HOMEPAGE

March 10, 2002 - Lent4a
Read the entire 9^th chapter of John

This 9th chapter of the Gospel of John, a portion of which I read, is about BLINDNESS AND SIGHT. For me, the question that leaps off the page and begs to be asked is, "Who in this story is it that is really blind; and who in this story is it that is able to see? Who is blind and who has sight?" Take the disciple's question of Jesus for example, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" You see, their question was a direct reference to the popular notion of the their day that there was a cause and effect relationship in regards to personal suffering and tragedy. It was a notion based on the assumption that there was a perfect moral order firmly in place. In an attempt to make sense out of a broken, sometimes seemingly senseless and world, but yet hold on to an idea of divine justice, a retribution doctrine had developed and crept into their faith that simply stated meant, that "people pretty much got what they deserved." In other words the disciples immediately jumped to the conclusion that the man's blindness was the result of God's judgment because of his sin: a hidden wickedness; some subtle evil on the part of this man or his parents, had caused blindness to fall upon him as punishment.

So I ask the question again, "Who is it that is really blind in the story, and who is it that is really able to see?" Because of their belief, and the way they believed God related to the world, the disciples were not able to see, receive and show compassion for a real human being; a real person sitting in the dirt begging by the side of the road. They were only were able, as a result of their faith, to put him in a category; to deposit him in his appropriate place; to pigeon-hole him as one who had received the judgment of God.

Jesus suggested that the man's blindness had nothing to do with his sin or anybody else's sin, but that his blindness provided an opportunity for God's glory to be revealed!

"Who is it that is really blind in the story, and who is it that is really able to see?" Take the Pharisees and the other religious people who appear in the story. They either didn't believe in the healing, or they trivialized it because they simply could not entertain the possibility or the idea that Jesus might be of God. In their faith, Jesus didn't fit the pre-cast form of what the Messiah should look like, be like, and behave like. As far as they were concerned Jesus was a sinner because he violated strict Sabbath laws, and a threat because he deviated too much from what their faith told them to expect and look for; Jesus threaten to change things way too much for their comfort! So, they ended up not only dismissing Jesus as counterfeit, but also dismissing the formerly blind man, even suggesting that he had faked his blindness all these years. They simply could not celebrate with the man in his joy over the new found sight that God had given to him.

The ironic twist to this story is that those who should have been able to see (the disciples, the Pharisees, and the religious folks) were blind, and the one who couldn't see, the blind man, saw very clearly - not only with his eyes - but was able to see with his heart in such a way that he could acknowledge his faith in Jesus as being from God.

From deep in this story emerges an all important question for us, "Where and how can religion strike people blind?" More personally, "Where and how does your religion blind you? Blind me!"

We look around our planet and see all the places where people conduct warfare and initiate violence in the name of God and religion. At the crux of many of the world's great chronic conflicts lie religious causes. One does not have to poke very far beneath the surface of the conflicts in the Middle East, the Balkans, N. Ireland to name just a few. When we probe into these conflicts, we see not only political, social and economic factors, but profoundly religious dynamics. We're familiar with situations where in the name of religion and religious causes people have taken human life:

- people on both sides of the abortion issue

- the fueling of biases and hatreds against the gay community, or Muslim community, even Christians of one expression over Christians of another expression.

- tragically, I have known several situations where women in safe houses have been told by their pastors citing religious reasons, to return home to physically abusive husbands. I knew a woman with a broken jaw and partial loss of sight in one eye due to her husbands violence who was told by her pastor that it was her duty to return home, and if she didn't, she stood under God's wrathful judgment.

For sure these are radical and flagrant examples that are perhaps difficult for us to even comprehend, but yet, they show the kind of extreme blindness that can come about in the name of God and religion.

But yet, if I'm honest enough, and courageous enough to look inside of myself I can see places where sometimes I am blind, or at least am wearing blinders. In my case and your case maybe not always because of my faith, but rather because I'm not seeing with the eyes of my faith, and hence I am blind.

For example, are we a congregation of people that are consciously and deliberately inviting, and inclusive of all sorts of people. Or are we a congregation who is satisfied with our church the way it is, and do little or nothing to be inclusive of those who are different from us? How is our faith informing us and enabling to us to see on that issue?

Where do we stand and how does our faith enable us to see those in our society who suffer and die from AIDS? Do we find ourselves motivated with compassion, or with certain exceptions do we feel like AIDS patients have pretty much gotten what they deserve?

How about the person in your neighborhood, or at your work-place who is recovering from a substance abuse addiction? Can we celebrate with them, and affirm that perhaps God is performing a great miracle of liberation and healing in their life; or do we look at them with skepticism and live with the idea that people really cannot change and be healed of inner wounded-ness!

