John, Chapter 9: Injustice is blind

Jesus passes by a man who's been blind since birth. The disciples ask Jesus who the sinner was, the man or his parents? 1) The guy is blind, not deaf or mentally handicapped, assholes. 2) What sin can a fetus do that warrants blinding? Jesus' answer is hardly comforting: the guy is blind so that Jesus can demonstrate his heavenly powers right here, right now. And what is the miracle? Not inventing ophthalmology, like you might expect. Rather, he spits in the mud, makes a paste, puts it on the guy's eyes, then tells him to wash it off in the pool of Siloam. And of course, he can finally see. People are skeptical, and ask him how he got his sight back. He tells them his story. They ask where Jesus is, but he doesn't know. So they take him to the Pharisees, claiming all this happened on the sabbath. The Pharisees can't decide if Jesus is a god or a sinner, so they call the guy's parents, who confirm that this is their son, but say he's of age and can speak for himself. So what this book is telling us is, god made this dude blind for over 21 years just so Jesus could do a miracle today. That's the shittiest story in this book. Oh, and why won't the parents say it was Jesus? Because the Jews have threatened to kick anyone who calls him the Christ (Greek for Messiah) out of the synagogue. So there's racism, too. This story just gets better and better. The Pharisees recall the newly-sighted man to ask him again how he can see, and try to cajole him into admitting that Jesus is a sinner. The guy says he can't testify to Jesus' sinfulness, all he knows is that he was blind and now can see, and why do they keep asking? Do they secretly want to be disciples, too? This pisses the Pharisees off, because they have no sense of humour, and they say that they aren't Jesus' disciples, but Moses'. The guy points out that in all the history of the world so far, no one has cured blindness except Jesus. Only god could do that. This is the final straw for the Pharisees, who excommunicate him on the spot. He goes to find Jesus, and tells him he believes he's divine. The Pharisees overhear, and ask if they're also blind? Jesus says not blind, but guilty.