February 17
JOHN 9
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 So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. 17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”– John 9:13-17
JOHN 9 THE DOWNSIDE OF LEGALISM
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
When we have a legalistic view, we become slaves to rules
We develop a tunnel vision to focus only on what we know
We do not want to hear anything that opposes our mindsets
We become blind to other people’s knowledge and belief systems
Legalism brings conflict; it enslaves others to only go with your flow
It is not proactive but reactive; it wants to live in what it knows.
In this account, we see the downside of legalism. The Pharisees had to investigate the former blind man. They were looking at all kinds of loopholes to charge Jesus with something so he could stop the signs he was doing. They were threatened by what Jesus could do and their insecurities were activated by Jesus’ big following. They had tunnel vision which only focuses on the law that Jesus broke. He healed the blind man on the Sabbath. How ridiculous was it to grill someone who freed the blind man from being in the dark all his life? This is what happens to legalistic people. They cannot see anything good. They are so obsessed with following rules and they want to control everyone else around them to do so. They do not care if you have another view because that will negate their knowledge which will make them lesser and activate their inferiority complex.
Instead of believing that Jesus was the Son of God, they had to prove that Jesus was a sinner. It would make them right to find fault in Jesus and feel a sense of control over it.
REFLECTION
• Share how legalism or legalistic people have destroyed themselves and others.
