Since it is the end of the week and i have spent so much time with the quote printed here, I thought one more day of comment. It simply shows how much this text from John and commented on by Alison is playing with me.
Jesus' final comment, "For judgment I came into the world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind," is his assessment of the whole story (that of the blind man). In the first place Jesus has carried out no active judgment at all. The only judgment related in the story has been that of the Pharisees, casting the man out. This is part of the ironic Johannine recasting of judgment: it is by being crucified that Jesus is the real judge of his judges. So because Jesus is the cause of the former blind man's expulsion, the former blind man shares Jesus' role as judge of those who have expelled him. It is not that Jesus simply abolishes the notion of judgment or is merely much more of a judge than the other judges: the sense in which Jesus is a judge is a subversion from within of the notion of judgment. The judgment that excluded the former blind man is revealed as the judgment (also discernment) that the expellers are really blind.
I have been doing a bunch of thinking this week about the record. That is - the text - the bible - the story we receive. Even if it is not a historical account (not an actual report of the exact words of Jesus or his actions), we are getting something that is meant to be vital to the way live. Jesus' actions in this storytelling pull us from what we walk through each day. That is, the pattern of the day and the way the powers of the day control what is right and what is good and what it proper and allowed - is simply disrupted. More than that - pushed to the side. The blind man - you and me and all others - will be made whole even when the powers have simply been letting it all go on and on. Those powers include religious powers. The Jesus in this storytelling doesn't play favorites. Jesus heals and forgives - actions antithetical to the way the world rolls. The early followers of Jesus must have seen the power of Jesus' contrary nature. It was contrary to the way of the powers of the day but not contrary to the creative power of the Reign of God that comes to life in Jesus. Maybe that is the issue here. This Reign of God is life - it is not for another time. If that was the case, we would not be pulled by the Holy Spirit to embody Jesus' love. In the face of the religious and worldly powers of the day we are being moved be the flesh and blood of God's peaceable Reign in which divisions and wounds and injustice are healed and life is transformed.
Connection: I am too often blind. Not blind in the sense that I cannot see. It is a blindness that comes from looking away. It is a blindness that comes from looking right past what is. It is a blindness that comes from holding on to special interests. In all of these acts of blindness I am like those religious leaders who do not want their world disturbed or the order of the day changed for the welfare of all.
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