An excerpt from a blog entry I posted in March 2011:
In John 9, a blind guy got healed. He didn’t do anything. He was just there minding his own business when Jesus came along and healed him. He didn’t ask for it. He simply received the grace. Now the entire Pharisaical force was after him, asking pointed questions, casting doubts on his credibility, hurling insults and lambasting his morality. All because he got a miracle.
The ex-blind guy who was supposed to be welcomed to the community with open arms became an outcast (again) overnight. You know who threw him out? The Pharisees who were supposed to validate his healing and declare him clean. They could not believe that God would come to help anyone without going through their neat religious system.
Legalism is never pretty. It slams the door at God’s face and makes people mean. It keeps grace away.
Jojo Agot 