“One Thing I Know”
by Bruce J. Johnson
March 10, 2002
(Please read John 9: 1-41)
There are all kinds of thematic daily calendars on the market. Just to fill you in on who is the real spiritual leader of our congregation, let me confess that my calendar has to do with golf and Kim’s is a daily reminder of the miracles that take place in our lives.
In the Gospel according to John, miracles are never just incidents in Jesus’ ministry; rather they are “signs” of something deep and mysterious and universal. Such is surely the case this morning for the man blind from birth who is given not only his physical sight but insight as well! This healing is a ‘sign’ of something deep and life transforming and quite frankly, universal--- which means that it is meant for us all.
What is so engaging about the passage is how it takes place over a couple of days and within a swirl of activity and conversations that should alarm, if not indict, not just those who participated back then but us today.
As life sometimes unfolds for us, later this afternoon, at 2 p.m. there will be a memorial service in this sanctuary for Shirley Morton, Jody and Brett’s mother. The service will be all the more poignant because we were here just eight weeks ago for their father, Frank. We’ve spent time planning the service so that it is a celebration of her life--- this in spite circumstances that might well have given rise to a conversations like those taking place in today’s lesson. For you see, Shirley was diagnosed with MS at the age of 22, which included both the gradual loss of sight as well as the loss of mobility. She was 53 years old. But there will no talk of who sinned nor will there be any grumbling over the spiritual healing that took place on her Sabbaths—healing that enabled her to live without complaint and with such grace, patience, pride and joy. Her sister Patricia said that she was simply an inspiration.
Today’s lesson starts off simple enough:
As Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
From that point on, however, things get testy and go downhill fast. No one except the man who receives his sight after a lifetime of blindness comes off very well.
First, his disciples see this man who has been blind from birth and rather than petitioning Jesus for compassion and pushing for a “let’s do something neat for this poor soul,” they only want to know who is to blame!
‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’
I can just hear Jesus saying--- “Oh, Man! What are you talking about?
We all know that to some degree life is consequential and perhaps there is some truth to what our fathers and mothers taught us at the synagogue as children that the sins of the parents are visited upon the children and even our children’s children. That’s true to some degree if we’re talking about transmitted values and attitudes and their consequences--- things like greed and cruelty, racism and sexism, bigotry and discrimination, many forms of nationalism. But not all suffering is the result of sin, just as not all happiness is the result of virtue! Rather, watch this and maybe you can learn that assigning blame for suffering is far less important than knowing and acknowledging the One who heals it! He is the light of the world and he is going make it possible for this man to see in His light!
Then he spit upon the ground, made some mud, put the mud on his eyes and told the man to go wash in the pool of Siloam…. Which he does and he came back seeing!
And that starts everything. The stage is now set for all the other participants!
First, ‘enter the neighbors!’--- those who for so long had only ‘seen’ him as a beggar couldn’t see him as anyone else! Many questioned whether it was the same man and if they couldn’t see and accept him as someone who is healed, how could they possibly see the Healer? So, what do they do? They take him to the Pharisees!
Second, ‘enter the Pharisees!’ They asked about the ONE who did the healing but they were more concerned about when it was done than who did it--- this because if it was done on the Sabbath that meant that the man couldn’t possibly be from God. For the Pharisees, the issue wasn’t that the healing took place, that this man who hadn’t seen a sunrise or a sunset or a baby’s smile or a flower in the dessert since birth could now see God’s creation but that it took place on the Sabbath! The breach of the law blinded them and ‘the man who could now see’ wasn’t seen. All they cared about was naming the sin and condemning the sinner. The Pharisees in the story represent those in every age and place--- Catholic or Protestant, Jewish or Muslim--- who condemn anyone whose idea of religion is not theirs, who choose to see and understand things only from their perspective no matter what, who think their way is the only way to serve God. What they never learn is that only those who own their own blindness can ever learn to see; only those who confess their own sin can ever feel their forgiveness; only those who recognize their own weaknesses can ever honestly be strong. None of this happens for the Pharisees!
Third, ‘enter the parents!’ In some ways, they come off the worse. Not too many in the story believe that this poor soul has been healed so they haul the parents in to verify the facts--- that this man is their son and that he was blind from birth and even more important, to ask them what they thought about how was he healed? The picture we get is they do some major back peddling! They deflect all questions to the son not because they didn’t know but because they were afraid of losing their membership at the synagogue! So they, in effect, said: “We love you son but we can’t go the distance with you. You’re on your own!”
Finally and ultimately, the story, of course, is about a man blind from birth who is given his sight at the pool of Siloam but over the two days grows in insight and of course, faith. Indeed, two things can be said of the man.
First, in the midst of all the turmoil and conflict, he essentially says:
“Hey what do you want from me? To his neighbors he says--- I’m still the person you have known all my life. The only difference is that I’m now able to step out the box you had placed me in.
To the Pharisees he says--- I know all your rules and regulations. I’ve believed in them myself and maybe when we break them we are sinners but some things are simply more important- human life, and health and happiness to name three!
To his parents, he says, I’m sad that you can’t hang in there with me on this but you have to do what you have to do!
In the end, one thing isn’t going to change. One thing I know. “Once I was blind but now I see” (SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD VERSE FOR A HYMN!) My life is changed and I know who changed it. Praise God!
SECOND, in this man there is growth in faith. The man gets challenged a number of times over the two days to identify the One who healed him. Early on the first day, his first response is: ‘The man they call Jesus.”
(vs. 11)
Late on the first day, his second response: “ He is a prophet.” (vs. 17)
Then, on the second day, his third response is: “ The Son of Man and I believe in Him!” (vss. 35-38)
It is this progression that John wants most of all to urge upon us, for us to claim for ourselves. He wants us to see that we too can rise from the darkness in His Light, that we too can have our full sight restored and have our blind spots cured, that we too can come to know the one thing that is really important--- that Jesus is Lord and He gives life--- whether it be in the form of ‘living water’ or ‘broken bread’ or shed blood or ‘restorative mud!’
All that we need to do is respond and rejoice and believe!
So, may God grant that we may respond as creatively and courageously to Christ’s initiative as did the man in John’s story. So may we say as did John Newton, that brutal captain of a villainous slave ship and as Fred North will sing this afternoon here in this sanctuary:
Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.
AMEN
(I’m indebted to the Reverend William Sloane Coffin for some of the insights in this sermon.)