Philosophical or Experiential

In John 9, there is an hilarious story that begins with a great miracle and concludes in a theological debate. But in the midst of the story, we discover a struggle that is as relevant for the 21st Century as it was in the 1st Century. The players in John 9 discovered a truth that is really easy to miss: "You don't have to understand everything to believe in something." In other words, we don't have to have all of our questions answered to believe in something.

In John 9, we discover that there are some things that are unexplainable, but they don't disqualify some things that are undeniable. The problem is, when we focus on the unexplainable and avoid facing the undeniable, we will never have faith or trust in God. However, as you begin to embrace the undeniable, the unexplainable won’t shipwreck your faith as often times it does when we get focused on the questions that we can’t answer.  Listen to this story as it begins in verse 1:  “As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”  


The story begins with a debate that was confusing the disciples as Jesus went throughout the region. It is expressed in the culturally-accepted belief that pain, disease, and suffering are a direct result of someone's sin.

So, as this blind man was listening, the disciples asked Jesus, "Who's the sinner, this man or his parents?" Isn't it amazing they totally ignore the man's needs? They are so busy being philosophical that they missed the experiential needs of the man.  He needed healing; they wanted to debate. They wanted answers, the blind man wanted to see.

What is the unexplainable in this story: Why is this man blind? What is the undeniable: The Healer is present! Is it really important why he is blind? The One who can give him sight is here!

It is important to remember that, theological revelation is important, experiential revelation is equally important. In fact, they are not mutually exclusive, but actually work hand-in-hand to bring us to a clearer revelation of who God is.

The blind man had an experience; the crowds and the Pharisees wanted to have a debate. So they debated about the debate. But we as we will see later, this wasn't the biggest debate of the day.