P ♰ C

by Jean Allen

How often, either privately or publicly, do we set preconditions we have to fulfill in order for Jesus to intervene in our lives? Do we think we have to be morally upright, a devout believer and have all the right words and prayers in order that Jesus will touch us, physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually? 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus heals a man blind from birth. He puts mud on the man’s eyes and tells him to go wash at the pool of Siloam. When the man does so, his sight is restored. A pretty familiar story. But consider this: Jesus didn’t wait for the man to ask him for healing. Jesus didn’t ask the man if he believed in him before giving him his sight. Jesus didn’t inquire into his moral habits. Jesus asked nothing of the man; he simply healed. Later on, after the Pharisees got into a big kerfuffle over the morality of someone healing on the Sabbath, Jesus found the man and asked if he believed in the Son of Man. This was not a precondition; it was a bonus. Jesus gave the man his sight and later offered the man a new vision of life and a new way of living. Jesus offered him metanoia.

The beauty of this familiar story is the truth it offers us about Jesus. We say we believe in Christ’s unconditional love but then we put lie to that by setting self-imposed preconditions for his love to be manifested in our lives. We do that because we’ve lived with conditions all our lives. Our parents had conditions, our teachers made conditions and the world sets conditions for success and happiness. It’s very, very difficult to believe in unconditional love. It’s another counter-culture aspect of the Kingdom and it challenges us constantly. You see, if we have preconditions and are diligently adhering to those preconditions, it makes us feel in control.

How we love to be in control. The problem is, within our control one thing is lacking.

Jesus – and metanoia.