John 9:22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.
We certainly live in an age when social pressures are great, and the consequences of fighting against those pressures are even greater. Your career ends. Your family gets attacked. You have to hire private security to protect yourself. You have to move. You lose everything.
And this is in a country that has had freedom of speech as a foundational tenet since the beginning. But somehow in the span of only a few years, that has all changed, at least in the minds of those who are currently in power. And they are supported by those in big tech who control the speech of all and the new media that is the transportation entity for the delivery of the dictates.
But political and social pressure is nothing new. Our text is in the middle of a miracle story. A man who had been born blind was healed in a very unusual way. Spit was used, a very unclean and unorthodox method of healing.
Jesus made mud with some spit and put it on the man’s eyes. He then told him to go and wash it off at the local river. When he did this, he could see for the first time in his life.
But Jesus had the audacity to do this miracle on a forbidden day. He did it on the Sabbath. Only official, sanctioned work was allowed on that day. And drawing attention away from the religious and political leaders was not authorized, no matter how helpful it was to the healed person. This is not the first time Jesus has stepped all over this tradition.
You see, Jesus was establishing a Kingdom unlike any other kingdom. His was in line with the original design. His kingdom operated the way it was supposed to be run. He wrote the operating manual for life, and He was reinstating those original instructions.
The leaders didn’t want to believe that the miracle had taken place. They wanted to discredit Jesus at all costs. So they call in the man’s parents hoping to find some kink in their story.
But the pressure to conform to the party line prevents the parents from confirming that Jesus has done the miracle. The confirm the facts: born blind, check. Identity confirmed, check. How it happened, no comment.
I am wondering what pressure we are willing to endure to acknowledge Jesus role in our lives? Are we willing to lose status? Are we willing to lose our income? Are we willing to lose our families? Are willing to lose our life?
For millions around the world today, these pressures have led them to have to make these choices, and for the faithful, the losses have come. Are we willing to become part of this Body of Christ that is willing to stand, and then to actually stand up for Jesus in this way?
My prayer is that our wills and our action would be united in the face of the coming pressures. The costs will vary, so we need to come together to bare one another’s burdens. We need to be willing to sacrifice for those who have lost everything, since we are one family. Our plenty can supply their need.
The Arnold Journey 