Thread by @BenjLesLantz

I’ve thought for awhile now that John 9 is a key text for survivors of abuse that occurred in a Christian, or religious, context. There’s insight and there’s encouragement here in this mind-blowing chapter of John’s Gospel.🧵

Jesus performs a miracle—giving sight to a blind man—in verses 1-7, then from verses 8-34, Jesus is conspicuously absent.

In Jesus’s absence, a war of narratives emerges between Pharisees and the blind man:

Either we have a brazen sheep,
or we have blind shepherds.

The Pharisees are always shifting their narrative as the evidence trickles in. First, they doubt that the event happened at all (v. 18). And even when confronted with the evidence, they force the (formerly) blind man to stand on trial as a “sinner” (v 24 is an ANE swearing-in).

Within this trial process, the Pharisees/religious leaders belittle and insult the man, while holding the threat of excommunication over his head—and over the head of his family (v. 18-23).

When the man runs circles around the Pharisees’s narratives in v. 24-33, the only thing left for the leaders to do is bully him personally, and cast him out of their community publicly, in verse 34.

In the minds of these wicked shepherds, the man was a brazen sheep. The narrative shifts. But the constant behind it all is that they’re using their authority to belittle, bully, and exclude this man. They count him a sinner because of his past blindness and present boldness.

By contrast, the basic contours of the (formerly) blind man’s narrative stay constant, while the details and implications of his testimony become clearer as he keeps speaking up.

He first testifies that Jesus is a “prophet,” but in the process of his conflict with the leaders he starts to realize that Jesus is something more. He also starts to recognize the implications that his testimony holds for the leaders if they reject Jesus.

The (formerly) blind man’s narrative has consistent contours, and at some point he sees that he’s dealing with blind shepherds.

This eventually results in bold and clear speech on the man’s part. Against all societal odds, he finds his voice.

Finally, after being absent for the narrative war of verses 8-34, Jesus reappears. And his return is good news for the blind man, and for all survivors. The good news from John 9 for survivors come in two scenes.

First, in verse 35-38, when everyone abandons the formerly blind man—his neighbors, his leaders, his parents—and the Pharisees oust him from their community, that’s when Jesus meets him.

When the wounded sheep is left all alone, the Good Shepherd goes and finds him, or her.

And Jesus comes to the sheep, not with condemnation or criticism, but with an invitation to trust him and find healing. That’s the first encouraging scene.

The second encouraging scene is in verses 39-41, where Jesus turns the tables on the religious leaders. All throughout the chapter, while Jesus was absent, we thought the blind man was on trial.

But the final verses of the chapter unveil a mind-blowing reversal: the leaders were the ones on trial at God’s court all along! Jesus condemns the religious authorities for their blindness and sin and guilt. The man they’d condemned was a walking, seeing, testimony against them!

Jesus speaks justice where there had been injustice. And this is a hint of what Jesus will do either now, or at his second coming. For survivors still pleading for closure and justice, Jesus will bring it to you in either the now, or in the not yet.

Perhaps we’ll taste that justice now. But even when human courtrooms fail, there will be a higher court where Jesus will finally separate truth from deceit, advocate for his survivor sheep, and administer true and public justice.

@CraigF_TOL had some great related thoughts on this chapter. Also, @plstepp and @angelique_rvrs have thoughts, I think.

https://twitter.com/CraigF_TOL/status/1362614086027083793