Who says?
Lily Cathcart
March 26, 2025
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John 9: 7b - 17 (NRSVA)
7b Then he went and washed and came back able to see. 8 The neighbours and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, ‘Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?’ 9 Some were saying, ‘It is he.’ Others were saying, ‘No, but it is someone like him.’ He kept saying, ‘I am the man.’ 10 But they kept asking him, ‘Then how were your eyes opened?’ 11 He answered, ‘The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, “Go to Siloam and wash.” Then I went and washed and received my sight.’ 12 They said to him, ‘Where is he?’ He said, ‘I do not know.’ 13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, ‘He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.’ 16 Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.’ But others said, ‘How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?’ And they were divided. 17 So they said again to the blind man, ‘What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.’ He said, ‘He is a prophet.’
Who decides who belongs? Is it us?
The people in today’s reading from John 9 certainly thought it was them.
The neighbours of this man, blind from birth, were seemingly quite happy with his presence so long as he was a beggar.
When he reappears, able to see, with not only his eyes, but also his options open they don’t believe him, they interrogate him, and they take him to the Pharisees. Like children taking another child to their parents for not playing fair.
The Pharisees, of course, are even more convinced that they decide who belongs. Not only do they seem to share the people's worry about this man becoming equal to them but they are concerned that Jesus had healed on the sabbath. ‘This man is not from God’ some of them say.
As if any human can decide who belongs with God.
So who decides if someone belongs? I don’t think it is the Pharisees. I don’t think it is the neighbours, the people. I don’t think it is us at all.
I think it is God.
What do you think?
Prayer:
Dear God of eye opening
thank you that we are not in charge of who can belong
Help us to remember this in our thoughts and actions
Continue to converse with our hearts
Bring everyone a sense of belonging with you
Amen
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