Thomas E. Myers

March 2, 2008

Ephesians 5:8-14

⁸ For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light-- ⁹ for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. ¹⁰ Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹ Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. ¹² For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; ¹³ but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, ¹⁴ for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

“Sleeper, awake!  Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

John 9:1-35             

Pastor:     As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Liturgist:   “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. ⁴ We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. ⁵ As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

Pastor:         ⁶ 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, ⁷ saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam. He went and washed and came back able to see. ⁸ His neighbors began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?”

People:                  “I am the man.”

Liturgist:  They kept asking him, “How were your eyes opened?”

People:                  “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.”

Liturgist:         ¹² They said to him, “Where is this man named Jesus?”

People:                  “I do not know.”     

Liturgist:           ¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴ Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus opened his eyes. ¹⁵ The Pharisees began to ask him how he had received his sight.

People:            “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.”

Liturgist:           ¹⁶ 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. ¹⁷ So they asked him, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”

People:            “He is a prophet.”

Liturgist:    ¹⁸ They did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called his parents and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”

People:            “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; ²¹ 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.”

Liturgist:  ²² His parents were afraid; for the synagogue had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus  to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. ²³ Therefore his parents said,

People:            “He is of age; ask him.”     

Liturgist:  ²⁴ So they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that Jesus is a sinner.”

People:            “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

“You Are Light”

The symbol of light is found often in the Gospel of John

–        from the fourth verse (“In him was life, and the life was the light of the world”)

–        Until Jesus’ last words before the Passover: “The light is with you for a little longer . . . While you have the light believe in the light, that you may become children of light” (12:35-36).

–        Our scripture reading today explores the symbol of light, where God’s light empowers the work of our hands, and Jesus is the light of the world.

This particular story in John’s Gospel we discover that the miracle that Jesus performed on the blind man is also the miracle that Jesus performs on us.  The purpose of this healing is not so much to give the man born blind the ability to see as it is to give him and us the ability to distinguish truth from illusion.  Before the story is done, we recognize the irony that the religious leaders are really the ones that are blind.  They were the keepers of religious tradition, but they did not do well with this untimely healing on the sabbath.  They were so concerned with the specifics and morals around the law that they missed, entirely, the wonder and beauty of the healing.  This man, born blind from birth, now could see that Jesus was someone special, a prophet perhaps.  He wouldn’t dare say more.  He wouldn’t dare say that Jesus was the messiah for fear of the reprisals that would come from the Pharisees.  These religious leaders were the blind characters in the story.  They were the ones who were groping around in darkness, not believing the truth and promoting distortion.

The Gospel writer, John, loves the irony in this story.

John Dominic Crossan speaks of Jesus causing controversy because he offered a “brokerless kingdom.”  Jesus invited all to his table, he offered the power of God to everyone, regardless of their social class or their poverty.  This, says Crossan, accounts for why Jesus ran into trouble with the authorities and why he was finally crucified.  The authorities of any age are the gatekeepers, the brokers of power.  They are also the ones running scared, blinded by their own ambition, threatened by any hint of power sharing.

But light is hard to contain, control.  Ask my bedroom curtains this morning.  Light is powerful, it wakes us up, it is uncontainable.

There are at least two kinds of blindness.  One kind of blindness is physical, like the man born blind in this morning’s Scripture.  Another kind of blindness that is more prevalent is moral or spiritual blindness.  The religious leaders and the neighbors in today’s Scripture lesson were spiritually blind.  They were unable to see and celebrate the work of God in their midst.  They were blind to the possibility that God could be doing something new.

Why does it seem that the ones who are most blind are the ones who are so full of themselves.  Could it be overcompensation for their insecurities?  The world is a threatening place for today’s young adults.  It seems that this disease often hits young adult men and women who insist on correcting everyone and everything.  They bestow their pseudo-wisdom upon everyone and everything.  One of the worst cases I’ve run into was a young college woman.  Unfortunately she was a counselor at church camp.  She would end everyone’s conversation with I know, and then proceed to set them straight.  She had this way about her that drove people away.  Imagine that!

One of the keys to curing blindness, besides the mud, is to say less and listen more.  Blindness is also cured when we engage people in the conversation.  Good vision finds that it is essential to acknowledge and affirm the contributions of others.  Begin sentences with, Yes! and…  Listen, affirm, engage.  Speak less, learn more.  The same goes for engaging the light of the Spirit.  In our prayers we should listen more, observe more, and speak less.

True vision takes humility, self-discipline, and courage.  It doesn’t come without intentional effort.  We usually have to wash the mud out of our eyes before we can see clearly.  Our Gospel lesson this morning gives us the opportunity to name our own blindness.  Where is it that we have allowed our lives to become “out of focus?”  Where is it that you are missing the mark?

The good news is that the man born blind did not remain blind.  We do not need to remain blind, either.  Jesus offers us the chance to see the light and be the light, as Paul states, “Sleeper, awake!  Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

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