John's Story (14 page)

H
elp me sit up, would you, friend?”

Polycarp moved to the bed. “You’re not comfortable?”

“I just want to be as clearheaded as possible now, because we are coming to the sixth sign of Jesus’ divinity. Of course, it’s more important that I remain open to what I believe the Spirit is saying through me, but the last thing I want is to be an impediment. If Jesus were not divine, how could He do these things that He does, as Nicodemus said, ‘unless God is with Him’? While I fear Ignatius is wasting his time trying to engage Cerinthus, I also wish the heretic were here to hear this.”

“Be careful what you wish for, teacher. Ignatius would like nothing more than to deliver the man to you.”

John waved off his young friend. “Ach! It is too late for me. My record here will have to do the work, along with you two young men.”

“We’re not both young, master. Ignatius is older than my father!”

“Remember whom you’re addressing, lad. You’re both children to one of my vintage. Now, let us carry on, keeping men like Cerinthus at the forefront of our minds. We will pick up on that Sabbath where Jesus disappeared from the crowd that meant him ill. He reappeared on a crowded street.

“Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And we disciples asked Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’

“Jesus said, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’

“He then knelt and spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.’ Now this pool, Polycarp, was a magnificent basin stretching some hundred and fifty feet, and—”

“Begging your pardon, teacher, but I care less about the pool than what happened to the man blind from birth.”

John smiled weakly. “Well, you are right, of course. The man went and washed, and when he came back, he was seeing. And certainly it was not the pool that held the healing power. It was the Lord Himself and the man’s faith.”

“Many must have seen him begging there for years. What did they think?”

“They said, ‘Is not this he who sat and begged?’ Some said, ‘This is he.’ Others said, ‘He is like him.’

“But the man himself said, ‘I am he.’

“People said, ‘How were your eyes opened?’

“He said, ‘A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, “Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.” So I went and washed, and I received sight.’

“So the people said, ‘Where is He?’

“He said, ‘I do not know.’

“Some brought him to the Pharisees, who also asked him how he had received his sight. When he told them, they said, ‘This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.’

“But others among them said, ‘How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?’ So there was division among them. They asked the formerly blind man what he had to say about Jesus after what He had done.

“He said, ‘He is a prophet.’

“But, Polycarp, most of the Pharisees did not believe the man had been blind and received his sight. They sent for his parents and said, ‘Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?’

“You can imagine how his parents responded. They were awestruck and yet also terrified at having been dragged before the religious leaders. They said, ‘We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.’

“I believe his parents said these things because the Jews had agreed already that anyone who confessed that Jesus was Christ would be put out of the synagogue. The Jewish leaders again called the man who had been blind, and told him they knew Jesus was a sinner. I have never forgotten his response.

“He said, ‘Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.’

“They said, ‘What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?’

“He said, ‘I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?’

Polycarp laughed aloud. “I like this man! How discerning he was for one seeing for the first time.”

“Yes, and the authorities did not appreciate that. They tried to bully him, saying, ‘You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.’

“The newly seeing man was brilliant. He said, ‘Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.’

“Imagine how the Pharisees took that. One said, ‘You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?’ And they cast him out of the synagogue.

“When Jesus heard about that, He found the man again and said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of God?’

“The man said, ‘Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?’

“And Jesus said, ‘You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.’

“The man fell to his knees, worshiping Jesus and saying, ‘Lord, I believe!’

“So much for those who say Jesus made no claim to His own deity. Jesus told the man, ‘For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.’

“Some of the Pharisees who heard these words said to Him, ‘Are we blind also?’

“Jesus said, ‘If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, “We see.” Therefore your sin remains.’”

“What was He saying, rabbi?” Polycarp said, as he helped John lie back down.

“That they remained in their sins because though they were not physically blind, yet they
chose
not to see. Now, Polycarp, you know what comes next.”

“In the text?”

“No.”

“Ah, it is time for me once again to play the student. Let me review a moment.” He was poring over the document when Ignatius arrived.

