Lent Day 23: Blind with eyes wide open?

There's a curious story in John 9. It confronts our ideas of who God is and what he can do. When we remake God in our own image, we try to limit him to our experience and rules. Self-deception and spiritual blindness is the result.
Jesus has healed a blind man on the Sabbath, breaking a religious tradition that says no work can be done on that day. The religious leaders are already furious with Jesus but this provokes their attack on the man who is healed. They question him, interrogate his parents, and try to reframe Jesus as an evil person.

The story continues this way:
A second time [the Pharisees] 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.

> It's wicked to punish someone for being healed and being honest. Yet, have you ever wanted to block someone whose ideas and experiences with God don't match your own? What if they have a vibrant relationship with God that you don't have?

> Jesus' act of kindness and healing brings all kinds of disruption - not just in the man's physical body but in his social and religious settings.

> Sometimes accepting God's help will complicate things for you. Are you still willing to be healed?

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’

‘Who is he, sir?’ the man asked. ‘Tell me so that I may believe in him.’

Jesus said, ‘You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.’

Then the man said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshipped him.

> The man Jesus heals has a soul-deep transformation. He is full of gratitude and worship.

> Jesus confronts the religious leaders with their refusal to glorify God or accept what God is doing. They insist that God can work only on their terms, within their religious rules.
> In contrast to their rigidity, Jesus follows his Father's instructions and refuses to be boxed in by tradition. Jesus warns the Pharisees that they will reap severe consequences for their narrow-minded interpretation and self-righteous judgment.

Jesus said, ‘For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.’

Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, ‘What? Are we blind too?’

Jesus said, ‘If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains. (John 9:24-41)

> In what ways am I trying to limit God's work in my life and others? How can I release my ideas so that I can fully obey and follow the creative mystery of God's healing power and loving care?

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