The disciple of Jesus is supposed to put his teaching into practice, to live his teaching. The blind man in this parable is more likely to be a Christian who ignores the teaching of Jesus in this Sermon on the Mount. In this sermon, Jesus talks about loving our enemies and sharing our possessions (Luke 6:27-38).
We may, in ourselves, have two tendencies: to ‘spiritualise’ what Jesus says – which we do when we think things like ‘I give money at church, so why do I need to share my possessions?’ On the other hand, we may also think, ‘I believe in Jesus, so this sermon applies to others’. Jesus really wants us to grapple with possessions – those things we fill our lives with. Do we need all we have, or can we
share with those who do not?
Jesus also pushes us to reflect on our ability to love, forgive and be compassionate. We are not meant to admire Jesus’ words; we are meant to live them – daily – and he knows that these are not easy words to act on. The fruit that the Christian disciple is supposed to bear is the teaching of Jesus put into practice.
So much of the discrediting of Christianity today is because many people perceive the Christian message to be one that is not lived – people say things like ‘Christians are the blind trying to lead the blind’ because they themselves do not put into practice what they claim to believe in.
Today, the day before Lent begins, might be a good time to pause and reflect on your own living of the Christian message.
Do you put the words of Jesus into practice? Or do you, like so many of us, tend to ‘spiritualise’ his words or think the challenge is for others?
In what way, maybe even making you uncomfortable, can you better practice the words of Jesus: share your possession and love your enemies?
