been reading John 9 for the past couple of days--
it is the account of Jesus healing the blind man.
once Jesus heals the blind man, the Pharisees try to discredit Jesus' association with God once again by accusing Him of doing this on the Sabbath.
the Pharisees then find the blind man's parents and demand an explanation.
the parents, fearing excommunication from their society, refuses to give a definite answer and consequently turns their back to their child.
the blind man, however, while probably knowing as much as his parents what excommunication meant, does not hesitate to state the truth and professes that a man with sin will not be able to do what He has done for him.
extra props to his troll question of "you guys want to be His disciples too?"
he is therefore kicked out, excommunicated.
Jesus hears this and comes back, asking the man if he believes in the Son of Man.
the blind man asks who that may be and believes right away when Jesus tells him that it is Himself.
the kicker here is that this means that the blind man stood up for Jesus without even having known that He was God. He just knew He was a good guy.
this means that he stood up just for who he considered a good guy, a friend.
of course, I can't deviate from the main point of spiritual sight and blindness and how brilliant Jesus is to relate this topic with physical sight, but the standing up part was also very.. memorable.
being excommunicated is a pretty horrible thing at that time. with no internet or newspapers and other forms of media, the synagogue was the main hub of news, entertainment, and social mingling (and of course, spiritual guidance). the had-been blind man sacrificed that when he decided to stand up for what he believed in.
this tells us that we should definitely stand up for Jesus, and also for those we believe in, despite the losses it might bring you.
and the reason points back to love, the kind of love that you acquire from loving God.
