The prince of demons...

It seems like today's reading had lots in it to exemplify deconstructionist criticism.

Jesus healed men of their blindness and then warned them not to tell anyone of this. Yet, earlier, He had given the command, "Let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father." I have thought about my purposes in writing this in such a way that others might read it, and again, I would want others to read it mainly so that they could have a few more minutes in contemplation of Jesus and the meaning of biblical literacy.

So, in a way, I try to make a daily thought on this both for myself and to serve as a "good deed" that could inspire thought in someone else if they took the time to read it. Yet, Jesus admonishes two formerly blind men not to tell anyone about the miracle. He gave a similar admonishment to a leper he healed. It seems that these are contradictory statements, and in the setting of contradictions, one sees an openness to interpretation. That is, if these statements are contradictory, then one must be right, and the other wrong, so let's use our intellect to parse out this theological doctrine and figure these things out.

Leaving this open to interpretation has an unfortunate side-effect, because openness to interpretation can then go far beyond what is truly meant so that one tries to bend the nature of the miracle to one's own take on reality. As Jesus was threatening the established power-structure of Phariseeical domination, the reality of the Pharisees was that they were scared by what Jesus represented, and therefore they used their own intellect to "interpret" what Jesus was doing:

"'He can cast out demons because he is empowered by the prince of demons.'"

In this section, we see the opposite end of the spectrum of an open interpretation of Jesus' life and acts. Motivated by fear and jealousy, the Pharisees used evil intent as the core of their interpretation of Jesus' behavior. And we see the outcome of that interpretation. They stated that Jesus was in league with Satan.

Where is our "heart" when we interpret Jesus? Are we like Him and feel great pity as he did for the crowds? Do we feel tenderness and mercy when we come across contradictions, and then seek guidance in our interpretation from that standpoint? Or do we come at the bible as the Pharisees did at Jesus, with fear and preconceptions that blind us to the reality and gifts of faith?

The greater the faith, the greater the story of its salvation. A woman knows that merely touching His robe will heal her, without Jesus' conscious awareness. Yet, unbeknownst to her, Jesus does feel her, recognizes the depth of her faith, and heals her. It's good to remember that the negative interpretation of the Pharisees results in their eventual downfall. The positive interpretation of the woman results in her salvation.

Contradictory statements are often found in the bible. The statement about the Pharisees seems to underscore the notion of where open interpretation, if led by fear and jealousy, will end. But if led by faith, we see, as in the story of the woman, that interpretation result in amazing healing.