13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath. 15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see." 16 Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath." But others asked, "How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?" So they were divided. 17 Finally they turned again to the blind man, "What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened." The man replied, "He is a prophet."
This account demonstrates certain attitudes that keep people spiritually blind from truths that God has for us. Top on the list for religious people can be the spiritual blindness of legalism. The Pharisees could not delight in seeing a man healed since birth or see Jesus as the Son of God because of their Sabbath laws. It made no difference that this was a miracle. It made no difference that this healing was cause for rejoicing and celebrating that a man was freed from an infirmity only that this day of the week was so holy to the Pharisees, that anyone who did any work was really dishonoring God.
Some of their rabbinical teaching helped explain what work was. “ A man may not fill a dish with oil and put it beside a lamp or put the end of wick in it. If a man extinguishes a lamp on the Sabbath to spare the lamp or the oil or the wick, he is culpable of breaking the Sabbath. A man may not go out on the Sabbath with sandals shod with nails. The weight of the nails would have constituted a burden and to carry a burden on the Sabbath was to break the religious law. A man might not cut his fingernails or pull out a hair form his head or his beard.”
Orthodox Jews forbid sewing on the Sabbath, including gluing or pasting. The question was asked of one rabbi about the use of gummed adhesive strips on disposable diapers. His answer related as to whether removing the gummed strip is destructive labor or constructive. He cautioned that even if it is permissible, the practice should not be done around the untutored weaker brother.
Jesus was guilty of breaking the Sabbath. First, He got His hands dirty by making mud. That was work. Then by applying it to the man's eyes was carrying out medical practices. Mud was thought by some in that society to have medicinal purposes, as a soothing balm. The rules say if you help a person if his life was in danger, that was all right. You could only do enough work to keep man alive, you were not supposed to do anything that would cause someone to get better. Jesus could have waited a day and eliminated all the fuss of the Pharisees. Jesus didn't play by the rules. The man was made to see and indeed got better.
One of the greatest problems with legalism is when you define how you should and should not act, then you can easily identify whether you or others are religious. You can then start measuring each other’s religious commitment. This isn't limited to the orthodox Jews. If reading a chapter in the Bible is good, then reading two chapters a day makes you twice as good. If one has a two minute prayer, a four minute prayer or goes to one Bible study or two or three, would make someone appear twice as holy and righteous. If you carry out your spiritual activity by being a Sunday School teacher, then you are better than someone who doesn't teach, but not as holy as a pastor who teaches and preaches full time. You understand, legalism is more than the rules you set forth, it is the attitude that judge’s people on the outward actions and has no basis of knowing a man's heart devotion to God.
Jesus never advocated sin, nor did he teach anyone could live anyway they pleased. Indeed, we are called to live differently than the world around us, but let us take on the characteristics of Jesus. We cannot do that unless we have the Spirit of Christ within us. The Spirit will let us see Jesus instead of focusing on legalism that keeps us blind to love, praise, and freedom.
Dale
