Bible Study With The Bishops: Back To The Pharisees

Reading Plan Text for April 17: John 9:13-23

Jesus has done it again. He healed someone on the Sabbath. You think he would have learned by now, doing anything on the Sabbath is a no-no according the local religious authorities.

The Pharisees, having failed before, try to gather all the evidence before confronting Jesus again. First they question the man. Then they question whether or not he really is the blind beggar from the neighborhood. They haul in his parents and ask them if this is their son, and if so, how is it that he can see now. The parents refuse to be triangulated. "Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself."

And there ends today's passage.

Burridge says that the parents "pass the buck," because John writes that they were afraid of the religious authorities' threat "that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out from the synagogue." (9:22) However, Burridge also points out

Yet it did not stop Jesus and his disciples going to synagogue regularly in the gospels and in Acts. The threat makes more sense after the Jewish War and the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Romans in AD70. After Jewish faith and practice was regrouped around the synagogue at the Council of Yavneh in AD85, "the blessing against the heretics" in the services made it difficult for Jews who confessed Jesus as the Christ."

Some scholars believe that John (like Matthew) is writing for people who have suffered the traumatic experience of being excommunicated, perhaps while their parents or families stood aside. (p. 127)

This is a familiar experience for many lbgt folks, especially in more conservative denominations. But even in the more liberal denominations, it has taken a lot of following Jesus, being healed by him, and doing what he asks us to do to bring about the level of acceptance that exists today. In fact, many people, not just lbgt's, have been cast out and shunned by some churches for DOING what Jesus DID in the Gospels. Robert McElvaine talks about this in his new book Grand Theft Jesus: The Hijacking of Religion in America.

So, if following our Baptismal Covenant, and doing what Jesus did, brings us in front of the modern-day equivalent of the Pharisees, we're in good company.

Peace,
Jeffri