Job has had everything taken away from him in one way or
another. He has lost his wealth, his
family and his health. He has really
only two things to hold onto and one he is willing, and more, to lose while the
other he will cling to with all he has. He
wants God to take his life, without everything else and so long as he is being
blamed for his situation, it is nothing more than a burden to him. Have you ever felt like Job? I know that I have felt that living was more
trouble than it was worth and that there was no hope of alteration for the
better and I wanted God to take me. Job is
there, he, however, maintains the hope of one thing, that ultimately he will be
vindicated, he is an innocent man and his life has been taken away but there will
be one who ultimately, even after he dies, who will stand before God and
proclaim Job's innocence. He believes in
Jesus whether he knows His Name or not. The
problem is that Job's innocence isn't the point here. At the end, God will vindicate not only Job
but more, Himself.
The leaders' theology is at one with the disciples. They are first in disbelief the man has been
healed and, once reassured by the man's parents that indeed this is their son,
that he was born and has always been blind, and now, in some way they don't
care to discuss, has been rendered able to see, they return to the idea that
sin was somehow involved in this mess. A
sinner can't possibly give credible testimony so that ties the matter up
nicely. The problem is that an
explanation is still necessary for what has happened. There is the indisputable fact before them of
a man born blind, now over forty years old, who can now see that must be dealt
with before anyone can rest. Not just
any explanation will do, it has to be satisfactory and fit within the
prevailing theological consensus. Ultimately,
they dismiss the man with the judgment, "You were born in utter sin, and
you would teach us?" How often do
we miss God moving and working because we don't like the explanation for the
inexplicable?
You have to be really careful who you allow to speak in your
church don't you? The synagogue leaders
asked Paul and Barnabas as visitors from Jerusalem if they had anything to
share with the congregation. He clearly
had no idea what he was setting himself up for in that question. It all starts well, Jewish History 101, the
abridged version, from Genesis to David and then jumps forward a thousand years
or so to "Of this man's offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior,
Jesus, as he promised." There is a
good bit left out isn't there? It seems
likely that word of this Jesus would have gotten here before now, so there
would have been some basic knowledge of this but Paul proclaims it incredibly
matter-of-factly. This probably won't go
without incident will it? Paul knows how
to get your attention in a sermon.
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