Lent
March 19, 2023
Scripture Reading: John 9:1-41
Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ He answered, ‘And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.’ He said, ‘Lord, I believe.’ And he worshipped him. Jesus said, ‘I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.’ Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, ‘Surely we are not blind, are we?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, “We see”, your sin remains. –John 9:35-41
Are we turning people away from church because we practice our worldview rather than Christ’s? Jesus called us to a new worldview, the Kingdom of God, or what is also referred to today as the Beloved Community. The Pharisees chose the parts of their faith tradition that met their worldview and ignored others. Thus, they judged other people based on their worldviews. In the first century, having any kind of disability was often viewed as a punishment for sin, for example, being blind.
I was appalled this week when the news showed a segment of debate in our state legislature regarding a bill that would legalize corporal punishment in our public schools for children with disabilities. The bill’s legislator quoted scripture saying spare the rod, spoil the child. Those exact words are not in scripture; they are derived from Proverbs 13:24, Those who spare the rod hate their children, but those who love them are diligent to discipline them. Another legislator challenged the bill by asking if we were going to make state laws from all the rules in the Bible. The example that came to my mind was Deuteronomy 21:18, 21 as an example, If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother … all the men of the city shall stone him with stones, that he die. There were not enough legislators present to act on the bill. It will be reconsidered next week.
How many of our faith expressions are we sifting through our worldviews? How much of the loss of interest in being a Christ follower relates to how we live God’s love, picking and choosing what is acceptable and good and what is not?
Jesus said it best as quoted in Matthew 7:5, You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye. Our public schools have been grossly underfunded for years, there are not enough counselors, and there are many better ways of disciplining children that do not require corporal punishment. Poor education is directly related to adult criminal behavior. When I was in school, I routinely watched many, particularly boys who were disrupting class, got called to the front of the room, were told to grab their ankles, and got several licks with a paddle. It never stopped their hijinks. They did not want to be there in the first place, and being rowdy usually opened the way to dropping out of school, often leading to a life of crime.
Prayer: Lord, open our eyes to discern how others see Christ in our behavior and grant us the courage to change our worldview today to bring us into sync with your Beloved Community vision. Amen.
N.T. Wright has a good study regarding worldviews and our faith views, Worldviews, the Bible, and the Believer. For more information, see https://www.udemy.com/course/worldviews-the-bible-and-the-believer/
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.