June 4, 2023
No View Ahead
“They reviled him and said, ‘You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.’”
John 9:28-29 (NASB)
I am sure you have seen movies and maybe witnessed circumstances where people are so stubborn in their ways, they end up in serious trouble, or dead. You couldn’t convince them their actions are wrong. Otherwise, you could find yourself in a fight. There also seems to be a fascination doing, let’s be honest, stupid things; knowing injury could come. Daily on the internet, videos, and movies, there seems to be this growing fascination. People do it without considering what their lives will be like in the future. They have a short-term view of life.
“They reviled him…” This “reviling” of the man was to reproach or scold him in a loud and abusive manner for all to hear. Robert Thomas says, “…Christians are particularly exposed to calumniation for the Lord`s sake is the tacit presupposition, cf. Mt. 5:11; 10:25. The man born blind (Jn. 9:28) has to learn this when the words of abuse which fall on him are really directed against Jesus.”[1] Thomas is saying Christians should expect to be exposed to false accusations in their lives today, by those doing it with malice. Christians though are not the real source of the attack; it is Christ they hate. The words the Pharisees said to the man, were actually directed to Jesus. So the attack against the man, was an attack on Jesus Himself. “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.” This statement “but we are disciples of Moses,” was a common phrase. This was an attempt to validate the Pharisees as Moses’ witness to truth through the ages. Even orthodox rabbis used this phrase. To go against their statements would be to revolt against the Law of Moses. The problem with these statements was the hypocrites were running from their own laws. For their laws would have never allowed their behavior. Then the attack moved to where Jesus hometown. “We do not know where He is from.” “John here uses a bit of satire. The Pharisees now admit that they do not know where Jesus comes from, even though in John 7:27 “We know where this man is from,” they claimed to know his origin. Jesus has come from God, as the healing of the blind man ought to indicate, but the Pharisees are blind to this truth.”[2] Many today know much about the Scriptures, yet their knowledge is empty of real substance.
The Pharisees in this story are much like some today who have a short-term view to life. They were concerned more about what they needed to do, to stay in God’s good grace. In this capacity, they had no ability to conceive the future and the consequences ahead. They were stuck in a daily grind of outward flashy appearances. The world is so much like this today. The world would have you try to make the biggest flashiest appearance, without thinking about tomorrow. But we need to think about tomorrow, the next day, and the future. One day it will be too late to think about what could have been in our lives. Begin today to think about your future, and stop listening to the world. Don’t find yourself the topic of one of those stupid videos you might see on the internet one day, regretting your decision.
[1] Hermann Hanse, “Λοιδορέω, Λοιδορία, Λοίδορος, Ἀντιλοιδορέω,” ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 294.
[2] Barclay Moon Newman and Eugene Albert Nida, A Handbook on the Gospel of John, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1993), 314.