who sinned?

Who sinned? I sometimes wonder how much things have really changed in the past 2000 years:  The finger pointing, the wanting to put other people down, so we feel better about ourselves. People who are poor, or homeless or unemployed must be responsible for the situation they are in.

There are lots of questions in this reading, but there are ways of asking questions, and I wonder if the disciples, or the Pharisees, really wanted an answer to the questions they posed.

Asking if someone who is born blind, or who is disabled, or homeless, or unemployed, did something to deserve their lot in life, implies that those of us with a roof over our heads, food in the cupboard, an income and eyes that work, at least some of the time, are blessed for being good!

Just by asking the question, we already have an answer in mind, and we have already judged that person.

Who sinned?

The tricky part of this reading for many people is where John reports Jesus saying that the man was born blind so that God’s power could be seen – this is unlike any other statement we have from Jesus in the gospels. God’s power and mercy are shown in the healing, but I doubt this man was born blind for that reason.

Whether the historical Jesus would have seen the needy as opportunities for promotion is doubtful. We don’t need to be able to explain poverty, illness, unemployment and disability in terms of God’s benefit.

Some background -

John’s gospel was written down about 100 years after the death of Jesus, the people who followed Jesus thought of themselves as Jews, still attended their local synagogue when possible, and were having difficulties with the religious leaders. Jews, who made statements of Belief in Jesus, and their close associates, were excluded from the synagogue, and that meant being an outsider in your own community. This gospel was written to this group of Christians, early followers who were being expelled from the synagogue. For them, this story would have been an affirmation to keep being faithful to Jesus, even if it meant they were unable to worship in the synagogue, and people in the community looked at them strangely.

Also in John’s gospel, seeing Jesus, is believing in Jesus, there is always the connection between seeing and believing. It is only when we see Jesus for who he is, that we can truly believe.

Back to the story; Who sinned?

This happened on the Sabbath, so by making mud and placing it on the man’s eyes, and healing him, Jesus broke the religious rules of the day. To the Pharisees, Jesus was a sinner. Not only did Jesus break the rules by working on the Sabbath, he also touched a person who is likely to have been ritually unclean, thus making himself unclean. When you think about it, in making mud and putting it on the man’s eyes meant he actually was dirty.

Who sinned?

After the man is healed, the Pharisees and neighbours are not sure of his identity –how often do we only identify someone by a particular characteristic, such as an illness or disability; the man on the corner, the old lady with the walking stick, the boy in a wheelchair.

Who sinned?

The response to the healing elicits not praise, not celebrations, but questions about the validity and the possibility of such a thing happening. The man has been healed, he has been blind since birth, and the religious people are arguing about the nature of sin, the neighbours can’t identify this person and his parents are too scared of the religious officials to get involved.

Who sinned?

When we read passages like this one today, it is easy to think of ourselves as the man born blind, but today I want us to think about the ways in which we are like the other characters in the story.

We will start with the disciples, they are travelling with Jesus, but still so conditioned by their culture that they ask, what to them is an obvious question, who sinned?  The culture we live in can determine how we look at people, how we respond to people, and which people we exclude. This still happens in the church today.

Then there are the neighbours of the man, people who have only seen him as the blind beggar, they may have even given him money or food, but they have never taken any notice of who he is, as a person.

His parents were scared of the religious authorities, they knew that if they said anything that suggested Jesus is from God, then they were at risk of expulsion, and that would lead to being shunned by people in the community. Are there times when it is easier to not mention Jesus or God?

The Pharisees, the people who were experts in the law, stayed in their heads, they couldn’t see what was happening, because they were so busy looking for an explanation, any explanation other than that Jesus healed the man born blind, because then they would have to acknowledge who he is, and that doesn’t fit their world view. How often do we stay with what we know, rather than embracing a new touch from God?

Another thing with this passage is that even though we think about it in terms of the man gaining his sight, he first heard Jesus, then smelt the mud and then felt his touch. Jesus comes to us in all our senses, hearing, sight, touch, taste and smell.

And when we meet Jesus, when we allow him to touch us, we are transformed people. This isn’t easy today, any more than it was 2000 years ago. The people in the community John was writing to knew that this was a dangerous and risky thing to do. Jesus comes to us, gets dirty in healing us, welcomes us, and transforms us. At the end of this passage, the man born blind was in a very different place to where he started, not only can he see physically, but he sees Jesus for who he is. The other people are still in the same place, asking the wrong questions, judging, blaming, scared and not seeing. In what ways are we transformed by seeing, hearing, believing in Jesus? Are we more in tune with our society, counting who is in and who is out, seeing people as objects of pity or problems of their own making; or are we transformed to be open to seeing people as God sees them, people of dignity, worth, offering God’s love and mercy to those rejected by others.

Last week we heard about the woman at the well, this week’s story is another where there is an encounter between Jesus and a person who was considered an outsider, and in both stories Jesus sees the person as an individual of worth, a child of God, beloved and known.

We too are loved by God, known, offered healing, wholeness and forgiveness. As we journey toward Easter, and the sacrifice of Good Friday, may we reflect on how loved we are. And may we reflect on the ways in which Jesus comes to us in our humanity, connecting with us by sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. As we come for communion shortly, we acknowledge Jesus reaching out to us; may we be transformed by our encounter with Jesus,  encouraged and empowered to reach out to others.