disciples

There’s a story in John 9 that I think is funny. It’s the aftermath of one of Jesus’ healings, the one where he healed a blind man by putting mud on his eyes. Afterward, the religious leaders interrogated him, then called him back for more questions.

Here’s the part that amuses me, in verses 26-34: “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.”

The whole thing started unwinding as soon as the healed man asked, “Do you want to be his disciples too?” The religious leaders get prickly and defensive, the man gets a little snarky (“Now that is remarkable!”) and it all ends up with the religious leaders calling him names and booting him from the temple. You get the sense that the formerly blind man got the better of the exchange.

It’s funny, but it’s sad, too. These leaders were trying to do their best to defend their theology and keep the Jews on the right track. The problem was, they didn’t understand that they weren’t on the right track.

Imagine if they knew that they were sneering at being disciples of the long-awaited Messiah, the one true Savior. Imagine if they realized that they were so proudly claiming their discipleship to long-dead Moses to a man who had actually encountered God.

I wonder if I’m ever like that. Do I get so confident that I have things right that I close my eyes to the actual revelation of Jesus, in scripture and in people’s lives? Do I ever reject a brother or sister’s experience because it doesn’t conform to my theology?
I think I’ve done that. I hope I haven’t done it very often. I’m going to try not to do it again.