Religious myths

 

Misconceptions in Judaism     “And His disciples asked Him saying, Master who did sin, this man or his parents that he was born blind? “  This reveals what was the common thinking that prevailed concerning suffering.  In a culture which considered that material prosperity, and bodily health were evidence of Divine favour, it was held that anyone in such a condition was so as a punishment for sin, either of themselves or their parents.  This was nothing short of human philosophy applied to Divine truth, and had taken hold in the minds of the people due to the false teaching of their leaders.   The first of these assumes the preposterous view that a baby could sin in the womb (which apparently the scribes actually taught); or it may be the error of re-incarnation, the teaching that a sinning person came back after death to pay for their sins in a previous life.  The second error is a misinterpretation of Exodus 20v5-6 and indeed was an insult to the parents status with God.  There it says of God, that He “visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”   There is a distinction between “them that hate me” and “them that love me”-Ex. 20  It is evident that God deals differently in his governmental dealings with those who love Him and keep his commandments.  It is just not true that all suffering is the result of personal sin.  Jesus ignores the obvious error and focuses on the present need of the blind man.  There is ever an attempt to rationalise what we can never properly explain, rather we should be focusing how to alleviate a person’s suffering.  We should not be asking how it came to be, but how best we can help the situation.

Opportunity.     “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity”-v3-5

“Neither did this man sin, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be manifest in him.”

Jesus does not answer the suggested link between sin and suffering.  He was not here in this world to satisfy religious curiosity, but to meet the need of suffering humanity.   We cannot but conclude two very important issues from this statement; the first is that those who are disadvantaged in any way, in this life, maybe so in order that God may reveal Himself  in them.  Secondly, it is the work of God to heal humanity.  All our ills came as a consequence of sin-a direct result of listening to satanic lies.  Christ was manifested to undo the works of the devil.  It is the work of God to reverse the works of the devil.  There are multitudes of disabled people in this world as a result of sin, not necessarily their own sin, or that of their parents.  God’s work is to deal with the root problem of sin, and also its consequences.  It is not for us to question the cause but to deal with the consequences.  It is God’s work today to change the situations of men and women, in particular the condition of blindness to the truth of God.  Our Lord says a similar thing in chapter 11v4 where it is written “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby.”  Are we involved in the work of God today, which is to change the disastrous consequences of sin in which people are living?  Jesus proclaims his commitment to the work of God, and stresses the urgency and the sense of mission that should characterise us.

He says “I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day the night cometh when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

Jesus had a sense of mission which was to work the works of God.  The works of God are to alleviate human suffering and open the eyes of the blind.  Anything that undoes the work of the devil is the work of God and that was Jesus’ mission.  He also had a sense of urgency about the matter, for there was limited time in which to accomplish it.  He was constantly aware of the passage of time and that there was only a limited window of opportunity to accomplish His mission.  It is said of him and in Luke 9v51 that “He steadfastly set his face as a flint to go to Jerusalem…” and everyone noticed it.  He was on a mission and the time was short.  It was only as long as he was in the world that he was the light of the world, and nothing would deter Him, and nothing would stand in His way until He completed the work of God that had been given to Him.

We must pause briefly here, for Jesus is no longer in the world. He has gone back to heaven.  He completed his own work in due time, and to perfection.  He has not left the world without a light for he said to his disciples. “Ye are the light of the world…. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven”-Matthew 5v14-16.  In a darkened world, the only light today is that which comes from true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.  We are to shine brightly, individually-Philippians 2v14-15, “Do all things without murmurings and disputings but ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation; among whom ye shine as lights in the world. We are to shine as lights corporately in the churches which are described as the seven golden lampstands- Revelation 1v12, v20, and 2v1.12.  There is no inherent light in the churches or in the individuals who make them up. They are merely reflectors of the light of Christ.  We must always ask ourselves, what kind of representation are we of the person of Christ?  We should soberly remember that to the first church at Ephesus, He threatened to remove the lampstand, for a loveless church does not represent Him.  He declared that the seventh church, the materialistic Laodicea was blind; not only had they ceased to be a light to the world, they no longer had light in themselves.