“Continuing in His steps”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Thursday, September 5, 2024

John 9: 1-17 (Forward, p. 38) CEV p. 1113

Jesus certainly knows how to rattle His opponents’ nerves. His words and actions unsettle them totally, for they raise the spectres of possibilities that they would rather not entertain. For, firstly, He claimed to be the Lord of the Sabbath, deciding fully on His own what could or could not be done on that day. This meant that He was flouting the age-old and much treasured rules and regulations concerning Sabbath practice and observance. While not exactly drawn up by either God or Moses these rules and regulations had grown up over time, with the express purpose of ensuring that people did not break God’s command by accident. They had come to have a stature that was nearly akin to God’s express laws, and here was Jesus daring to transgress them, and even daring to suggest how the Sabbath could be kept.

And, if this were not bad enough, Jesus goes on to suggest that even as His Father works on the Sabbath, so too should He. He says this explicitly in an earlier passage, John 5:17:

“My Father has never stopped working, and that is why I keep on working”.

His critics immediately ‘got the message’. They understood it to mean that Jesus was saying that God was His Father, thus making Him equal with God (see verse 18).

And, then Jesus reiterates this, but a bit more indirectly, in today’s passage:

“Because of his blindness, you will see God work a miracle for him. As long as it is day, we must do what the one who sent me wants me to do. When night comes, no one can work” (verse 4).

[God works and so must I. It is pretty plain.]

Jesus is saying that He needs to continue in God’s steps, to continue walking in His steps. And, is this not something that we need to do as well, to walk in God’s steps, Jesus’ steps, and continue to do His work in our world. Certainly, there will be some who see this as arrogant, as a kind of presumption on our parts—even as Jesus’ critics saw Him—but, is there any less that we should be doing? I think not.

Forward notes: “Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyesˆ” (verse 14).

“As a child, I understood God as operating on a rewards system, giving me a gold star when I did well and withholding reward and affection when I failed. As an adult, I have come to a place in my spiritual life where I understand that some things are simply out of our control.

“Jesus tells the disciples that the man was born blind through no fault of his own. He was not blind because he sinned; he did not lose his sight as a result of generational trauma. Some are born poor through no fault of their own, born disabled through no fault of their own, born into oppression or into abusive homes.

“Jesus says this man was ‘born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him’ (John 9:3). God doesn’t want to punish or withhold from us. Rather, God wants to reveal God’s self to us. Are we ready to receive this magnificent gift?”

Moving Forward: “Commit to attending a service of Holy Eucharist this week. Look for glimpses of God in the prayers and liturgy.”