The story that we just read is all about seeing. We all have different perspectives in life and we all have very real blind spots. John's gospel tells us this great story of a man who was born blind who gained sight. John 9:1-41 details Jesus' ministry to this one man. He and his disciples saw the man sitting. Jesus' disciples asked him a karmic sort of a question, "Who sinned, him or his parents that he was born blind. " There must have been some cause in their minds that would have made him blind. The world, it seems reasonable, works on cause and effect. If a person is blind there must be a cause. But Jesus didn't see a cause. Instead he saw in this man, and in all of us, a chance for the will of God to be made clear.
In John's story about Jesus healing a blind man everybody saw things very differently.
The disciples saw a man who couldn't see and asked, “why?” There must have been some cause in their minds.
Jesus saw a man born blind and saw the opportunity to help. Jesus probably shook his head saying, neither one. "He's blind so that God's work's might be revealed in him." Jesus made a paste with spit and dirt and put it on his eyes. Then he told the man to go wash in the pool. He opened the man's eyes.
The man's neighbors saw that he was healed and they started to debate if he was the same man they'd watched begging in the street year after year or if he was somebody else. Even his own relatives saw with their eyes that he was able to see but they just couldn't believe it. The man told them what happened, about Jesus and the mud of spit and dirt and washing in the pool of Siloam. They brought him to the religious officials.
Up until the opening of the eyes we might have argued that there was only one blind person who needed to be healed in this story. But as I listen to this story; and as I look at my own life and the world around me I see lots of people with working eyes who are blind and in need of a good eye opening like the kind that Jesus gave this man.
The teachers of the law kept asking this man born blind, who now could see, how it happened. He kept on telling them the same story and they kept asking how. Jesus made a paste and put it on my eyes. They debated amongst themselves if this was a miracle from God or from some other power. God says rest on the Sabbath, but this man was healed on the Sabbath. “Who can this man be if he would heal on the holy day?” Some saw signs that Jesus had power from god, some saw other dubious signs that Jesus was not of God but of some other power.
This man who could now see had heard enough of these people making such a fuss and he asked them, “Why do you keep asking to here about my healing, do you want to become Jesus' disciples?” The pharisees were mad now. “You might be his follower; but not us. We follow Moses and not this Jesus. We don't know where he's from.”
There's plenty of blindness to go around in this story. The man who could now see said back to the Pharisees “This is astonishing, I was blind, now I can see, you claim you don't know anything about him, but he was the one who opened my eyes. I know that God listens to those who do his will. If he hadn't been from God he would have been able to help me see. The pharisees and the scribes saw the situation very differently than this man and they kicked him out; they were blind to the power of God at work right around them.
The scribes and Pharisee's expressed their disbelief and disgust that they hadn't authorized such a healing; after all it was the Sabbath. Jesus didn't need their permission to heal and he doesn't need ours either to start making all things new right now. He came to do ministry. The time is right to jump in with him.
We all have blind-spots. Some of them are rather large; and others are quite small. Every driving adult knows about blind-spots. It's not just that spot in the corner of the car that you can't see in the mirrors, or even if you look over your shoulder. Blind-spots are often very close in which makes them all the more dangerous. I've spoken with people who've been in accidents. More than one has told me about hitting another car that they just didn't see. It's frightening to realize just how blind another driver can be to your presence. It's even more frightening to realize that I can be blind to the presence of another driver.
I heard a great story from a pretty regular traveler. He was waiting for a plane in a pretty large airport and a man dressed in a pilot's uniform came past wearing dark glasses and a walking with a seeing eye dog. He turned around and did a quick double take when he realized this man was headed toward his gate. Just as he was about to go ask for another flight he saw the pilot bring the dog to a woman with a white can waiting on the other side of the terminal.
There were absolutely no cars in Jesus day. But there were still plenty of blind spots. It's no different today. We've got lots of blind spots to worry about. It's very dangerous, for Christians, to live like we've got no blind spots. We've all got blind spots. We've all got limits to what we can see and what we don't. The man who was born blind probably had the easiest time admitting that he had blind-spots. It was obvious to everybody; he couldn't see. But there are other blind spots that are equally real even if they're not so immediately visible.
In our time we look for medical or clinical explanations behind blindness, hearing loss, or any other physical challenge or disease. We look to doctors, nurses, researches, lab worker and medical technologists to explain what's going wrong and to help us sort out some course of treatment to return us back to full health.
In Jesus day they didn't have MRI's, CTScan, or even x-rays. When they saw a person born blind they looked for a moral cause of the blindness. They asked him who sinned that this man was born blind; was it him or was it his parents. Jesus probably shook his head saying, “neither one.” Jesus didn't see the disease as the reason to be there a that moment, “He's blind so that God's work's might be revealed in him.”
There are lots of blind-spots in our world. Somebody recently said our congregation, and our denomination are "sinking ships." He asked me if I could see what's happening.
He points to demographics; I think he's right, it's time to pray as a church but not just for numbers it's time to pray for the enlivening eye opening work of the spirit. This brother in Christ pointed to the numerous studies (they can easily be found) to shore up his argument that our church, our Lutheran Church, is just a generation away from death. I say its time to turn to scripture and to start listening to Jesus and to start living like new life and resurrection are real. This brother in Christ pointed to a lack of people at a particular program; I told him that it's time to invite people just as Jesus did, "to come and see." I asked who he invited, sadly I already knew the answer; he'd invited "nobody."
Anxiety and fear are real. They overwhelm and paralyze and blind us. My brother and sister pastors tell me that we're in, "sinking ships"; I say listen to Paul and Jesus. Yes, we are sinking; but Jesus is not. We aren't the only ones with a mission and ministry, Jesus has a mission and ministry in our world.
We need to remember that God's mission is primary to any mission that we might have. He came to heal, preach, forgive, challenge, die, and finally to rise. When we know our part in that mission we catch fire. When we are disconnected from Jesus mission we go dim or worse yet sink in doubt and despair. Paul says that we aren't meant to lament, we are to be light,
"For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord." (Ephesians 5:8-10, NRSV)
Jesus came into the world brining a new vision and a new hope. The old order of the world is broken. People live in sickness in spirit and body. We need all things to be made new. We need a savior. We need Jesus.
Jesus made a paste with spit and dirt and put it on blind man's eyes. Then he told the man to go wash in the pool. The man's eyes were opened. It doesn't matter what the world thinks or doesn't think about the church or Jesus. It matters that He opened the man's eyes and that he opens yours to see his love that is with you now and always.
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