Ten days ago I visited a friend who several weeks earlier had told me about the gossip going around concerning “religion spreaders.” She had wanted to warn me to “be careful.” Now we were alone in the single, cluttered room that is home to her, her husband and three teenage boys. Without others around, we could talk more freely about God. Obviously troubled, she began to share her burdens with me. She showed me spots on her skin – irreversible color changes that might spread. She worried about her oldest son quitting school and wasting his life. Recent conversations with her husband had “proved” to her that he really didn’t care. She asked, “Do you think all of this is happening to punish me because I have started to think about Jesus?”
“Jesus’ friends asked a similar question about a man who was born blind,” I replied. “Jesus said that the blind man was not being punished for his sins, but that he was born blind so that God’s glory might be seen.” I began the story of this man Jesus healed on the Sabbath by putting mud on his eyes (John 9). My friend was all ears. Mud made with saliva disgusted her, but she rejoiced that the man could see when it was washed off. The response of the Jewish leaders puzzled her. Why weren’t they happy about the healing? So I explained, “The Jewish leaders taught that following rules and rituals brought one close to God. They thought the man was blind as a result of sin. As they saw it, the sinful blind man had little hope of being close to God, but he must try.”
“Then along came Jesus,” I continued. “He did not blame the blind man for his blindness. Instead, Jesus offered him sight and a chance to be close to God. Within a short time the blind man put his faith in Jesus. But that cost him! The religious leaders didn’t accept Jesus. They kicked the man out of the synagogue because he believed that Jesus was of God. The man born blind was no longer accepted as part of the only religion he had known. But was it really such a loss to this now seeing, forgiven man who had lived hopelessly for so many years while obeying the religious teachers?”
The story clicked with my friend. “That’s how it is for me, too! If I leave my faith, I can never go back again. According to our teachings, I could never be forgiven for the sin of apostasy. It frightens me to think about Jesus too much…”