❖ Video
❖ Audio (Message)
Jesus Reversed the Position of the Weak and the Strong
Series “Theology of Interdependence and Disability,” Part 3 (John9:24-41)
Mari Ikeda
This passage tells the story of Jesus healing the eyes of a man who was born blind so that he could see. In my previous reading of the first half of this story, I told you that Jesus loves us all equally, whereas we discriminate against people with disabilities.
Social conditions surrounding people with disabilities have improved considerably in modern times compared to the ancient times when Jesus lived. However, still, surprisingly and unfortunately, the discriminatory words and actions of the people in this passage are still relevant today. We still see today people treating people with disabilities as children, taking their words lightly, and not respecting them as individual people with their own wills. I also told you that discrimination has crept into the words of the Bible, hymns, and sermons, promoting the mistake of attributing disability to sin and oppressing people with disabilities.
Today, as we move into the second half of this story, this is where the man whose eyes were healed begins to fight back. When I say fight back, I don’t mean he is attacking; he is simply using a right that he naturally has, but it feels humiliating to those who had looked down on him through the years. He meets Jesus once again and begins a new life.
Now let’s start reading, verses 24-34 first.
A. Reversal of the position of the weak and the strong (24-34)
24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” 25 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!” 26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 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?” 28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
1. Strength nurtured by weakness
This passage excites me when I read it, but how about you? A man who had previously been ignored by society is giving a very powerful testimony before the people in power. The Jewish leaders refused to believe that this man was truly blind but was made to see, they doubted his word, even called his parents and then called this man again to question him. This man seems to be disgusted with them. He is saying, “I have already explained it to you, but you didn’t believe me, and you don’t want to believe me anyway, do you?” This man is not afraid of discrimination or insults, he is not afraid of the authorities, he is even sarcastic in his arguments, and he is very confident.
And furthermore, this person has come to the conclusion that the miracle that happened to him was due to a power beyond human beings, and that only God can do such a thing. Therefore, he calmly considers that the person Jesus cannot be a sinner as the Jewish leaders say, but must be a messenger from God.
What enabled this man to speak so powerfully and calmly was not some ability he suddenly acquired after he was given his sight, but his own personality and intelligence that he had before. It is something he did not lose sight of despite the vulnerability of being blind, the discrimination and oppression he suffered from people, and the humiliation of having no choice but to beg. It may also have been the strength of his sense of justice, courage, and humor that was nurtured in the process
2. Weakness born of strength
The Jewish leaders were the opposite of this man. They looked down on this man from the beginning and had no intention or will to learn anything from him. I don’t think they ever expected this man to argue with them or speak his mind, because he was a blind man and a beggar. They assumed that he was a blind beggar and that he was not capable of sharing his opinions with them on equal terms. They may not have even assumed that he would be able to organize and consider what had happened to him logically and have his own opinion. It was all their mistaken assumptions, prejudices, and arrogance. And that is what made them weak. In their arrogance, they could no longer understand either justice or truth.
Thus, the miracle that Jesus performed reversed the position of the strong and the weak. Or, rather, it can be said that those who had been considered weak until then were shown that they were not really weak, and conversely, the strength of those who had been considered strong until then was shown to be false. Although the blind man has been treated by people as if he did not exist, he was one important person loved by God from the beginning, and his intelligence and character were both precious to God. On the contrary, the Jewish leaders taught people about God, but they really did not understand God at all, and they made the great mistake of acting arrogantly and oppressing people as if they themselves were God. Jesus takes away the power of the strong and gives power to the weak. That power is not the power to forcibly control people, but the power to believe in God and not lose hope, no matter what position you are in or what situation you are in.
Now, however, the result of this was that this man was expelled from his community. Did Jesus expect this consequence? We don’t know, but we can imagine many things as we read the rest of the story: let’s read verses 35-38.
B. Called by Jesus to abandon one’s old community (35-38)
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” 37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” 38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
We have no clue as to what kind of life this person led after this. But I am sure that in some way he joined the community of believers in Jesus. His place was no longer in his old community, but it was no longer where he should belong either. He had found a new way of life and a new place for himself by trusting in Jesus. Because Jesus called him to that. I think we can learn two things from this. One can be understood from this man’s point of view and the other from Jesus’ point of view.
