I present to you, the most honest man in the Bible! The Bible is full of skilled orators and dedicated disciples, men and women who are champions of the faith. They speak eloquently and passionately on what it means to follow God, and are worthy examples to follow. Throughout the Gospels, we often have Jesus giving detailed discourses on his relationship with God, and the disciples often miss the point. Here, though, we have one man who knows what has happened to him, and from that, he deduces that Jesus must be from God. Does he know every detail? No, but he knows enough. We don't even get his name, but he's one of the few characters in the Gospels who seems to recognize Jesus for who he is.
What's the response this man gets? Complete rejection. All he's done is be healed and talk about his experience, and for that, he's cast out by the leaders, because he doesn't give the right answers to the questions of the Pharisees.
So what's the lesson for us?
First of all, I wouldn't pay too much attention to what the world may say you're worth. Here's a man who correctly identifies Jesus Christ as a man of God, but because others have an agenda, they cast him out. Others may do the same to you -- you don't fit the mold of what they're looking for, so they'll cast you out. If you base your self-worth on the opinions of people in the world, you'll end up exhausted and discarded.
Second, don't be afraid to go against the grain. There are plenty of people willing to leap to conclusions about God that are easy. Christianity is cast aside by many for superficial reasons. They don't do serious intellectual work to think about suffering or other topics. May we be a people who think deeply about the pressing problems of the day, and if the logical conclusion is unpopular, may we follow it with integrity regardless.
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