How do you relate your religion to your prejudices and biases? Do you use religion and the name of God to reinforce your prejudices, or do you see your religion as contradictory to prejudice, especially if you follow Jesus, the one who crosses over just about every major prejudicial barrier of his day; especially the barriers that kept the religiously righteous sequestered from the sinners; outcasts; Gentiles; Samaritans; lepers; the unclean and many others.

How about your own life? Jesus said the purpose of the blind man's life was intended to reveal the "glory and work of God." , thereby giving his life eternal significance and ultimate dignity. Is that how you see yourself? Do you see that as

your purpose for even being alive? Have you surrendered yourself to the Lord in such a way that the "glory and work of God" is revealed through you? Or have you attached your wagon to another star; materialism; security; or self-service?

There's a wonderful story, a fable actually, that is recounted in the Fioretti, a delightful collection of word pictures drawn by the early Franciscans to illustrate the teachings of their beloved brother Francis of Assisi. It's about the wolf of Gubbio.

The small hill town of Gubbio, just outside of Assisi, was paralyzed with fear because of the maraudings of a ravenous wolf in the region. The wolf had killed livestock and even humans. In terror the town had barricaded itself securely within the city walls.

Hearing this Francis went to the town and offered to go out and meet and subdue the beast. Armed only with faith, Francis approached the snarling wolf and, making the sign of the cross, spoke gently to the animal, who laid down at the feet of the saint with the docility of a lamb. Frances addressed the wolf as his brother and pointed out to him the seriousness of his crimes. But then, he offered him forgiveness and proposed that he, Francis, act as peacemaker between the wolf and the people. If the wolf would promises to stop harassing the inhabitants, Francis pledged that he would see that the people would not harm the wolf, but would tend to his hunger by feeding him. The wolf gave his promises by offering Francis his paw in good faith. The people of Gubbio, in turn, were exhorted to treat the creature with respect and to agree not to harm him. For two years until the wolf's natural death, the people fed the wolf as it begged from door to door, and both wolf and people observed the terms of peace set forth by brother Frances.

It's easy to dismiss this as nothing more than a meaningless fable from a long ago time when sensibilities were "less sophisticated" than our own age; dismiss it as foolishness and naivete. But as I look over the landscape of the dead and wounded of this our more sophisticated age, I can't help but wonder if this fable cannot speak to us loud and clear. The fable tells us that Francis saw with a unique set of eyes . He did not see the situation from the wolf's perspective, that is by the sheer need and biological necessity to kill to stay alive. He did not see the situation from the villagers' perspective, that is by the fear and terror to protect themselves at all costs. He did not see the situation from the vantage point of adversaries battling to the death for survival.

Instead he looked at the situation with a unique set of eyes, and he showed each side how their shared life on this earth could be lived for their mutual enhancement.

This is an art, a truly spiritual art, in learning to see with such eyes as these. I do not mean seeing with the rose-colored glasses of sentimentality, but I do mean looking at a situation and at people with the unique eyes of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The ninth chapter of John ends with what at first seems to be a very confusing statement where Jesus says, "I came into this world so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind." That proclamation only makes sense in the context of this chapter. It only makes sense when we realize that the eyes that Jesus came to bring us are his eyes, which are God's eyes. They are the eyes of true sight. They are eyes that see the world and the people in it from the inside of Jesus and from the mind of God looking out. We see they were eyes that were not afraid to look upon and embrace the outcast, the lepers, the ones nobody else would touch.

- they were eyes that looked on those that the world had discarded and thrown away, and still saw that they were precious children of God filled with beauty and much potential.

- they were eyes that pierced through the phony shells of pious religion with which we wrapped ourselves, and he calls us out of those protective shells to a new way of seeing and living.

- they were even eyes, when blurred by exposure, pain and his own sweat and blood, that were able to look down at the very ones who had nailed him there and ask, "Father, forgive them!"

Eyes like these and sight like this the world has seldom seen, but I do know this, the world needs these eyes and this way of seeing like never before. The world needs the eyes of Christ who saw every situation and every person uniquely through the eyes of God.

Since the cold war ended in the 80's we've lived with a false sense of security that we've stepped back from the precipice of disaster, but 9-11 has taught us differently. As old conflicts all around the world are reignited with a new and frightening fervor we can recognize the old ways of seeing are nothing more than varieties of blindness.

The punch line is this: If the world is to have these eyes and is to be graced with this way of seeing, it begins with us. The grace, wonder and miracle of it is, they are eyes and sight that God passionately desires to give to us; the eyes of Christ; the vision of God; by grace through faith! Amen!

HOMEPAGE