Sermon 4-3-11

"Mirrors for the Blind"
John 9:1-41

There are significant differences between the Gospel of John we’ll be reading from in a moment and the first three gospels.  Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell the story of Jesus’ life with the disciples gradually discovering Jesus’ true identity.  John starts out identifying Jesus as the embodiment of God.  Remember John’s opening verses:

1.  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the             Word was God.

2.  He was in the beginning with God.

3-4. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of             all people.

5.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

I emphasize ‘light’ because light is also one of the themes for both this morning’s readings.  Blindness and sight, seeing or not seeing the light, are mentioned in 24 of the 41 verses of John 9. 

According to biblical scholar C. K. Barrett, in all of John’s gospel,

This…chapter expresses perhaps more vividly and completely than any other John’s conception of the work of Christ.

Another scholar, Raymond Brown says, 

The internal construction of the story shows consummate artistry; no other story in the Gospel is so closely knit. We have here John’s dramatic skill at its best.

Before we get to this great story, one final word of explanation.  John’s gospel is much more philosophical and theological than the first three gospels. John tends more towards long, multifaceted stories than short pithy teachings or parables.  Today’s reading is a good example.  Therefore I’d like to tackle it in bite-sized chunks with the help of…. 

1. The healing of the blind man (Chapter 9, vv. 1-7)

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 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, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.

Who sinned here is a natural question for the disciple to ask?  The idea that a child may suffer the consequences of its parents’ sin is an issue that’s raised in several contexts in the Old Testament. In the Ten Commandments in Exodus, the Lord says that he is a jealous God,  

punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me (Exod 20:5)

In Jesus’ time, the concept would have been reinforced by popular Greek ideas. But Jesus denies the connection between sin and suffering.  There is no original sin here he says.  Still, today when tragedies occur, people instinctively ask, “Why did God do this to me?”  Why is God punishing all those innocent people caught up in earthquakes and civil wars?   Jesus says that there is no connection between sin and physical blindness, but that even such tragedies may be an occasion for God to manifest his works.

Some more quick comments on this paragraph:

• For John, who identifies Jesus as the Light of the world, night involves the departure of Jesus from the world. That departure Jesus knows is drawing near, which is why this reading occurs three weeks before Easter. 
• Spitting on dirt and kneading it to make mud echoes the second story of Adam’s creation by God in Genesis. 
• Washing in the pool is an allegory for rebirth in baptism. 
• We could also read this part of the story as confirming that the faith and obedience on the part of the beggar produced a miracle.

I told you John was deep.

Our exploration of sinfulness, however, has just begun.
2. Dialog between the neighbors and the man who was healed (vv. 8-12)

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?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 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.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” 

The neighbors don’t believe that this is the same man, his demeanor may have been quite different now that he could see. Their assumption was that such a transformation cannot happen. In our modern, scientific worldview we are quite familiar with such perspectives: miracles don’t happen!  Apparently even in the ancient world, there were people who doubted the possibility of miracles.  They kept trying to figure it out, “How did it happen?”  “Who did it?”  Our vision, not God’s vision is what we are inclined to pay attention to.

There is no suggestion here that we should believe uncritically anything that comes along. On the other hand, humility in the presence of God’s mysterious ways is a proper attitude to have. How does God work? Can we understand it all?  People with genuine faith recognize the limitations of their knowledge and reserve judgment until such time that there is a better understanding.

Notice that Jesus is mostly absent from this and subsequent discussions.  “Where is he,” the neighbors ask?  When John was writing his gospel Jesus had already been crucified.  Jesus wasn’t walking around in John’s community any more than he is in ours.  “Where is he?”  The issues of faith described here transcend time and place.

3. Dialog between the Pharisees and the man (vv. 13-17)

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 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.” 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. 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.”

The healed man tells them that two things took place to give him his sight. Jesus mixed up mud and the man washed in the pool, neither of which were lawful on the Sabbath. The facts just didn’t add up for the Pharisees. If Jesus were really from God, he would not violate the Sabbath rules. On the other hand, if the Pharisees recognize that a miracle has taken place, therefore Jesus must be from God. It can’t be both.  They will either have to make a change in their traditional understanding of what can or can’t be done on the Sabbath, or else they will have to deny that a miracle has taken place. 

This is an issue that all faith communities must face.  When do we honor traditional understandings and when is it appropriate to give up some fond element in our religious tradition so that there can be an openness to new things that God may be doing, things that don’t comfortably fit the old mold?

            I sell mirrors in the city of the blind. ~ the Hindu mystic poet, Kabir, said 

We need our sight restored to see ourselves better.  We are often blinded from going beyond our own ideas.  There is a bit of Pharisee in all of us.

