. Reconciliation. Grace. Peace. Love. Jesus embodied these values while He was on earth and He calls His followers to do the same. To work for justice. To love mercy. And to walk humbly with our God. This is the way of Jesus. This is the way of the gospel. And it is the only hope our upside down world has of ever becoming right-side up again.
Readings for tomorrow: 1 Samuel 22-23, John 10:1-21, Psalms 115, Proverbs 15:18-19