First Lutheran Church
March 22, 2020 + The Fourth Sunday in Lent A + John 9:1-40
Good Morning. Today we gather together, not in the flesh, but in with and through the Living Word of God. Before we begin, I want to thank you for your faithfulness, for serving each other, our community, and our world; by staying home, practicing social distancing, and helping to slow down the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. We continue to pray that our efforts make a difference, that those in need of medical care receive the care they need, and that all of the world might know your peace and love in these difficult times. The Peace of Christ be with you all!
This week’s Gospel, like last week’s Gospel, is really long! (40 verses!). So once again as I did last week, I am going to break up the story into smaller portions and offer my comments after each section.
9:1 As he 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?" 3 Jesus answered, "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." 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" (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.
In today’s gospel we have a story of radical transformation! A man who once was blind, can now suddenly see. A man who never saw the colors of the world, a man who never saw the expressions of the face, looks of love and compassion, a man who never understood how “a picture could be worth a thousand words;” suddenly sees and begins to understand life in a new way. The light of Christ has shone brightly, and his life will never be the same.
Have you ever-experienced radical transformation? Do you remember certain times and events in your life that changed everything? The first time I really changed was when I was in college. I remember my whole world exploding when I encountered critical thinking, existential questions, and those late night meaning of life conversations. I remember the night we brought home our first child from the hospital. At one point he was crying, and we were freaking out, why would anyone give us this responsibility? That was a night when everything suddenly changed! And there were those times when I encountered Christ in “the least of these,” in moments of serving those in need, moments when poverty, humanity, and the presence of God rocked my world and changed everything. Those were all moments, “aha moments,” that opened my eyes up wide to a new way of understanding the world, understanding God, and understanding my own purpose. It was as if “I once was blind” and then suddenly, “but now I see.”
Such transformation is exciting, but it is also dangerous business. What happens when people really change?Let’s see what happens in our Gospel story …. 8 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?" 9 Some were saying, "It is he." Others were saying, "No, but it is someone like him." He kept saying, "I am the man." 10 But they kept asking him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" 11 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." 12 They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."
“I don’t believe it, you’ll never change!” The world rarely believes in transformation, the world doesn’t want transformation, the world doesn’t like change, the world likes things “just the way they are,” “thank you very much.” So those who are transformed, those who suddenly see all things new, “those with eyes that see, and ears that hear,” are more often than not met with doubt and skepticism. “Is that, no, that can’t be you?” The transformation of faith sets one on a collision course with the fallen world, the way things are, and even the principalities and powers.
The Gospel continues ….13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 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." 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 said again to the blind man, "What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened." He said, "He is a prophet."
Most of the preachers you see on TV would have you believe that the transformation of faith, being born again, being saved, being in Christ, will lead you to worldly prosperity. They teach that once you believe, and live faithfully, God will bless you, bless you with everything you need and even more. I wonder what the blind man would have to say about that!
Following his transformation, his faith experience; his friends and neighbors don’t seem to want to recognize him, and the religious authorities bring him in for questioning. They all seem to say, “How dare you let your eyes be opened, how dare you see things anew, how dare you threaten the status quo;- blind people can’t see and never will be able to see!”
I don’t know what you’re thinking, but it doesn’t sound like this “blind man who now sees” is going to be experiencing prosperity any time soon. It seems that faith, that transformation, that his encounter with Jesus, - has only brought conflict into his life.
Our story continues …. 18 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 19 and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" 20 His parents answered, "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." 22 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. 23 Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."
Certainly, his parents will step up for him, “watch his back,” help him in his time of conflict? But no, not even his parents are not able to overcome the fear that his transformation has caused in the community. “Hey, he’s an adult now, ask him, we’re not responsible for the crazy way he now sees the world.”
How could things possibly get worse for this man “who once was blind and now can see?” Unfortunately it gets worse, the story continues …..24 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." 25 He answered, "I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." 26 They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" 27 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?" 28 Then they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from." 30 The man answered, "Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." 34 They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?" And they drove him out.
So radical was the transformation of the blind man that the community, led by its religious leaders, followed by his friends and neighbors, and even his family; drive the man with newly opened eyes out of their lives, out of community, out of the safety and security of life in the village. He has been made “socially distant,” he must become a sojourner, he is now a stranger in a strange land.
Can you imagine what it would be like living without a community? As a matter of fact; yes, you can! Our Lenten Journey has led us into such a situation, it has given us that experience, we now know what it would be like to live life without community. We’ve spent the last two weeks watching our community life slowly shrink before our eyes, and now it appears that we will be living with strict social distancing rules for weeks to come.“We’ve been there, and done that!” So, as I suggested last week, let’s make this situation that we find ourselves in, this life in isolation, - let’s intentionally make it our Lenten discipline.
Let’s take the time to reflect on what it means to live without community, what it looks like, what it feels like, how it changes our life; so that when this coronavirus epidemic passes, and it will, we will have more empathy for those who are marginalized in our society, those for whom social distancing will not pass, those who must continue to live without the gift of life that community brings. Perhaps that will be the gift that we will be given in this experience, perhaps it will be a blessing that will change our life, perhaps it will lead us into a faith filled moment of transformation? Maybe our eyes will be opened to see Jesus standing in our midst, maybe our ears will be opened up to hear the voice of Jesus calling out to us, maybe we will see and hear Jesus present in “the least of these.”
Today’s gospel continues ….35 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" 36 He answered, "And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him." 37 Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he." 38 He said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped him. 39 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.” 40Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.
And now finally some good news, Jesus hears that this man has been driven out of his community and he seeks him out, and he finds him. And in Christ, the man finds faith and a new community. Just like the woman at the well last week, the Samaritan woman who had been abandoned by so many. Salvation comes through relationship and community.
Let this be good news for you too. Just as Jesus went out to find the man “who once was bind and now can see,” Jesus is seeking you out even now in your isolation, in your emptiness, in your loneliness, in your “social distancing.”And Jesus will find you. But it will be in a different way. Nonetheless, Jesus will find you. Remember, Jesus is not very good at keeping “social distancing!”
This next week we will be looking for new ways to be the church, to be family, to be the body of Christ for each other. We don’t have a building to gather in right now, but we can still be church, in – with – and through – each other. It never was about the building, it was about the relationships we share with each other. So be on the lookout for new ways to connect, I imagine a phone ministry in which we all take turns calling each other to check in with each other. I also imagine that we just might communicate with each other more over the next few weeks than we have over the last few years! And this will be a blessing! May God open our eyes, and may we be transformed in our faith. Amen.