“The danger, and problem, of labeling”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Tuesday, February 15, 2022

John 9:18-41 (Forward, p. 17) CEV p. 1114

In today’s passage we find instances of a behaviour that ‘happens’ to occur so very frequently these days. It is the frequent tendency or tactic of labelling someone in the course of public debate, as a means of marginalizing or demonizing the person, and thereby shutting down the person’s comments as being unworthy of being considered. Thus, to label a person as racist or sexist or homophobic or misogynistic, is often a way to totally dismiss that person as worthy of any respect, much less worthy of being given a proper hearing of that person’s views. And sadly, this kind of thing is very widespread, happening in politics, in the social media, and even, I am dismayed to report, in the church! (I don’t know how often I have heard someone labelled as sexist or homophobic—or whatever—in a church gathering of some sort. And what astounded me was that the speaker who said this, ‘got away with it’ and was not reprimanded by the chair!)

That tactic is used by ‘the authorities’ twice in today’s story of Jesus healing a man born blind. Here they use the label, ‘sinner’, as a way of dismissing and silencing those that they disagree with. They first label Jesus in this way because very ‘obviously’ He must be a sinner if He chooses to disobey their man-made laws—which they assume to be from God—and heal someone on the Sabbath. Obviously, then, Jesus is a sinner, pure and simple.

And then, when the blind man healed by Jesus points out the uncomfortable truth, namely that no one born blind had ever been healed prior to this, and that the healing must surely come from God, they label him as a ‘sinner’ as well, and then, insult of insults, expel him from the synagogue.

What this says to me is that we need to learn to listen—something that doesn’t necessarily come that easily and that is, in fact, even less practiced these days. Our political arena is ill suited to this at present. Our social media has a way of excluding other viewpoints and solidifying us in what we already hold to be true, and our current social isolation doesn’t help in the least. And, even our individual church bodies tend to be groupings of like-minded, like-believing people. So, how do we avoid labelling, and how do we encourage and foster listening, proper, respectful, genuine listening to each other, even (or especially) when we disagree? I don’t have a ‘global’ big-picture answer for this, but maybe it can begin at a local, individual level, with those that we meet on a day-to-day basis. I’m not sure quite how to manage this, as conversations can become so very polarized so very quickly these days, but I’m sure that our Lord can help. Let us pray that we will be directed, and impowered, in this task. Amen.

Forward notes: “He answered, ‘I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see’” (verse 25).

“After Jesus cures someone of blindness on the sabbath day, the community that witnessed this miracle is divided. Has this strange person been sent by God, as evidenced by his healing powers? Or is he a sinner, as evidenced by his flouting of the rule that no one should do any kind of work on the sabbath?

“The newly healed man tries to help everyone else understand that they’re missing the point. He couldn’t care less which day of the week Jesus chose to heal him; he is too busy looking at the world, in wonder and awe, for the first time. All he knows is that though he was blind, now he can see.

“In trying to live out our faith, we can sometimes get so caught up in following rules that we forget to show compassion. Jesus shows us that compassion always wins out. When we see someone breaking a rule that we treasure, our response should not be ‘Look at this sinner!’ but rather, ‘How does this person’s life reflect the glory of God?’”

Moving Forward: “What rules in your own life need breaking so that you might better reflect the glory of God?”