You Were There (1/14/06)
How many were left shaking their heads at this declaration. Yes, of course a blind guide would be a dangerous thing, but what was His point? Who were these blind leaders, and who the blind followers? Many would not get beyond this degree of understanding. For others the implication that their leaders were ignorant would register, with varying degrees of shock. It would be easy to think that the typical rabbi was thought of in no more respectful terms than the typical medieval friar or padre. Yet, I know of nothing to suggest that such a mindset was at all prevalent in Israel. Thus, any in the crowds who had discerned this much of the message were likely shocked by the thought.
Who was this Man that He would dare to speak so of the Sanhedrin? Of the High Priest, for all that? Was he not, after all, the chief guide of Israel? Doubtless, there would be those who heard this message who were sympathetic with the religious elite, or who at least saw a means by which they could benefit from their favors. There seems little doubt that word of His parable reached the ears of the council in short order.
Others in the crowd, willing to set aside the offense that might be taken at this description of their leaders, moved a step further in their understanding, and proceeded to sense who the followers were. Wait, just a minute! We’re the followers! He’s calling us blind! Oh! Now the number who were offended at what began to dawn on them was increasing. It is one thing, after all, to hear the high and mighty brought low at these public rallies, but to sit here and listen to this Man belittle us? Who can abide such a thing! Why should we sit through any more of this? How many were walking away as they grasped what He was saying?
There were those few, though, particularly amongst the disciples who had come to sit with Him, who heard Him out. Perhaps, having heard His message thus far, with all that He had said to correct their understanding of the Law, they had already begun to doubt those old guides anyway. Clearly the Pharisees’ approach to holiness had rather missed the mark, and were they not held up as the leaders? Well! If these leaders were as unclear on the meaning of Scripture as Jesus was making them out to be, it was clearly time to choose a new guide, and who better than He who had clarified so much already?
New Thoughts (1/15/06-1/16/06)
If there is one key word to this parable, it is that word ‘guide.’ It is all the more important to understanding the parable in that it bears two meanings. The first is that which tends to be used in translation – the idea of a guide, one leading the way forward. But, there is that second aspect of the teacher, the one who gives guidance. These are related ideas, to be sure, yet they are distinct.
Now, the sense in which we are to understand the term as regards the imagery of the parable is clearly that first sense of one leading the way. Of course, all will understand that a large part of the guide’s duty lies in pointing out the dangers that lie in our path. When do we seek a guide, after all? It is in those times and places when we find ourselves in unknown territory. We do not know the way, and therefore we seek out somebody who does. Now, that one, being aware of the local scene, ought to be aware of whatever dangers may exist. If our path leads through difficult terrain, we will expect that our guide has forewarned us of the difficulties, and advised us as to what preparations need to be made, what supplies we may need. If we are traveling through dangerous regions, he will have warned us of those dangers, and instructed us as to our proper protection against them. This is what we hire that guide for.
Anybody hearing Jesus would understand this, particularly in the rather rough region of Galilee. This was an area known to many for its roving bandits. Anyone who had ever taken caravan to Jerusalem (which would include pretty much everybody) would know that the master of that caravan had assuredly obtained the services of some local guide to bring him and his train safely through the region without trouble from these brigands. That the guides job was not only to point out the road ahead, but also the dangers of the road, then, was settled knowledge to those listening to Jesus.
Of course, this is the point of the parable’s structure. The whole design is to present the listener with a well recognized and well understood situation from life. The situation is presented in such a way that the question in regard to the outcome can only find one answer. Every listener there would recognize not only that a blind man without assistance was destined for just such a disaster as Jesus described. Perhaps there were even some chuckles amongst the listeners at the idea He puts forth. But, as is fit and proper for the parable, the point Jesus is making is not about these two blind men, but about something more important. That point is not directly stated, again because this is a parable.
We might consider the parable to be like a simile that has no opening line. There is no “A such and such is like…” We jump straight to the likeness, and it is left to the discerning listener to understand from the context and the comparison just what the such and such is.
