Thrown Out of Church
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jeremy_2_10-12-2025_161813: [00:00:00] Welcome to another episode of Rebuilding Faith. These are 10 minute Bible messages for people with questions and doubts.
We began chapter nine of the Book of John looking at Jesus healing a blind man. Then last week we saw part one of the fallout to that, 'cause Jesus never does it in a way that the religious leaders approve of.
Today we're gonna look at part two of the fallout, and we won't even be done with it today. Well, we're gonna see part two of the fallout again, the reactions that Jesus got to the way that he did things so we're gonna look at John chapter nine beginning in verse 18.
The Jewish leaders still refuse to believe the man had been blind. And could now see. So they called in his parents. They asked him, is this your son? Was he born blind? And if so, how can he now see? His parents replied, we know this is our son and that he was born blind, but we don't [00:01:00] know how he can see or who healed him.
Ask him. He's old enough to speak for himself. His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders who had announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue. That's why they said he is old enough. Ask him now, notice the parents are now getting involved.
They're bringing in other witnesses to try to figure out what is actually going on here. But the reason they're bringing the parents in not to reinforce it, they're trying to disprove it. They're trying to find some angle, this guy wasn't actually born blind, or there's something else going on.
So they literally are upping the ante for him personally, trying to get someone. Who will speak against Jesus against what has actually happened because they're not okay with it, and they're putting the burden of proof all on [00:02:00] the parents. You explain how this has happened, rather than looking around and acknowledging this guy can see now they're trying to get the parents to come up with some great explanation.
You explained to us how this was able to be done. And again, notice the way they control the conversation. They control the narrative, and so everyone else has to respond accordingly. And the line that they have drawn in the sand is pretty clear, right? Anyone saying that Jesus is the Messiah will be expelled from the synagogue.
So we've already started with that conclusion as we bring you in to have this conversation. It's very one-sided, and yet they have the control they have. The power to shape the way these conversations go, and it's not totally different than what we see in many Christian circles today. There are religious gatekeepers that will call you out as I have seen firsthand.
[00:03:00] If you say things that are off the approved list, there are certain things you're allowed to talk about, but there are other things you're not allowed to talk about, and if you try to talk about those other things, you will find the religious gatekeepers will come out of nowhere and will let you know that you're not allowed to talk about these things and will threaten you with all sorts of consequences.
I made a short list of things today if you want to offend the religious leaders of our day, talk about these things, or don't talk about these things depending on how you do it, and you are going to get a reaction. So if you support Palestine, you are going to get a reaction from the religious community.
The religious leaders will come at you in loud ways over this one. If you support the L-G-B-T-Q community, you will hear all sorts of things about it. 'cause that is one of those areas you're not allowed to talk about. Ironically, I have found that anyone who [00:04:00] challenges the eternal conscious torment view of hell, the traditional view of hell that people are gonna be burning, for eternity.
If you dare to challenge that and say, Hey, actually I think. Jesus may be better than that, and actually that doesn't look anything like Jesus. You will find the religious gatekeepers will in fact come after you. More recently, anyone who doesn't sing Charlie Kirk's praises is going to get a reaction. I have friends in ministry who have had people leave their church because they didn't say enough.
They didn't praise the work of Charlie Kirk. So we can look at these stories back then and the Book of John and go, wow, that must have been hard. These realities are still happening. Today, there are still topics you're not allowed to talk about, and as we see in John nine, these religious leaders are guarding the conversation very carefully.
Verse 24. So for the second time, they called in the [00:05:00] man who had been blind, and they told him, God should get the glory for this because we know this man, Jesus. Is a sinner. I don't know whether he is a sinner. The man replied, but I know this. I was blind and now I can see, I just love this. But what did he do?
They asked, how did he heal you? Look, the man explained. I told you once, didn't you? Listen, this is what we talked about last week. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become. His disciples too. Oh, this is so great. We have competing narratives here. The religious leaders have already decided, Jesus is a sinner.
Therefore, Jesus cannot get credit for this miracle. But notice that this man's argument is way more simple than that. I don't know who Jesus is. He says, but I was blind [00:06:00] and now I can see. So process that, I don't know who Jesus is, but I used to be blind and now I'm not blind anymore because of this man.
In fact, this man who used to be blind is now gaining confidence. He's gaining his voice back, and now he's standing up to the religious leaders. He's even talking a little bit of smack to them. He says, I told you once, didn't you listen, do you wanna become his disciples too? I mean, now this man is fully pushing back against these religious leaders.
Verse 28. Then they cursed him and they said, you are his disciple. But we are disciples of Moses. We know God spoke to Moses, but we don't even know where this man comes from. Why? That's very strange. The man replied, he healed my eyes, and yet you don't know where he comes from. We know that God doesn't [00:07:00] listen to sinners, but he's ready to hear those who worship him and do his will.
Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. If this man were not from God, he couldn't have done it. You were born a total sinner. They answered, are you trying to teach us? And they threw him out of the synagogue. We began this whole chapter talking about scapegoating.
That's how they look at this man. Hey, who's to blame? He's blind. Was it his sin? Was it his parents'? Sin? Notice the callback to this. Now with the religious leaders, they're back to this same talking point, and now they've concluded it was you. You were born a total sinner. Basically, you have no right to challenge us. You don't have the pedigree, you don't have the qualifications. You are out of line to challenge our thinking the way that you [00:08:00] are. They're undoing all of what Jesus has done in this man's life. They're trying to remove his dignity, remove his identity. But this man continues to have a voice because he has experienced Jesus.
But make no mistake, this man gets healed by Jesus and thrown out of the synagogue. Isn't that a weird sentence to put those two ideas together? He is healed by Jesus and thrown out of the synagogue. This reminds me of a lot of people today who have experienced Jesus. In a profound way and have had their beliefs change as a result of that, and then have been isolated from their spiritual community as a result.
See, we can have the same formula happen today. You can profoundly experience Jesus and as a result, experience isolation from your [00:09:00] church or from your community. I wanna close with just a more personal note of encouragement. If this is your story, if you are tuned into these podcasts, because you resonate with these ideas, because you have experienced Jesus, you have started to question things that you were told you're not supposed to question.
You started to think things that you've been told you're not supposed to think you've experienced Jesus in new ways. And if you've lost your church community, as a result, you've lost your spiritual support. As a result, I want to encourage you. You are not alone. You are gathered together weekly with a whole bunch of other people who feel what you feel, and together we are rebuilding something new and creating space for others to experience Jesus like that.
I'll see you next week on Rebuilding Faith.
