As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ 3Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.  Jn 9:1-4

Oh how offensive the presumption in the disciple’s question!  The blind man is so because of something his parents must have done?  Or worse yet, something he himself did?

The man man was blind from birth, raised as and  judged to be blind because of his transgressions.  He ‘deserved’ his blindness and was shunned to the point of begging (⁸The 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?’). He’s unclean, an outcast.  The community of faith has turned a blind eye on him.  Unseen and unacknowledged even by his mother and father.

Jesus sees him.  Jesus says, “Hold on…nobody sinned here! God is revealed in this blessed man’s blindness!” 

How inept human’s are – especially self-righteous ones – in judging sin in others, let alone themselves.

Put your trust in Him.  Without it you stand a good chance of living into the judgment of others in a sort of groundhog day existence, unable to allow God’s works in you  to be revealed and to bless others.

Lectionary Readings:  AM Psalm [120], 121, 122, 123; PM Psalm 124, 125, 126, [127]  Jer. 25:8-17; Rom. 10:1-13; John 9:18-41