I Don't Know About That

A lesson in truthfulness from the man who was healed.

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Jesus heals a man. Everyone has questions.

The poor man has just been healed. It should be a time of celebration. What was his experience even like? What’s it like to have never, ever seen anything and then all of a sudden you can see birds flying above your head and the movement of water and waves and the swaying of leaves and trees…it must have been astounding.

But no…we have to question everything. Where is the guy who did this to you? Who did this? How did it happen? Were you really blind? Do your parents know about this?

The man’s response is note-worthy. He never tried to explain anything he didn’t really know about. He didn’t even guess. He just spoke plainly about his experience.

It’s true that people lie. It happens. Perhaps quite a bit these days. But what would it be like if we just took people for their word?

Newton is well-known for having immortalized this man’s response in the first verse of what might be the best-known hymn of the last half a millennium, Amazing Grace (as if canonization in the Bible wasn’t enough). And we just may like that verse not simply because of the miracle (a changed life), but because of its simple honesty.

What would it be like to live like that? …instead of feeling like we have to have all the answers or know all the stuff or impress because of whatever?

I don’t know about that. I just know about this.

John 9:8-34

The man’s neighbors and those who used to see him when he was a beggar said, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?”

Some said, “It is,” and others said, “No, it’s someone who looks like him.”

But the man said, “Yes, it’s me!”

So they asked him, “How are you now able to see?”

He answered, “The man they call Jesus made mud, smeared it on my eyes, and said, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

They asked, “Where is this man?”

He replied, “I don’t know.”

Then they led the man who had been born blind to the Pharisees. Now Jesus made the mud and smeared it on the man’s eyes on a Sabbath day. So Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see.

The man told them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and now I see.”

Some Pharisees said, “This man isn’t from God, because he breaks the Sabbath law.” Others said, “How can a sinner do miraculous signs like these?” So they were divided. Some of the Pharisees questioned the man who had been born blind again: “What do you have to say about him, since he healed your eyes?”

He replied, “He’s a prophet.”

The Jewish leaders didn’t believe the man had been blind and received his sight until they called for his parents. The Jewish leaders asked them, “Is this your son? Are you saying he was born blind? How can he now see?”

His parents answered, “We know he is our son. We know he was born blind. But we don’t know how he now sees, and we don’t know who healed his eyes. Ask him. He’s old enough to speak for himself.” His parents said this because they feared the Jewish authorities. This is because the Jewish authorities had already decided that whoever confessed Jesus to be the Christ would be expelled from the synagogue. That’s why his parents said, “He’s old enough. Ask him.”

Therefore, they called a second time for the man who had been born blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know this man is a sinner.”

The man answered, “I don’t know whether he’s a sinner. Here’s what I do know: I was blind and now I see.”

They questioned him: “What did he do to you? How did he heal your eyes?”

He replied, “I already told you, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”

They insulted him: “You are his disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses, but we don’t know where this man is from.”

The man answered, “This is incredible! You don’t know where he is from, yet he healed my eyes! We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners. God listens to anyone who is devout and does God’s will. No one has ever heard of a healing of the eyes of someone born blind. If this man wasn’t from God, he couldn’t do this.”

They responded, “You were born completely in sin! How is it that you dare to teach us?” Then they expelled him.

Prayer

God,

You are a God of justice, the determiner of all that’s right and good. In Christ, you have made way for this righteousness by his example, his identification and solidarity with all people. Help us as we seek further his way. Lead us in the specifics of our own lives and our striving for others’. Call us to the justice he’s established for the sake of the world. Through your mercy, grace, and love.

By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.