Here’s how the study works: Read the chapter mentioned in the heading several times during the week and share any words, thoughts, verses that stood out to you. Having a week for a chapter creates the opportunity to reread it several times and make additional comments as you feel inclined as well as make comments on other people’s insights.
I’m glad to be moving onto chapter 9. Chapter 8 was heavy going.
The Jews believed that all sickness was caused by sin which was quite surprising. I mean surely they had read Job?
Someone being born blind created a problem because it is difficult to believe a baby would sin prior to birth. Yet in v. 34 it seems they came to the conclusion that this man did!
Actually I find the conversation between the Pharisees and the man almost comic. The Pharisees were so set in their minds that even in the face of evidence they could not accept that Jesus had healed this man.
I’m glad to be moving onto chapter 9. Chapter 8 was heavy going.
The Jews believed that all sickness was caused by sin which was quite surprising. I mean surely they had read Job?
Someone being born blind created a problem because it is difficult to believe a baby would sin prior to birth. Yet in v. 34 it seems they came to the conclusion that this man did!
Actually I find the conversation between the Pharisees and the man almost comic. The Pharisees were so set in their minds that even in the face of evidence they could not accept that Jesus had healed this man.
v.22 Is it me or are his parents being unsupportive?
v.22 Is it me or are his parents being unsupportive?
very strange that the pharisees refused to believe their own eyes and instead continued to side with their traditions and teachings…
v.4 “night is coming when no one can work”
i have always wondered what jesus meant by this. it is a phrase that continues to come to me from time to time when i experience a particularly rough patch of life.
v.5 jesus said that while he was in the world he was the light of the world. interesting to contrast with matt.5:14 in which jesus speaks to the crowd and says that they are the light of the world. not sure how that fits together just yet. unless he is speaking of those who will have him radiating from their inner being in the future?
v.39-41 one of my favorite passages in all of the NT. i always ponder over it so. jesus came to give the blind sight, and blind those who have it… perhaps this is why so often i feel life amongst the outcasts and so little among the churched?
and the most radical of nearly all statements jesus ever made, to me, is this… “If you were blind, you would have no sin…”
that sooooo does not go with anything i have ever been taught. in fact, it doesn’t even mesh with most of the NT writers thinking. i haven’t really seen this idea expounded upon anywhere else other than in some universalist writing. yet, jesus said it all the same. in fact he even backs it up by saying that the religious men around him who claim “to see” have their sin remain because they claim this…
fascinating.
very strange that the pharisees refused to believe their own eyes and instead continued to side with their traditions and teachings…
v.4 “night is coming when no one can work”
i have always wondered what jesus meant by this. it is a phrase that continues to come to me from time to time when i experience a particularly rough patch of life.
v.5 jesus said that while he was in the world he was the light of the world. interesting to contrast with matt.5:14 in which jesus speaks to the crowd and says that they are the light of the world. not sure how that fits together just yet. unless he is speaking of those who will have him radiating from their inner being in the future?
v.39-41 one of my favorite passages in all of the NT. i always ponder over it so. jesus came to give the blind sight, and blind those who have it… perhaps this is why so often i feel life amongst the outcasts and so little among the churched?
and the most radical of nearly all statements jesus ever made, to me, is this… “If you were blind, you would have no sin…”
that sooooo does not go with anything i have ever been taught. in fact, it doesn’t even mesh with most of the NT writers thinking. i haven’t really seen this idea expounded upon anywhere else other than in some universalist writing. yet, jesus said it all the same. in fact he even backs it up by saying that the religious men around him who claim “to see” have their sin remain because they claim this…
fascinating.
i think his parents were, as the text said, afraid of the authority of the pharisees. they didn’t want to be kicked out the synagogue, so they said nothing and left their son out to dry.
yeah. i guess they were being unsupportive. they could have chosen to put themselves out there and tell what they knew as well, but they didn’t. they put it all squarely on their son’s shoulders.
i think his parents were, as the text said, afraid of the authority of the pharisees. they didn’t want to be kicked out the synagogue, so they said nothing and left their son out to dry.
yeah. i guess they were being unsupportive. they could have chosen to put themselves out there and tell what they knew as well, but they didn’t. they put it all squarely on their son’s shoulders.
I think we are the light of the world because Jesus is the light of the world and he lives in us.
I wonder “if you were blind you would have no sin” refers to those who haven’t had the chance to hear about Jesus.
There have been times when I have felt more life amongst the outcasts than the churched but I thought it was because they were more honest that is they weren’t pretending to have a handle on life. There was no pretense which you sometimes get in churched circles.
I think we are the light of the world because Jesus is the light of the world and he lives in us.
I wonder “if you were blind you would have no sin” refers to those who haven’t had the chance to hear about Jesus.
There have been times when I have felt more life amongst the outcasts than the churched but I thought it was because they were more honest that is they weren’t pretending to have a handle on life. There was no pretense which you sometimes get in churched circles.
v.32 I guess the implication here is that previously people had been healed of diseases that caused blindness but no one had ever been healed when blind from birth before this.
v.32 I guess the implication here is that previously people had been healed of diseases that caused blindness but no one had ever been healed when blind from birth before this.
v.1-2 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
The disciples didn’t mention him to Jesus with the thought of him being healed or helped but with the thought of having a theological discussion.
The disciples thought his condition revealed God’s disapproval whereas Jesus saw his condition as an opportunity for God’s grace.
v.1-2 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
The disciples didn’t mention him to Jesus with the thought of him being healed or helped but with the thought of having a theological discussion.
The disciples thought his condition revealed God’s disapproval whereas Jesus saw his condition as an opportunity for God’s grace.
v.6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.
I read somewhere that the saliva of a good man was believed to have healing properties so I think Jesus did this to encourage faith.
v.6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.
I read somewhere that the saliva of a good man was believed to have healing properties so I think Jesus did this to encourage faith.
Four times the Pharisees asked how this man received his sight! v.10, 15, 19, & 26.
Four times the Pharisees asked how this man received his sight! v.10, 15, 19, & 26.
v.34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
Following Jesus can be costly. Being thrown out of the synagogue amounted to being ostracized by society.
v.34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
Following Jesus can be costly. Being thrown out of the synagogue amounted to being ostracized by society.