Transformed

The blind man sees.  He washed and now he sees. What are we supposed to do with him now? This Jesus never thought about the consequences of his action. The blind man had a good gig, always out by the side of the road every day, begging for this day’s food. Maybe even getting enough coins to save for the next day.

At first we didn’t even recognize him. We were his friends, the people who would toss him coins every day. After all we knew it was our religious duty to do so.  When he came to us able to see we didn’t know what to do with him. Begging we could handle, retraining him to actually do something now, how are we supposed to do that. It will take more time then we have to give. After all we have to take care of our own families, our own time, and our own selves.  What was Jesus thinking?

We can imagine this scene. Jesus has come to town and has transformed the life of the blind man along with the whole community. His own friends don’t recognize him because he is so happy about receiving his sight. He is a different person and the choice the community has to make is whether they want to be transformed also.

There was a man who told a story about a mission trip he went on. He had become, quite by accident the assistant to the dentist because they were pulling many teeth. They had also brought glasses to pass out as well. At midday a man came to them wanting to thank them because he was the cook for the village. He hadn’t been able to see the labels on things and now that he had the glasses he could. He wanted to thank them with a meal. They ate the meal and were up all night traveling to the bathroom all night. They decided to accept the man’s thanks because his world had been transformed. Something that he loved to do was given back to him.

Transformation is not easy, it’s disturbing. It makes us ask the question of what Jesus is up to in our lives. As a matter of fact it might make us downright uncomfortable. Think about it we encounter things every day in which we make the decision on being transformed or giving our regular response. If we choose to act with kindness, with a sacrifice of our time, or with our understanding how might this transform not only the other person, but us as well? Are we willing to take the chance to be disturbed and welcome Jesus into our lives?