Here is a part of John 9 (vss. 1-17)
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?" Some claimed that he was. Others said, "No, he only looks like him." But he himself insisted, "I am the man." "How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded. He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see." "Where is this man?" they asked him. "I don’t know," he said. 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 do such miraculous signs?" So they were divided. Finally 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."
Take the time to read the entire chapter carefully.
Who are the main characters in this story? How do they each relate to Jesus?
What is the main source of conflict in this story?
How does the miracle story serve as an illustration of spiritual blindness?
^^^^^
What else is on your mind this week?
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
This morning I mentioned the Johari Window, which is an interesting and helpful cognitive psychology tool for helping us better understand our blind spots.
A couple more links are Here and Here.
Have fun!
I was talking to Kedra after worship this morning, telling her that I hope my sermons are not perceived as negative. I try very hard to reflect what is going on in the text, which is what I think preaching should do. I guess I could have launched off into a topical sermon about Jesus as light of the world or freedom, but I chose the more difficult task (in my mind) of trying to wrestle with the tension in the text. The Jesus of John is really disturbing in a lot of ways. Just look at the way he addresses the people in John 8.
What do you think?
I think I can appreciate the way Jesus addressed his followers.
I'm kind of over the tip-toeing around issues. Some things need to be addressed head on.
Here at work, one of my biggest aggrevations is managers who don't know how to manage people. They either don't know how to control their emotions when repremanding and do it so often that they are viewed as hot heads. Or, they want to be liked more than they want to address employees who have issues that need corrected and their department suffers becuase of it.
I, personally, prefer to be told when I'm screwing up as long as it's backed up with facts and not opinions or hearsay. It may not be enjoyable, but it's how we grow.
In all honesty, I probably already know that I am, I just need someone else to tell me to straighten me out.
I see parents making the exact same mistakes raising kids. The line seems to be blurred between parental duty and friendship. We've got a lot of kids arouind who are doing some pretty serious things and their parents almost condone it by not correcting it or even supporting. I think about Jack Trudaeu (sp?), the former Colts QB, who had the big party for his kids and all their friends and allowed them to drink as long as they didn't leave. That's not the first time I've heard that logic. I just heard it about a year ago from one of the guys here. He's actually a manager.
Jesus was trying to correct and re-direct these folks because of the importance of the situation. They needed to understand the severity of their mistakes and missunderstandings. It wasn't going to happen with coddling and being buddies with them. He laid out the facts to them and I think used it to weed out the "me-too" followers.
I think his relationsships were started with them with more love than discipline, but as time went by he saw the need for more harsh instructions because they just weren't getting the big picture.
Brent
I guess we need to bring up something controversial to get people to speak up this week.
Here's a topic:
I support clubing baby seals......
Brent
Nice thought Brent! :o)
Diane
I do too brent..., no not really, pat
I support clubbing moles. (baby or otherwise)
Mole Slayer
aka-Tony
Sorry to move off this exciting topic of killing animals, but I have a thought that was brought up in my class last night:
What would it have been like for this blind man to have seen for the first time?
I came across THIS article about a person's sight being restored after 26 years. That would be great, but can you imagine seeing for the very first time? You have felt and listened your way through life, and now you see. Wow.
Post a Comment