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URC Daily Devotion Friday 13 June 2025

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Friday 13 June 2025

St John 9: 1 – 12


 

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth.  His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’  Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We  must work the works of him who sent me  while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’  When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes,  saying to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.  The 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?’  Some were saying, ‘It is he.’ Others were saying, ‘No, but it is someone like him.’ He kept saying, ‘I am the man.’  But they kept asking him, ‘Then how were your eyes opened?’  He answered, ‘The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, “Go to Siloam and wash.” Then I went and washed and received my sight.’  They said to him, ‘Where is he?’ He said, ‘I do not know.’

Reflection

When I worked on disability rights, I had a colleague who was so face-blind he wouldn’t recognise his wife of many years if he wasn’t expecting to see her.  One way of thinking about this story is that it’s about people not recognising things they don’t expect to see; the disciples expect disability to be a punishment for sin, while the blind man’s neighbours expect him to be begging, and think it must be someone else if he isn’t begging.

One of the most useful books I’ve read recently is Daniel Kahneman’s ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’.  He introduces the idea that we have two ways of thinking – System 1 is all about rapid reactions based on recognising patterns we think we’ve seen before, while System 2 is more about dedicated analytical effort.  We rely on those System 1 shortcuts to navigate our daily life – but that they can sometimes lead to the wrong conclusion.  There is a risk that we can be a bit ‘System 1’ when we read the Bible too – we might think we know where the argument is going, and jump to a conclusion, rather than really engaging with the text.  You might have done that today when you read this familiar story.

But that’s rarely a good idea with Jesus.  I once heard a wise woman preach that ‘Blessed are the cheesemakers’ was just the sort of surprising thing Jesus tended to say, discombobulating those who thought they had things worked out.  As I come back to this story I pause on him saying that the man “was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him”.  He is surely not saying that the man endured years of poverty and exclusion just to be a sermon illustration for Jesus; alternatively, what would it mean for us if we consider that our imperfections enable God’s works to be revealed – rather than the things we are proud of?

Prayer

Surprising God,
when we are tempted to rush to conclusions, help us to slow down.
When we think there is nothing new under the sun, open our closed minds.
When we feel there is no time to listen for your voice, remind us that that is when we most need to pray.
And may our openness to being surprised help us to show your glory to the world.
Amen


 

Today’s writer

Gordon Woods, Elder, St. Columba’s URC, Oxford

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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