Lectionary Year A
March 10, 2002
John 9:1-41

StepV: Hermeneutical Bridge

(EH)

I chose this passage for two main reasons:
1. I have 2 physical disabilities: loss of sight in one eye due to teenage accident many years ago; and atrophied muscles in leg due to polio even longer ago.
2. I believe this passage has been ripped from its context too often.
My reflections:
Sin is the decision not to believe in Jesus as the Messiah sent from God. I believe this is consistent with the 4th gospel.
The issue is the debate between the synagogue tradition and the new cult of Jews, who will eventually become the church.
There is no relation between sin, as defined above, and physical disabilities or suffering.
The parents are reluctant to affirm Jesus as the healer for that would have them expelled from the synagogue-(thus their fear of the Jews).
I will say more later, but my basic theology is that Jesus does not heal the illness he heals the dis-ease - which is the banishment from the community of those who are without "sight," or something else.



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