Introduction
to the reading
This
morning we will hear another reading from John’s Gospel, another encounter
between a person and Jesus, that is life changing.
We
have heard about Nicodemus who came at night, asked some questions, and wasn’t
ready at that point to show himself as a follower. Last week we heard John 4,
an unnamed woman, an outsider in so many ways, also confused by the words of
Jesus. She went and told, and many believed.
We
skipped some chapters, which included Jesus telling a man to take up his mat
and walk - on the Sabbath; feeding of the 5,000; Jesus walking on water towards
the disciples in the boat during a storm; the woman caught in adultery “If any
of you have never sinned, then go ahead and throw the first stone at her!”
John 8: 12 Once again Jesus spoke to the people. This time he
said, “I am the light for the world! Follow me, and you won’t be walking in the
dark. You will have the light that gives life.”
This
morning, another unnamed person, also an outsider. There is a healing in the
story, but also much more.
Reading: John 9: 1-41 in 3 voices
Where
to start?
The
passage begins with the disciples asking who is to blame for the man being
blind. Who sinned.
Just
as today we ask what parents did to have a child with a disability; or what did
a person do to get a chronic illness. Surely, they have made some bad choices,
they have sinned, they have displeased God in some way.
In
the gospel of John, sin is not doing something wrong;
sin
is not believing in Jesus, or not being in a relationship with Jesus.[i]
Jesus
is saying that we are asking the wrong question.
The
question is not: who sinned?
The
question is: what can God do from here?
What
healing grace, what possibilities, where will God go from here, and what is God
calling us to do as part of that.[ii]
I
know some people here are concerned about the future of the Parish, we are a
long way from having to close. What if the changes we are seeing in the Parish
and community is God encouraging us to look at opportunities for the future,
what if they are opening up new possibilities.
Last week we
saw how the way the woman addressed Jesus changed:
Ø a Jew
Ø
Sir
Ø
a prophet
Ø
Messiah
Ø
the Saviour of the
world
this
week we see a similar pattern.
Ø Someone named Jesus
Ø Jesus
Ø “He is a prophet!”
Ø “I don’t know if he is a sinner or not.
Ø Jesus could not do anything unless he came from God.”
Ø “Lord, I put my faith in you!”
The
man born blind, who does what Jesus tells him, and goes and washes the mud from
his eyes, has not seen Jesus. So, when the religious leaders ask who healed
him, he only has a name to go by, a name that was not unique. It isn’t until towards
the end of the reading that the man sees Jesus, and man puts his faith in the
one who gave him sight.
While
this story is about the man being able to see, it is about more than that.
One
of the quotes I put on Facebook this week:
The transformation of the blind man is
important, but it’s his surrounding community’s resistance to transformation
that the passage really wants us to see. Oh, how we hate change. Oh, how often
we choose to keep mud in our eyes, so we don’t have to grow. And who can blame
us? new sight is scary. It requires us to give up a lot. We have to throw out
old familiar maps before new ones can be drawn up. Everyone’s roles get
reshuffled. And nobody can claim certainty about what will come next.
It seems we are called not just to new
sight, but brave sight.
Are you ready?[iii]
The
religious leaders do not believe, will not believe, that Jesus is able to heal
the man born blind. For them it is not possible for someone born blind to see.
I wonder how often we do the same thing?
What
areas or topics do we close our eyes to?
In
what ways are we like the religious leaders, rejecting facts when they do not
confirm our long-held beliefs.[iv]
You
have probably heard the saying: None so blind as they who will not see.
[image
on screen https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/matthew_henry_189365?img=3]
We
all have blind spots, about ourselves and about other people and situations.
Our blind spots usually make perfect sense to us, just as it made perfect sense
to the religious leaders that a man born blind will not be able to see.
Our
blind spots may be about young people, older people, immigrants, indigenous
people, unemployment, or a range of other topics. And we are usually unaware of
them, that is why they are blind spots.
In
the church I notice that at times people have blind spots about the Scriptures.
In
all these areas: No matter what anyone says, their way of looking at things is
the only way.
It
is not uncommon for people to only read stories and watch TV programs that
agree with their existing viewpoint.
Change
is hard, changing our ideas, or changing where we shop.
When
people encounter Jesus, Nicodemus, the woman at the well and the man born
blind, all are changed. Yes, there is confusion, there is uncertainty, but
there is new life and new understandings.
Are
we brave enough to ask God:
·
to open our eyes?
·
to unblock our ears?
·
to soften our hearts?
·
to open our lives?
are
we willing to see new possibilities for life:
·
for ourselves?
·
For those around us
·
For this Parish?
[i]
https://www.workingpreacher.org/narrative_podcast.aspx?podcast_id=971
[ii]
https://www.workingpreacher.org/narrative_podcast.aspx?podcast_id=971
[iii]
https://scontent.fsyd5-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/27628840_1537601666287106_5270463692127532460_o.jpg?oh=9cc78d513dd255d16fb22ba62f2523fd&oe=5B24EA79
[iv]
Thomas B. Slater, https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3387
