The culture that we live in needs to rediscover the selfless spirit. The cultural selfishness revolving around "what's in it for me?" has replaced the view that the act of giving is blessed rather than the act of receiving (Skinner 2011). Jesus Christ was a messiah who sacrificed himself for the greater good of mankind. He embraced death for the salvation of men to deliver them from all their sins. While reflecting upon the question as to how Jesus provided an antidote to cultural selfishness, there are plenty of episodes to choose from the gospel according to John. However, the one that I find most appropriate to the context is when Jesus healed the sight of a blind man.
In the gospel according to John, Jesus came across a man who was blind from birth, and his disciples inquired if the man was born blind because of his own sin or that of his parents. Jesus like a "light of the world" applied clay mixed with his spittle on the man's eyes and healed his sight. The Pharisees, who were selfish to the core, were frustrated to learn that Jesus had cured the man, who placed his faith in Jesus. The Pharisees were offended with Jesus on two reasons. Firstly, the blind man was cured by Jesus on the day of the Sabbath, and they considered this as a transgression of the Sabbath rest. Secondly, they found it hard to believe that the blind man, whom they considered a sinner, and Jesus, a Sabbath breaker could do such marvelous work of God together (Skinner 2011). They refused to believe that the man was blind from birth and they called his parents to testify. When his parents testified that the man was blind from birth, the Pharisees threatened them with excommunication from the synagogue and then ostracized him for professing faith to the Lord Jesus.
The act of the Pharisees equates physical blindness and sin. They were selfish who only concentrated on their own selfish needs. They refused to accept Jesus as a son of God. Their prejudice prevented them from seeing that it was God's intention to send Jesus as a messiah, a bearer of truth on the day of Sabbath to bring light and freedom to his people (Bennema 2009). In order to have their way, the Jews even applied the means of threat of excommunicating those who would accept Jesus as Christ.
Here the cured man represents the common man who is blind to the truth, and the Jews represent the authority that tries to oppress men through selfish means. Although the scripture states that sin can make the body and soul both sick, not all the sickness, however, is the result of sin. The blind man, for instance, was not suffering because of his sin. He was made blind by God because of a bigger purpose, and that purpose was to send Jesus as a messiah to cure the blind man, i.e. the common people of their blindness. Jesus by giving physical sight to the man not only cured him of his blindness, but also gifted him with a spiritual vision. The spiritual vision that an act of kindness is an act of God, and Jesus through his act of kindness bestowed upon the blind man sent a message to the mankind that it was time for them to stand against the selfishness represented by the Jews and embrace God.
Work Cited
Skinner, Christopher W. "Encountering Jesus: Character Studies In The Gospel Of John - By Cornelis Bennema". Religious Studies Review. 37 (2). pp. 131-131. 2011. Print.
Bennema, Cornelis. "Encountering Jesus: Character Studies in the Gospel of John". Paternoster. 2009. Print.
