“Then how were your eyes opened?”

Much like, “Who sinned?” the question binds itself to one way of seeing the world. The man is transformed, but his transformation holds little sway in the crowd. Given that they soon bring the man to the religious leaders of the day, it is clear that they recognize the spiritual importance of the event. They are not seeking to understand the mechanics of the man’s healing. Still, something is missing from their response.

The man’s eyes opened, but not people’s remained closed.

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If I could pass on one word of advice to everyone who picks up the Bible, it would be, “Remember, context is king.” Another way of saying it would be, “Don’t ignore the forest for the sake of one tree … or, quite possibly, a single leaf.”

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“Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s.” I’m not sure how many times I’ve seen those words pop up on Facebook over the past few years. Typically it comes as a dismissive defense against any serious attempt to wrestle with the entanglement of faith and politics. It compartmentalizes the two, putting politics in one box and faith in another.

But is that was Jesus is saying? Is Jesus suggesting that we have distinct spiritual, social, political, and work lives? Or have we taken a couple verses from a much larger story and incorrectly applied it to a single context?

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