Sin in the Room

When the gospel writer John tells a story, he does so with deliberation and detail.  The other writers tell their stories quickly and with such fewer words.  But, when the Apostle John sets out to tell a story, he spares no words and no details.  Big chunks of space gets eaten up with his story telling.  Examples are the Nicodemus narrative, the account of the Samaritan woman at the well, the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead, and in the 5th chapter, the lengthy rendering of the healing of the man born blind. 

 

Actually, it a story with many subtitles.  One might be the man born blind, another could be a healing on the Sabbath, and still another would be a reluctant but bold witness.  Preachers have a lush field for preaching when this story comes to the pulpit.  A recent reading of Richard Rohr's book entitled  "Everything Belongs" contains a section about this story.  As he reflects on the way the keepers of the Sabbath pointed their fingers at Jesus and then the man who was healed of blindness, he makes a simple but profound comment, "They see sin everywhere but in themselves."

 

Rohr was exactly right as he wrote about the keepers of the Sabbath.  And, those first century sinners were not the last ones to point their finger away from their own hearts.  We do this very well.  There is something about us which is quick to point toward others and hammer home the label "sinner" even as we fail to see the first sinner who needs to be labeled in the mirror.  The truth is there is more than enough sin in the room and each one is responsible for a share of it.  Jesus spoke clearly enough about the problem as He asked the question, "Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?"  (Matthew 7:3)  A bit of exaggeration drives the point home.  As is always with the case of Jesus, it would do us well to heed His words.