Forth Sunday in Lent

Year A, RCL

March 2, 2008

All Saints’, Bentonville

Gospel

John 9:1-41

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man's eyes, saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, "Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?" Some were saying, "It is he." Others were saying, "No, but it is someone like him." He kept saying, "I am the man." But they kept asking him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" He answered, "The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, `Go to Siloam and wash.' Then I went and washed and received my sight." They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, "He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see." Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?" And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, "What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened." He said, "He is a prophet."

The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself." His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."

So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, "Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner." He answered, "I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" He answered them, "I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?" Then they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from." The man answered, "Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?" And they drove him out.

Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" He answered, "And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him." Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he." He said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped him. Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind." Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, "Surely we are not blind, are we?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, `We see,' your sin remains."

The gospel reading this morning is riddled with talk about sin.  The reading opens with the disciples posing yet another wrong-headed question, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"  Jesus quickly lets them know that the man’s blindness wasn’t his fault, or the fault of his parents.  He tells them that the man was simply blind and that God works in and through every component of our being – with our strengths and with our weaknesses, with our blessings and with our afflictions.  The disciples’ naïveté concerning how God works in the world is commonplace today.  How quickly we are to blame those who suffer – the poor, the sick, the displaced – for the pain that they endure.  And those of us, who are rich and healthy and well housed, somehow get the idea that we deserve what we’ve received.  And our wealth and well being can blind us to the suffering that surrounds us.

One of our fellow parishioners recently reminded me of a line from Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, "The faults of the weak, the poor, and the ignorant, are the faults of the strong, the rich, and the learned.  Teach the ignorant as much as you can. Society is to blame for not giving free education; it is responsible for the darkness it creates. The soul in darkness sins, but the real sinner is he who caused the darkness."

Listening to Jesus talk about how the blind see and how those who see will become blind, the Pharisees ask Jesus, “Surely we are not blind are we?” And Jesus tells them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”

When we arrive at a place where we say, with confidence, “Now I see, now I understand, now I know the truth,” we have closed our eyes tightly against the ceaseless unfolding of God’s truth.  It is not a sin to be born blind; it is a sin to choose blindness, to close our eyes to the myriad ways in which God reveals Godself to us. 

I’m reminded of the story of the woman goes back to the eye glasses store and she says to the salesperson. Well it looks like I have to return these glasses. They are not working at all. My husband has been wearing them for a whole week and he still isn't seeing things my way.

We can’t expect the whole world to see things our way.  And God doesn’t expect everyone to think of Her in the same way.  Our prejudice closes our eyes to manifestations of the Divine.

Last week a friend sent me a description of what he called his “chat with Jesus”.

   Many times when I am troubled or confused, I find comfort in sitting in
   my back yard and having a crown and water along with a quiet conversation
   with Jesus.  This happened to me last Friday after a particularly difficult day.
  
   I said "Jesus, why do I work so hard?"
  
   And I heard the reply: "Men find many ways to demonstrate the love they        have for their family. You work hard to have a peaceful, beautiful place for your
   friends and family to gather and that often requires money."
  
   I said: "I thought that money was the root of all evil."
  
   And the reply was: "No, the LOVE of money is the root of all evil. Money is
   a tool; it can be used for good or bad".
  
   I was starting to feel better, but I still had that one burning question, so
    I asked it. "Jesus," I said, "What is the meaning of life? Why am I here?"
  
   He replied: "That is a question many men ask. The answer is in your heart
   and is different for everyone. I would love to chat with you some more,
   Señor, but for now I have to finish your lawn."

At it’s simplest; sin is that which separates us from God.  What surer path to separation from God than to refuse to see God’s face in a complexion unlike our own, to turn a deaf ear to God’s voice spoken in an unfamiliar accent, to deny avenues to God that we don’t yet understand. 

In the Old Testament reading this morning we listened to the story of Samuel as he searches for a new King to anoint as the ruler over Israel.  Visiting the House of Jesse, one son after another is paraded before Samuel.  Seeing one strong, tall, vigorous young man after another – Samuel is convinced that in each he sees kingly qualities.  But the Lord tells Samuel not to judge on the basis of the appearance or physical stature of these potential leaders, as mortals do, but to see as God does, and look on the heart.  Eventually, making his way through all Jesse’s fine sons, God instructs Samuel to anoint David, the youngest, the sheepherder, the most unlikely candidate, as Israel’s greatest King.  It is interesting that at this juncture in American history, our current choices for president would all have been deemed unacceptable in the past – one is elderly, one is a woman, and another is black.  It is a hopeful sign, I think, for our nation to look for leadership among those whom earlier generations of Americans would have rejected. 

Ultimately, it is hope that Jesus brings us - hope that we can wash our eyes in the pool of Siloam and have them opened. Hope that we can watch our old prejudices fall away and begin to view the world through Jesus’ eyes. What would the world look like if we allowed Jesus to heal our blindness?

One of my favorite Eastern sayings is “If you meet the Buddha in the road, kill him.”  It is a cryptic notion, much like Jesus telling us that it is the blind who see and those who see that are blind. Both sayings are telling us to be skeptical of those who claim to possess “the truth”.  Nobody has the answers.  We are searchers after the truth, not title-holders. 

Jesus calls on us to admit that we are blind, to own up to the fact that we don’t have the answers.  We have arrived at a place on our Lenten journey where we are called to acknowledge our own blindness and to seek Jesus' healing touch.  To take that charge seriously is risky business.  After being healed by Jesus, the man born blind by birth was unrecognizable.  His friends didn’t know him and his parents wouldn’t stand up for him. Old prejudices die hard. The light of Christ shows us the way.  The love of Christ, shows us something more, that God’s mercy is infinite and complete – and erases division and the sin that separates us from all creation.