In this case, the double sense of that word ‘guide’ provides the key. Not only is a guide one who leads us through unknown territories. The guide, by this definition, is also a teacher. He is one who gives guidance. Those who have been paying close attention to what Jesus has said leading up to this point will have noted that the whole course of His message has been concerned with correcting what has been taught in Israel. Who were the teachers? Of course, from our perspective the answer is obvious, for we know more of the story. We know full well that it is the Scribes, the Sadducees, the Pharisees that He has in mind. They are the ones charged with teaching Israel what God requires. They are the ones charged with making sure that the people are aware of the moral pitfalls ahead of them in this life, and of the way of righteousness. That said, the point becomes clear. Those who have been teaching God’s ways to Israel have been blind to His ways. They cannot warn of the moral dangers, because they are thoroughly unaware of them themselves. They know nothing of the things they claim to teach. The danger for those who insist on following them is so very real.
Consider what would become of those who followed them three years hence, when the Sanhedrin determined that this Jesus must die. Oh, they had assuredly become very aware of His opinion of their religious credentials. No doubt, they had begun to hear about it shortly after this very scene. Rather than take warning or correction from what they heard, though, they settled for taking offense. Blinded by their own lust for power, they insisted that the right course led away from this preacher who spoke with authority. Where that One led the way into all truth, they led their charges deeper into the wilderness of sin, in the end making them guilty together with themselves of turning Jesus over to the Romans.
A look at the land of Israel some forty years later would show the full extent of this blind leadership on the people. Read what Josephus records of those last few years in Jerusalem, of the extent to which power, corruption, greed and its cohorts had entered the very courts of the Temple. Read of how the factions that sought control of Jerusalem had turned the Temple into their own fortress and battleground. Read of how completely the people of the city had abandoned every principle of righteousness, to what depths of depravity they had sunk. But, as you read all these things, do not be so blind as to think you are not capable of the same.
We are offered a wide array of blind guides to follow, both in the culture at large and within the boundaries of religion. Many cults have established themselves as Christian, and many Christians have neglected to look beneath the label to substantiate their claim to that name. Many once faithful and true denominations have been infiltrated by a leadership with no room for the Christ of God. Like the Sanhedrin before them, these leaders have no use for the Christ, and indeed find Him a threat to their livelihood. In this much, they would be correct, I suppose, unless they were to submit themselves to His rightful authority to teach and guide them.
That is, after all, the core of the message Jesus delivers here. He is not so small-minded as to simply launch a barb at the religious hierarchy. He is not so low as to decry religion itself as some bad, antitheistic thing. Rather, He comes bringing correction, He comes to point out the dangers in that road which the leaders are on. He comes to point out the True Way. Why do you suppose His followers became known as the people of the Way? No, He did not come declaring that religion was evil and counterproductive. He came to point out that what passed for religion in the leadership of God’s people was not religion at all, but merely cult ritual. His brother James would later make the distinction a bit more clear for us. He made a distinction between the religion of those who think themselves to be religious, yet bear not the seeds of righteousness within them, and the real, unadulterated religion that is religious by God’s definition (Jas 1:26-27). We need to understand that it is not religion, or the religious spirit that is bad; it is bad religion, that religion of which James said its practitioners only think they are religious, in spite of the lack of all evidence of righteousness. It is the religion that puts the blinders on our eyes, convincing us of a worth that is not ours, that becomes as a blind guide to us having done so. This is the thing of which we must beware, lest we join its promoters en route to the pit!
Listen, though. What James puts so plainly in his letter is nothing more than what his Brother Jesus was teaching right here on that Galilean hillside. It is exactly what He is getting at when He says repeatedly, “You have heard…” or “You have been taught…”. Here are the instructions of that sort of cultic religion that you need to avoid, that will steer you right off the ledge if you follow them. Now, then, here is what the instructions they have taught so incorrectly really mean. Here is the instruction of true, unblemished religion. Here is the real path. Set your feet to it, and know that you can proceed with confidence.