First of all, if we put ourselves in this man’s shoes, we can see that when we make a decision to believe in Jesus, we are also making a decision to leave the old community to which we had belonged. This does not mean that we cut ourselves off from our family and friends who do not have faith. Rather, it means to turn our hearts to a different direction at a deeper level, and to shift our values. It is a very big shift in values when a person who has lived a self-centered life becomes Jesus-centered. And if those values are different from those of our family and friends, we have to admit that what we value and what we are aiming for are different from theirs. There will be times when we may not understand each other, but that does not hinder us from loving each other. Loving Jesus means loving family and friends whom we can’t get along with.
However, there are cases, as in this man’s case, where there is no original relationship of equal love and the only way to escape the malice of the other person is to break off the relationship. Domestic violence and abusive relationships fall into this category. We also never have to be submissive to discriminators when we are subjected to discrimination against people with disabilities, such as this man was subjected to, or racism, as I recently discussed, or any other form of discrimination. If a community is full of such discriminators, there is nothing wrong with abandoning it if there is a way to escape from it.
This is where we need to put ourselves in Jesus’ shoes and read this passage. We are given the mission to take Jesus’ place and go to those who are discriminated or isolated and tell them, “You have not done anything wrong,” and prepare a way for them to live together. It is our mission to tell those who feel they have no place in society that there is a place for them with Jesus. We also need to constantly do our best to make sure that the church, as a community, can be such a place, a place that warmly welcomes all kinds of people. This means not only when we gather in this place, but also when each of us takes the place of Jesus in our own place. At school, at work, in our families, in all our life places, we are sent there to take the place of Jesus. We are all just sinners whose sins have been forgiven by Jesus, we are not free from prejudice, and our love is small. Nevertheless, if we know the joy of Jesus calling us and giving us a place where we can feel safe and remain weak, we too can be small vessels to carry that love of Jesus.
Now let’s read the last part of today’s passage, verses 39-41.
C. Something we need to be weak to understand (39-41)
39 Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” 40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?” 41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
What has been said throughout this passage is that those in authority who had sight and wealth, power, and knowledge could not understand what the blind man could understand. That is what Jesus is saying here: “the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” To equate the word “blind” with not understanding God is discriminatory toward those who are actually blind. But throughout this passage, it has been said that having a disability such as blindness is not a sin or anything, but rather that the man’s blindness made him stronger. The fact that he was made socially vulnerable by his disability, adversely, connected this man’s heart to Jesus. On the contrary, those in authority, who were physically and financially well off, could not understand Jesus.
Paul says the following in chapter 1 of his first letter to the Corinthians.
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. …22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. …27 God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not —to nullify the things that are,… (I Corinthians 1)
as a sinner for the sake of humanity was incomprehensible to many of those in power. They thought that having more power and wealth was a sign of strength and righteousness. So they could not understand why God Almighty, who has power over all people, should give up that power, become weak, and die in disgrace. So they also thought that Jesus could not be God.
However, those who had suffered from illnesses and disabilities, and those who had been isolated due to discrimination and lack of understanding from others for various reasons other than illness and disability, found hope in Jesus. They accepted Jesus as the God who could save them. They realized that Jesus had become a helpless being just like them and shared with them their physical and emotional suffering, even death. They knew that God had indeed heard their lamentations and cries.
We cannot understand Jesus as long as we rely on our own strength. What we need is to come before God as we are, broken by our own weakness and smallness. And to cry out, “I need you. Jesus pours out His Spirit on us, making us understand what we did not understand and leading us to new possibilities. We can continue to walk in hope in Jesus, no matter who we are with, or alone, or where we are, or what our circumstances are. That is true strength.
(Prayer) Lord Jesus, You became powerless on the cross. This is because we are powerless to stop evil intentions and injustice. But You rose again to show us that we do not need to be controlled by helplessness and despair. We have many shortcomings, but You created us, and You love us as those who are made in Your image and likeness. You know each and every one of us. Please use us to bring the security and hope You give us to those around us in each place You have given us. Pour out Your Spirit upon us once again and direct our hearts straight to You. We pray in your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Summary
<This is part 3 in a series of readings of Kathy Black’s “A Healing Homiletic -Preaching and Disability.”> People with disabilities are often made vulnerable in society, but their experience makes them sensitive to injustice and empowered to seek justice. The socially powerful, with their power and privilege, do not want the weak to gain power, but that is the poverty of the strong. Let us recognize our own weakness and acknowledge that God’s love is what gives us true strength. Whether we are socially powerful or weak, that is where our new life begins.
For Discussion
- What is the strengths of this man?
- What we should “see”?