Daily Devotional • September 5
A Reading from John 9:1-17
1 As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 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, 7 saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. 8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am he.” 10 But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 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.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. 17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”
Meditation
This healing story both delights me and makes me cringe. Cringe because, as the mother of children who were born with disabilities, I fear that in these stories they will hear a message that they are less than whole, a mistake or misfortune in need of correcting. One of my children, when he was young, said to me through his pain, “I wish Jesus would give me a miracle…” More than a decade (and a seminary degree) later, that memory still leaves me wordless.
Nevertheless, there is much that I celebrate in this story, starting with the opening words, “he saw a man…” Jesus saw this man who, because of his disability, was invisible to most; misunderstood and marginalized by the rest. I know from my own family’s experience that the social effects of disability can be more painful than the disability itself. The miracle that Jesus performs does more than restore the man’s sight, it restores him to community, and it is these things together that bring the man to a state of wholeness.
I also rejoice that Jesus so clearly affirms that this man’s life has purpose. In a literal sense, we could understand “he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him” to mean that the man was born with a disability so that many years later, Jesus would have someone to heal in this brief encounter, but this reading would distort the dignity, complexity and full meaning of this man’s life. From the moment this man was born, God was already being revealed in him, because like every person, he was born to bear the image of God. The miracle that Jesus performs is to open our eyes, to restore our vision for the imago Dei in the marginalized and misunderstood, so that we can experience the revelation of God’s works in every person we encounter.
Monica Coakley, a graduate of Nashotah House Theological Seminary, provides pastoral care to men on Tennessee’s death row. She lives with her family on a small farm and hoards books and yarn.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Diocese of Ikwuano – The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
Holy Apostles Episcopal Church, Katy, Texas