John had briefly closed his eyes, but now he peeked at the big man. “You appear to have news.”

“Indeed,” the bishop said. “Cerinthus, and not only he but his retinue, have agreed to join us tomorrow for the Lord’s Day.”

John fell silent.

“You do not approve, master? What can be the harm in their sitting under sound doctrine and teaching, being exposed to true faith?”

John shook his head and rolled onto his side with his back to the men. “I must ponder this. Are you prepared to withdraw the invitation if I so decide?”

“Of course, master, I would defer to your wishes. But I pray you would fairly hear me out, as I earnestly and respectfully disagree on this. I too abhor our members being swayed by this man in the open air of the marketplace, but here he would be in our camp, as it were, and we would have sway over him.”

“I need time to think and pray about it.”

“Jesus calls Himself the light of the world,” Polycarp announced. “Is that it, teacher? Is that His sixth sign, revealed in giving sight to the blind?”

John merely nodded, knowing Polycarp undoubtedly was looking for, and deserved, higher praise for having discerned this. But Ignatius had troubled John beyond his ability to maintain his composure. John had planned to move directly into the telling of what he considered Jesus’ most dramatic miracle and the resounding proof of His deity, but this potential confrontation with Cerinthus himself reminded the aged disciple of something that should perhaps come first.

“Ignatius,” he whispered, his back still turned, “are you still here?”

“At your service.”

“Are you free to stay?”

“It would be my privilege.”

“Then sit and listen, for this pertains, even if you may not at first see the connection. I begin with the words of Jesus as He addresses yet more multitudes.”

And as John began to dictate again, knowing he was making Polycarp strain to hear him, as John had still not moved, he was lulled into a steady cadence by the soft scratching of the quill tip on the papyrus.

“Jesus said, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.’

“Jesus could tell, as we could, that His listeners did not understand. He said, ‘I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

“‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

“‘Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.’

“There was a division again among the Jews. Many of them said, ‘He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?’

“Others said, ‘These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?’

“Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, ‘How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.’

“Jesus said, ‘I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.’

“When the Jews took up stones again to stone Him, Jesus said, ‘Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?’

“The Jews said, ‘For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.’ Don’t you find it interesting, gentlemen, that Jesus was nearly stoned for making Himself God, and yet people still say He never claimed deity?

“Jesus said, ‘Is it not written in your law, “I said, ‘You are gods’”? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, “You are blaspheming,” because I said, “I am the Son of God”? If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.’ Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.”

“By now they must have been convinced he was invincible,” Polycarp said.

“I don’t know what they thought,” John said, “but we disciples were certainly convinced. It was becoming quite clear that until His time came, no one could touch Him. He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed.

“There, many came to Him and said, ‘John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true.’ And many believed in Him there.”

John fell silent again and waited for some indication from Polycarp that he comprehended Jesus’ message, or from Ignatius that he understood why he was to listen to this. The two must have thought him asleep, John decided, so he rolled over to face them. “Well?”

“Profound again,” Polycarp said. “To have sat under the teaching of such a Man…”

“For three years,” John said. “And pardon me, but to call the Christ profound strikes me as both obvious and understated.”

“I have no better word for it, rabbi.”

“I found this fascinating, of course,” Ignatius said. “But I confess I am deliberating over why you felt this was specific to me just now. Tell me.”

“It is encouraging to know you remain teachable, despite your station. This discourse on Jesus being the Good Shepherd can easily be applied to our roles as bishops and pastors. We are the gatekeepers, the guardians of our flocks. Need I say more?”

Ignatius stood and paced. “You wish me to use this analogy with Cerinthus.”

“Precisely.”

“That I am to protect the flock against one such as he.”

“No.
I
am to protect this flock, even against
your
best intentions.”

“I stand corrected, master.”

“Understand, bishop, that should you disinvite him, the man will label us close-minded and exclusive, and he will, no doubt, assure you that we are most welcome at their gatherings. His intention will be to make you seem small and petty.”