Love Versus Fear
The Jews still did not believe that he had been born blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that he can now see?” “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. But how he can now see, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. John 9:18-22
The Pharisees were afraid – afraid of the unknown, afraid of something happening outside of their carefully regulated system. The man’s parents were also afraid. They knew the threat against anyone believing Jesus was the Messiah. Being ‘put out of the synagogue’ didn’t just mean they couldn’t join their fellow Judeans in public worship. The synagogue was the focus of the whole community. Being barred from synagogue worship meant losing your social standing, your work and livelihood, and possibly even your life. If you were barred from the synagogue your survival would mean leaving the area and starting again somewhere else. So anxious are the parents that they will let their son face the full brunt of the questioning, “Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.”
‘Perfect love drives out fear’ wrote John (1 John 4:18). Here love and fear are facing each other like two great gladiators in the arena. The Pharisees are both feared and fearful. Their intimidating questioning has left the parents in fear. Against all this is the love of God in Jesus Himself. God’s healing and light have come to the earth in the person of the Son. The new creation is in Jesus, the new day, the new start the earth has been waiting and longing for.
The parents have succumbed to the angry, fearful reaction of the Pharisees. Where there could have been faith, acceptance and hope, we see the opposite. This story speaks to the many dark places both in our world today and in our own lives, where fear, resentment and anxiety cripple our understanding, restrict our faith and stifle our love.
Where are you in this story? Are you like the son who doesn’t understand what’s going on around him, “One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” (9:25). You love Jesus. You love the amazing benefits from faith in Him – forgiveness, redemption, new life with a new master!
Or are you like the parents? Have you allowed the buffetings of life to quieten you down? Have you tried to share your faith but felt it was a disaster? Do you keep quiet about Jesus?
Love versus fear. That’s what it usually comes down to. Ask God to fill your life with the love of Jesus. Then look for opportunities to let that love flow out through you to a bleeding, needing world.
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