One day Jesus is walking down the street and a group of people bring a blind man to Him seeking healing. Jesus spits on the ground, makes a little mud, puts some in the blind man’s eyes, and tells his friends to take him down to the river and wash it out. They and the crowd do just that, and when the man washes he is healed and can see. So off this group goes, preaching that one must received ‘spit in the eye and wash at the river’.
Another day, Jesus comes across another blind man seeking healing. Jesus tells the man to go to the temple and pay his alms. The man and the crowd around him do so, and he is healed and can see. So off this group goes, preaching that one must ‘give their alms’.
On still another occasion, a blind man is brought to Jesus wanting to be healed. Jesus asks the man if he believes He can do it, the man says yes, and he is healed. So off this group goes, preaching one must have ‘faith and belief’.
So now we have these three groups going at each other, insisting you can only be healed by ‘spit and washing’, or only by ‘alms and giving’, or only by ‘faith and belief’ - each ‘denomination’ insisting that it is exclusive of all the others. But in debating about the how, they totally lose sight that there are many ways Jesus restores us, and that they are not exclusive of each other.
None of us has the whole picture... but we all have a piece of the jigsaw puzzle. So while we're trying to force-feed our piece of the puzzle into the big picture, we should pay attention to the picture formed by the puzzle pieces around us. Because even with as much as we think we know, today is not the day to stop learning.
Another day, Jesus comes across another blind man seeking healing. Jesus tells the man to go to the temple and pay his alms. The man and the crowd around him do so, and he is healed and can see. So off this group goes, preaching that one must ‘give their alms’.
On still another occasion, a blind man is brought to Jesus wanting to be healed. Jesus asks the man if he believes He can do it, the man says yes, and he is healed. So off this group goes, preaching one must have ‘faith and belief’.
So now we have these three groups going at each other, insisting you can only be healed by ‘spit and washing’, or only by ‘alms and giving’, or only by ‘faith and belief’ - each ‘denomination’ insisting that it is exclusive of all the others. But in debating about the how, they totally lose sight that there are many ways Jesus restores us, and that they are not exclusive of each other.
None of us has the whole picture... but we all have a piece of the jigsaw puzzle. So while we're trying to force-feed our piece of the puzzle into the big picture, we should pay attention to the picture formed by the puzzle pieces around us. Because even with as much as we think we know, today is not the day to stop learning.