I remember as if it were yesterday. Landon Saunders was talking about how we tend to treat people. His lesson opened my eyes so I could see how Jesus treated them. It also revolutionized the way I would read the Bible. Landon opened up John 9 and showed us all the wrong ways we treat people: how we relegate them to insignificance so we don’t have to interact with them or involve ourselves in their lives. Like the people in John 9, we often treat people...

• As a religious question — we don’t have to regard a person as significant if we can relegate his/her problems to sinfulness (vs. 2);
• As a label — we don’t have to deal with a person’s humanity as long as we know that person only as “beggar” (vs. 8);
• As a theological problem — if we can dismiss a person’s because what s/he believes doesn’t fit our theological categories, then we can discount their spiritual importance (vs. 14-18);
• As a biological product — if we can relegate our kinfolk to a mere genetic connection, rather than them being a person to protect and love, then you don’t have to take risks for them (vs. 19).

    Jesus, on the other hand, would not allow anyone to push the significance of a person to the side. That’s why he sticks up for the man in John 9! He would not allow his disciples to stick this man in the convenient bin of irrelevance or theological illustration.

To dismiss a tragedy because the people involved are not like “us” is sick.

    “This is a person made by God. We’re put here to help God’s work come to life in him!” Jesus says to them. (vs. 3)

    And you know, that is the way Jesus treated people. He was always looking to do the work of God in their lives. He wanted them to find new life in God’s creative grace. (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21)

    Our world minimizes the value of a person — whether that person is an unborn child, a victim of crime or tragedy, an old person losing mental capacity, or that strangely irritating person we try to avoid at work. We would prefer they pass us by on their way to insignificance. That way they won’t become a bother, an irritation, or an ongoing “situation.”

    Jesus won’t let us exercise this option. There are no irrelevant people to Jesus, and there are only so many moments we get on this earth to touch them. Light is not around forever. Darkness is coming. So while we’re here, while we have influence in this life, Jesus wants us to make an impact by treating people as he did. (vs. 4) As long as God gave him life, Jesus was determined to share his light with others. (vs. 5) That’s our mission, too! (cf. Matthew 5:14-16)

    Can you imagine what would happen if we really took seriously what Jesus is saying? Can you imagine the revolution in our world if we helped others see their significance to God?

• If we treated each person as an eternal being made in the image of God. (Genesis 1:26-27)
• If we valued each person as someone created by God with a divine purpose for being here and known by their while he was fashioning them in their mother’s womb. (Psalm 139:13-16)