The reading
John 9:1-41
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. 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." 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." 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." 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. 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." 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said
to him, "Surely we are not blind, are we?" 41 Jesus said to them,
"If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, "We
see,' your sin remains.
The message
John’s Gospel is moving fast. We now have 6 weeks until
Easter Sunday. I wanted to review a
little from the last few weeks, bringing us from Christmas until today. On Christmas, I said that the first 18
verses of John were called the prologue
or summary. In that introduction John
shares his thesis, that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh and dwelling
amongst us, who came for the forgiveness of sins and salvation of all people. The testimony and witness of John the Baptist
is the first proof John gives that these things are true. The religious authorities suspicion, mistrust
and doubt of Jesus starts right there in the first few verses. The rejection of
Jesus is a significant part of the prologue, people in the light see Jesus as the messiah,
people in darkness, who are somehow able to deny Christ are in the darkness. We
see this in Jesus meeting with Nicodemus the Pharieee at night and the
Samaraitan woman at the well in the mid day sun. Here things are reversed, the ultimate insider,
the wise and powerful Pharisee does not exactly see Jesus is the Messiah, there
are too many things in his way, clouding his vision, the model outcast, the
Samaritan woman whose gone through quite a few husbands, all she has is faith
and hope and she does see.
The official rejection
of Jesus by the religious authorities starts with being tied to John the
Baptist, the uncontrollable, unofficial but popular outsider. Christ being tied
to John was already a big negative. We add to that Jesus first miracle and what
happened right after and Jesus is definitely on the quick path to rejection. The first miracle, turning water into wine,
Jesus revealed he is the messiah who will change things. The first thing he changed was going after
the corrupt temple businesses, a large source of wealth for the
authorities. Immediately after Cana,
Jesus chases the money lenders out of the temple.
By today’s reading, viewing Jesus as a dangerous obstacle to
business as usual is firmly planted. Change, even if it’s from God, is not seen
as good by the authorities (who are very comfortable with how things are). The
Pharisees had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah
would be put out of the synagogue. A group that was pretty slow and laborious
to decide anything, quickly decided that Jesus was not the messiah and took
tough positions to stop anyone else from thinking so.
Today we have the second sign in John, the healing of a man
born blind, shared again to show evidence that Jesus is the savior and bring
the reader / hearer to faith. This scene
shows us the extent that the religious authorities will go to deny Jesus, to
depend on themselves and their traditions and forgot that God can act outside
of them. Moments like the healing of the
man born blind are what drove Nicodemus
to sneak out and see Jesus at night when no one was looking. That was different, it was private, Nicodemus
could listen, could be honest, could encounter Jesus without fear of reprisal. Now, together, none of the authorities can
listen to Jesus, none of them can openly consider the question if he is the
messiah. They have all seen Jesus publically heal the man born blind. The
person they have rejected, banned and attacked has done a sign of power and
faith never before seen. They go through
great lengths to deny this.
Even simply admitting this was done would be casting doubts
on their dedication to the cause. There
is a vast amount of what we call cognitive dissonance here, the conflict
between what you believe and what you see. So they put their vast knowledge of the law
and legal proceedings to work. They try
all they can to hide what just happened. They cast doubts by challenging if
this was the man born blind or just someone who looked like him, They admit it
was him but wonder if he was really born blind and call in his parents to
verify it, hoping to bully them into making some questionable claim. They admit it was done and they challenge
Jesus for violating the law, for healing on the Sabbath. They ask the same questions again and again
and again, hoping to catch someone telling 2 different stories. They question
where Jesus came from, that he could not have such power and therefore what
everyone witnessed was somehow fake. They do not need a lot of evidence, just a
little spot of something iffy.
All this fails, There is nothing they can use. The man born blind, overjoyed at what has
happened, his life restored gets fed up.
He has God to thank and life to celebrate, he speaks out, confronting
all the ridiculous attempts by the Pharisees to hide what happened, to put the
light of God out, enough fear, enough pretending, enough humoring the religious
authorities and their desperate attempts to cover up what happened. The man born blind gets honest "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."
Now, the Pharisees pull out their last attempt to solve the
dissonance, that conflict between the belief that Jesus is not the Messiah and
that they saw him heal a man born blind.
They attack the healed man, dismissing him and hopefully casting doubt
on what just happened. "You were
born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?" And they drove him
out. They hope the crowds somehow forget
that they saw something amazing, that this man born blind was healed, perhaps
all the people will remember is a no good man pretended Jesus was the Messiah
and got proven wrong. We see the inner
workings of people, who become obsessed with being right, not faithful.
Jesus work was not quite done. The man born blind was healed so that God’s
glory could be revealed. Jesus goes back to him, reveals that he is the Son of
Man, the long expected savior and confronts the religious authorities. This is
not a political game for Jesus, this is truth, this is the work of saving the
world, this is the forgiveness of sins and promises of God. Now, today this
story makes me very uncomfortable (in that good sort of way that inspires
change). The response to Jesus from the man born blind is an example for all
people of faith. What are we doing? What are we fighting to keep to the point we
are blind to the world around us. Is it being right, When will we have enough, when will we see what is happening all
over the world and say, it is an astonishing thing,
I remember when the
new gym lights went up as part of the Con Ed energy Audit. I was so happy to
that much needed improvement to our space.
After a day or two I realized, Wow,
the gym walls look bad, like really bad, the dull light managed to hide
something. So, thanks to the Peruvian
group that hosts events up there a few times a year volunteering to paint, the walls are now done. Shining light on things is not always pretty
but its necessary.
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