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March 2, 2008
They'll believe it when they see it!
John 9:13-34
“Who sinned, that this man was born blind?” You may recall that this is the way the story which we read from John begins. Jesus and his disciples see someone who was probably a fixture on his street corner, a blind man who has become part of the scenery. The disciples want to discuss the cause of his impairment but Jesus will have none of their conjecture.
It may sound a bit bizarre. But after all, finding someone to blame, is not that remote from our own experience of illness. Is it? Of course we know a lot more about anatomy and physiology these days and are certainly sophisticated about pathology and the reasons for particular illnesses. We know for example about congenital illnesses that are directly attributable to abuse of alcohol or drugs...even aspirin and coffee are linked to some birth defects. Diet, cholesterol, triglycerides, trans-fatty-acids, who sinned that this child is overweight? Was it the parents or the school district or the child himself? Jesus is not interested in blaming anyone....more interested in a demonstration of the power of faith to make one whole. So the man is healed.
There is a question of authenticity which surrounds this healing story, which makes this story memorable. It is really a play in several acts, points out author Barbara Brown Taylor. We have only read a portion, but let me refresh your memory. After the blind man is pointed out to Jesus, a cure is affected by Jesus kneading together some mud, clay from the ground mixed with his own spittle. Jesus places the mud over the blind man's eyes and instructs him to make his way to the Pool of Siloam to wash. It is at that point a miracle occurs and the man can see. At this point the story takes an interesting turn as the poor blind man labors now to have the miracle accepted. “Not one living soul says, “Alleluia” or “Thank God!” No one asks him what it is like to see for the first time or whether the light hurts his eyes. All they want to know is how, who, where and what.”1
The portion of the story we read this morning focuses on the investigation which is held by the Pharisees. Like the kind of infamous hearings which our elected representatives love to convene in Washington, the Sanhedrin, the ruling authorities of this First Century Jewish culture, are determined to find something illegal here. Having first doubted the fact of a cure, now the Pharisees and their cohorts are bent on impugning the miracle. “This healing, from where does it come?” they ask. “We have never seen anything like this before.”
Marcus Borg, the biblical scholar and theologian whose work we have studied together in the past, coins a phrase for a type of religious practice which he calls “requirement and rewards” religion. It is the kind of faith practice which we talk about often...faith which is based on a check list of does and don'ts...faith which looks for salvation through the filter of conformity.
Again, as Barbara Brown Taylor points out, “The story of the man born blind suggests that there is another question at least as important…. Not “What if it is not God and I believe that it is?” but “What if it is God and I believe that it is not?” That is the one question the Pharisees forgot to ask. They were so sure of everything--that God did not work on Sundays, that Moses was God's only spokesman, that anyone born blind had to be a sinner and ditto for anyone who broke the Sabbath, that God did not work through sinners, that God did not work on sinners and that furthermore no one could teach them anything.
As an educator of college undergrads and the leader of an adult Sunday School class, a woman recently wrote in a blog on the internet, 2 “I am often in search of questions which will open my students/class members to new possibilities. Unfortunately, many of them seem unable to move beyond understanding questions as a request for factual information by which they will be judged (litmus test or simply a part of their grade). In our data heavy era of rapid communication and information accessibility, many of us are prone to want to KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER and have a hard time living with the questions. The problem that the Pharisees have with this healing of the blind man is that it does not conform to the parameters which they have previously accepted as being “correct faith practice.”
One of the reasons for our Lenten Theme this year, “Where are you going?” is to encourage moments of spiritual reflection that are not dependent on answers, but rather are generated by questions. How well is your spirit seeing these days? What questions are coming your way in this season? What questions are you offering? Are they doorways or walls? How do they take you deeper into the mystery of Jesus and who he was and who he is? Are there deeper questions beneath your questions? What questions will help keep your eyes clear so that you can see, and be sent?
The story of the blind man, it seems to me turns right on this point. The one who was blind is able to see the point when others cannot. This man healed me...this man gave me access to fullness of life...the “affect” of his words and of his blessing is that I who had no hope, now have hope! John says that the man says, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.”(John 9:30) You are going to get all tied up in judging the orthodoxy of these events – there legitimacy, when the truth is right in front of you. He made me well...from where else could he have come?
An insurance adjuster has the story of a woman of whom he was quite critical for not having reported a burglary. “Surely,” he said as he pointed to a ransacked room, “you must have known when you saw all the drawers open and the contents scattered all over the room that you had been robbed.” And the woman replied, “I only thought my husband had been looking for his shirts!” One needs to look in order to see the effect when it has happened. Saul Alinsky, who originated what we now call community organizing when he created the Industrial Areas Foundation in Chicago, once said, “They'll see it when they believe it!”
That is what this and so many other stories of the Gospel are about...the astonishing thing is that where ever we are going or however we are making our way through life - God wants us to be whole. God wants us to feel free...and accomplished and alive. There is no right way to go about it...for the way; the agenda is God's not ours.
They'll see it when they believe it….
Telling a tale on himself, an evangelical preacher recalled a conversation with someone who had found himself and his faith.
“So you have been converted to Christ?” “Yes.” “Then you must know a great deal about Him. Tell me, what country was he born in?” “I don't know” 'What was his age when he died?” “I don't know” “How many sermons did he preach?” “I don't know” “You certainly know very little for a man who claims to be converted to Christ.” “You are right. I am ashamed at how little I know about him. But this much I know: Three years ago I was a drunkard. I was in debt. My family was falling to pieces; they dreaded the sight of me. But now I have given up drink. We are out of debt. Ours is a happy home. My children eagerly await my return home each evening. All this Christ has done for me. This much I know of Christ!” 3
In our faith vocabulary, one of the words which we toss around a lot is the word “conversion” or one of its derivatives, like being “born again” which was the term which so puzzled Nicodemus in the lesson we looked at a couple of weeks ago in the third Chapter of John. The world has a way of continually reinforcing a notion of lack of worth, or categorizing people by their circumstances into those who have merit and those who are on the margins. Conversion is not something to be afraid of...it is a process...an ongoing process in the Gospels by which one begins to ask the questions that push the envelope and open the eyes and the heart to all the possibilities that God has in store for us. Being born again is not a flash in the pan or one in a life-time thing, it is a process and a journey toward becoming whole.
In a rapid fire world where things happen so fast, it's nice to be respected as knowing answers and being on top of things, it's great to be affluent and a high achiever...to be busy and sought after and all that, it is quite another thing to be satisfied and to be fulfilled and not to be afraid of the unknown or the unexpected. It is quite another thing to be whole, to know who you are and know you are loved. If all your wheel spinning doesn't lead to that...then perhaps you should take a look around and ask yourself, “Where am I going?”....
Here is an astonishing thing, said the man born blind. I was broken and now I am whole- in a world that is filled with signs of God's love and the power of that love to change lives, do we see it? Do we believe? Does it make a difference? Where are you going?
1 Barbara Brown Taylor, “Willing to believe,” The Christian Century, March 6, 1996, Chicago, page 259. Go Back
2 Lew Kaye-Skinner, comment posted on <paintedprayerbook.com>Lent IVGo Back
3 Michael Yaconelli, Messy Spirituality: God's Annoying Love for Imperfect People, [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002], p. 49 Go Back
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