Today, I am reading and commenting on  John 8-9.

Today’s passage begins with the account of the woman caught in adultery.  The earliest manuscripts currently known do not include this passage, which suggests it may be a later addition.  This leads me to suspect that the event recounted here did not actually happen.  However, based on my understanding of how God works in preserving the Truth contained in the Bible I believe it still communicates a message about how we should interact with people.  Jesus’ statement to those who brought the woman to him makes a great model for us to remember when we are tempted to condemn others: Let him who is without sin cast the first stone (using the most common paraphrase).  I want to point out though that does not mean passing off the sins of others as of no consequence.  After all, Jesus’ last words to the woman were “Go, and sin no more.” (using the most common translation).  We should not condemn others for their sins, but we should encourage them to give them up.

I did not mean to spend that much space on that, because the meat of this passage for me is the account of the man born blind.  First, the primary point of the story: the man was not born blind as punishment for sin, neither his nor his parents.  Not all suffering comes as punishment for sin.  However, my Dad pointed out to me a message in this account which now strikes a strong chord within me.  When the Pharisees questioned the man about how he received his sight, they told him that they knew that Jesus was a sinner.  To which the man replied “I don’t really know about that. All I know is that I was blind and now I see.” (paraphrasing)  The man born blind refused to get into a debate about fine theological points.  When they pushed him harder on this the man stuck to his point, “He opened my eyes.”  The man born blind allowed Jesus to open his eyes, while the Pharisees intentionally closed their own eyes.  Will you allow Jesus to open your eyes? Or will you close them to avoid seeing the Truth?

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.