Jesus healed a man who had been blind from birth (John 9). He employed a “down-to-earth” visual by mixing saliva with mud which he placed on the man’s eyes and sent him to wash in a nearby pool. Imagine the indescribable joy of the man and all who knew him when he suddenly saw everything perfectly!

But Jesus’ enemies were incensed. Their excuse for attacking Jesus was that it was the Sabbath and they defined Jesus’ healing as forbidden “work” on the Sabbath.

How twisted was their thinking to believe that such a good work was evil; that such a good (actually, sinless) man was capable of such a violation.

It’s an illustration of how someone’s bias-laden position can cause them to be so closed-minded as to think something supremely good was, in face, horribly evil. In fact, their, closed-mindedness led them to believe that something supremely evil (murdering Jesus) was supremely good.

Sometimes today people will blindly follow a leader–religious leader, politician, philosopher, celebrity, etc.–or a philosophy, agenda, religion, policy — with such undiscerning closed-mindedness that they lose the ability to differentiate good and evil.

May God give us open minds and hearts and wisdom to discern truth and error, righteousness and evil.