See, as much as Jesus was pointing out the nature of the current leadership with regards to righteousness, He was also establishing His own credentials. The whole of His instruction up to this point revealed the degree to which the guides were blind. Did they show any signs of understanding what the Law of Moses really meant? Did they teach anything approaching the real extent of the Law’s application? Did they, for that matter, teach anything that was even connected to that Law, or were they merely promoting their own definitions and ideas? Here before them was One who had explained, who had taught the full extent of the demands of righteousness. Here was one who was pointing out not only the way, but the pitfalls along the way. Here, finally, was a guide who was not blind.
When we seek a guide through alien lands, or to some place we have never been before, we will inevitably seek out a guide who has been there before, for we understand that only such a guide will know the way. When we seek a teacher for some subject or other in which we need greater understanding, we will inevitably seek out a teacher who knows the subject. Simply being a teacher will not suffice, they must be a teacher of the particular information we need. They must know the subject, or they can teach us nothing. We, who are only pilgrims in this foreign land, who are seeking the way through dangerous territories, the way that leads us home; we need such a guide. We, who have fallen so far from grace and have neglected to learn what righteousness requires; we need such a teacher. There can be only one. There is only One among men who has seen that Way and can teach us. There is only One among men who has understood righteousness well enough to teach us its ways. He came for that express purpose: that we might follow Him and come safely home.
Having returned Himself to that joyous home, He has not left us to wander off unprotected once more. No! He has, according to His own promise, sent forth the very Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, to teach us all that we need know, to lead us into all Truth, to be our Counselor on this long road homeward. It is on this account that John would write to the church that they did not need anyone to teach them (1Jn 2:27). It is impossible that we should understand John to be declaring the office of teacher null and void. That could hardly be the point of one who was a teacher and an apostle himself!
Rather, John was addressing a particular problem afflicting the church. It was the problem of the Sanhedrin. It was, in this particular case, the problem of Gnosticism and heresy. It continues, in the current day, as the problem of liberalism and atheism in the pulpits. It crops up wherever there are ‘teachers’ who put themselves in places of authority over the body of the church, which ‘teachers’ insist on a unique interpretation of the truth which is at odds with both the apostolic teaching and with the God of scripture. We have plenty of these about today, and no branch of the Church is free of them. Of these teachers, and their purported truths, we surely have no need! We need no guide who will not be guided by the Holy Spirit Himself. We need no guide who will not follow the Way that Jesus went.
As one who himself functions in this role of teaching, how I need to hear what I am saying. How I need to take care that every idea I accept as truth is indeed True. How I need to be certain that my understanding is informed not by my own foolish thoughts, but by the Holy Spirit, by Him who was sent to guide me. What guide, after all, could be so blind as that one who insists on leading himself in ignorance? What blindness is greater than that self-assurance that has not basis in truth?
Oh, God! If there is any aspect of what I think I know of You that falls under this condemnation, let it be severed from my life! If, in anything I have said, thought, or especially that I have taught about You that is not Your Truth, that has not done the Lord of Justice justice, be swift to correct me. I could not bear it were I to come before You only to learn that You were never as I thought You were. I could not bear it were I to find at the end of my days that I had been a blind leader, and had led those who listened to me into dangers beyond their bearing. Let it not be so, Lord! Let Your correction come to me in any such error that I have accepted as truth. If there is any confidence in myself, Lord, strip it away, that I may truly and correctly depend wholly on You.
Truly, my God, be my vision, for apart from the sight of Your own eyes, how shall I navigate the Way? Oh! I fear not that You would lead me into temptation, how could You, the Author of righteousness, do such a thing? No, but Lord, be my constant Guide, my great Companion, that I may not, in my foolishness, step into those traps that You have come to lead me past. Let me not become so proud of my own progress as to wander away without You. Yes, You have called us Your sheep, and that for good reason! How prone I am, Lord, to absentmindedly, even willfully, wander from the pathways. How easily I am distracted by that hint of pleasure off in the distance, and how quickly I can turn from watching You to pursue my pleasures in most dangerous directions. Let it not be, Lord! Turn me back! For, I know, in spite of my foolishness, that You indeed guide us to pleasant pastures, to waters untroubled, to an eternity of joy to which no earthly pleasure can hope to compare.