According to Helen Keller,

The only thing worse than being blind is having sight, but no vision.

4. Dialog between the Jews and the parents (vv. 18-23)

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 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 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.” 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. Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

The Pharisees can’t let go of the idea that something fishy is going on here, despite the fact that they must of known of this guy, who, after all, had been begging in public for years.  They call in the parents to verify that this indeed is their son. The parents admit that he is their son, but because of fear they are not willing to say how he received his sight. They may have known that Isaiah foretold that with the coming of the Messiah “the eyes of the blind shall be opened.” (Isaiah 35:5) They were afraid that if they said anything positive about Jesus they would be thrown out of their Jewish synagogue. Fear of religious authorities keeps them from testifying to the truth.  Weakly, they refer the Pharisees back to their son.

The parents of the healed man demonstrate another type of spiritual darkness. Fear of speaking out and failure to stand up for truth and justice are forms of darkness.  Too often today politicians attempt to make the poor responsible for their poverty, or worse, make the wealthy examples of virtue.  When we don’t speak up for the disadvantaged, we are acting out of our own spiritual darkness.

5. A second dialog between the Pharisees and the man (vv. 24-34)

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.” He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 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?” Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “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.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.

Now the Pharisees interrogate the healed man even more aggressively.  “Tell the truth,” they say which is what “Give praise to God” means here.  The problem for the Pharisees was that neither Moses nor any of the prophets ever cured anyone born blind, so something strange and sinful must be going on here. “We do not know where he comes from,” they say, and this worries them, for knowledge is the source of their power. 

The beggar cannot argue with them on theological grounds but simply stumbles along saying, "I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."  Stumbles on the faith journey are to be expected – the path can’t be known, it can’t be planned; it can only be experienced.  And the formerly blind man was on that journey to “now I see.”

In the Gospel of John we are repeatedly given hints that a particular narrative progresses on two levels, the literal and the metaphorical. That’s what’s happening here. The man was physically blind but now he sees. At the same time there is a gradual progression from spiritual blindness to sight, or from darkness to light. His insight grows and will continue to grow as the story progresses.  Remember he started out by calling Jesus a man, then a prophet. In this paragraph he asserts that Jesus cannot be a sinner but must be from God.

The Pharisees do not take kindly to the ex-beggar’s attempt to teach them.

They are annoyed by the man, and they don’t want to be made wrong in their judgment of Jesus, so they ban the man from the temple.  Note the delicious contradiction here.  A beggar born blind (in darkness) is trying to open the eyes (enlighten) the “wise” and “good” Pharisees.  Where shall we look for enlightenment?

6. Dialog between Jesus and the man (vv. 35-38)

Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him.

Apparently Jesus had no knowledge of what was going on with the man up to that point. But when he hears the news, he looks for him and finds him. Jesus identifies himself whereupon the man falls on his knees and makes a climactic confession of faith, "Lord, I believe." ‘Believe’ is really not a strong enough translation.  ‘Trust,’ ‘commit to’ and ‘bond with’ are additional senses of the word. 

Jesus did not abandon the man.  Jesus will not abandon us.  With Jesus by his side, the beggar’s spiritual journey became complete. “Lord, I believe,” he says.  “Lord, I believe,” concludes our spiritual journey as well.
7. The closing dialog between Jesus and the Pharisees (vv. 39-41)

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.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

Once again Jesus nails the Pharisees.  Either they are blind, but sin in refusing to acknowledge it, or they are not blind and sin willfully.  Believing we know God and God’s purposes is a sure sign of ego exceeding human capacity to understand.  Conversely, knowing God’s will for us and ignoring it is still a form of blindness.

Perhaps the most awful disease in America today is spiritual blindness.

                                                                                                - Mother Teresa said.

John’s narrative ends where it began. What is the connection between blindness and sin? That was the question the disciples asked Jesus at the beginning of the narrative. In the case of the blind man, Jesus’ answer was that there was no connection but that God’s works will be revealed in him. At the end of the narrative, quite ironically, Jesus says that there is a definite connection between the Pharisaic type of blindness and sin. Apparently the healing of physical blindness is relatively easy compared to the healing of spiritual blindness.

At the end of the story the only character whose spiritual sight was truly restored was the poor beggar’s. The Pharisees were still sanctimonious and legalistic, his parents were still hesitant and afraid, his neighbors were still unwelcoming and unbelieving. 

Oops, I left out one party to John’s story, us, the readers.  Are we among the spiritually blind?  This story is analogous to Kabir’s mirror in the city of the blind.  When we hold up the lessons of this story like a mirror to our lives, are our eyes opened, do we have vision?  Do we see what God is doing ‘out there’ and ‘in here’?  What do you see in your mirror?

Amen.