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March 21, l999 The Pastor's Message was preceded by a dramatic reading of John 9:l-4l: Thank you Helena, Billy, Adam, Chi Chuen and congregation for bringing more alive this reading. As you have heard the healing of the blind man takes onlytwo verses; the remaining 39 verses relate to the rest of the story. Among the characters in the story just read my admiration goes to the blind man for he alone is pleased with his healing and he alone shows respect for Jesus and spunk against the critics of Jesus. The blind man has the great line of this story: ONE THING I KNOW, I WAS BLIND AND NOW I SEE. As modern people we would tend anyhow to empathize with this handicapped man who from the very first day he was born was unable to see. Our compassion, in principle at least, is with those who lack some aspect in their humanity which prevents them from being considered "normal" by regular society. This man could hear, taste, smell and feel. In every other way he was perfectly normal, perfectly human, but the Gospel story tells us that sight was a gift he did not have and the lack of that single gift placed him off limits to mainstream society. He had a double handicap of not only being blind but being poor. We could be romantic and argue that there was virtue in his blindness: He probably didn't have the prejudices which sighted people have. Unable to see, skin color made no difference. He would not have been impressed with extravagant clothing or expensive jewellery or what model of the latest chariot the privileged drove when they passed by his beggar's station. More to reality, his situation was in two ways quite similar to modern sighted Christians: l) He came under Jesus' care and influence without any insistence on possessing a previous merit of his own. He was aware he was blind and poor in both the material and spiritual sense. 2) And he would not have known, nor been influenced, by Jesus' appearance. For him Jesus was a voice as Jesus is also for us a presence unseen. In that way we are all blind when we first encounter Jesus. People have always treated handicapped people a little differently than they treat anyone else. Even the disciples of Jesus suspected that something was awry: "Looking at the man born blind, the disciples ask, 'Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?'" The question is legitimate if your understanding of life is based on cause and effect. Cause and effect: Bad things happen to bad people Good things happen to good people. In a cause and effect world, everything is orderly, predictable, understandable, categorical. In a cause and effect world, those who study the hardest, excel; those who work the longest, prosper. Christians need not abandon the rational appeal of cause and effect thinking, but it only scratches the surface of reality. The fact that Jesus died an unjust death tells us that God operates at deeper levels than cause and effect. Jesus resisted the notion of there being any cause and effect relationship between this man's moral behavior and his blindness. "IT WAS NOT THAT THIS MAN SINNED, OR HIS PARENTS, BUT THAT THE WORKS OF GOD MIGHT BE MANIFEST IN HIM!" Then Jesus, spitting upon the ground, takes come clay, wipes it across the man's eyes. The blind man goes and washes the mud off and, behold, he can see. What a wondrous change now to see the colors blue and yellow, the birds diving in the sky. He can see the waves rolling across the lake. Is the adjective "ecstasy" too large to capture his delight! But as we have heard, the story has no depth of general joy. Only the blind man is thrilled with his healing. Neither his parents, nor the townspeople rejoice in his blessing, and the Pharisees turn vicious because of this healing. A bitter town meeting ensues in the synagogue to pursue issues of legitimacy, authority, or the old game of poisoning the well, "Where is this blind man from?" "Where is this rabbi from?" "What illustrious rabbinical school did this upstart rabbi attend? " "From whom did he learn to debase the Sabbath Law?" If they can discredit the healer, they can dismiss the healing. From the argument there emerges only one clear and pertinent and courageous statement: "I know I was blind, and now I see." That healed man states a physical change in his condition and suggests he is also crossing the faith threshold with Jesus. His bold acknowledgement that Jesus is the source of good, really ticks off the Pharisees who now revile him openly. They condemn him as being a sinner, as they also condemn Jesus, and excommunicate the healed one from ever coming to the synagogue again, as Jesus was to be likewise banished from the synagogue. We know from other debates with other Pharisees that Jesus held his own in such arguments. But here he is absent from the main debate and the formerly blind man, not literate, not trained in theological argument, is left alone to defend the legitimacy of his healing. He lacks the knowledge for this debate but he has one great attribute in addition to his courage: he is able and willing to acknowledgement Jesus over against the Pharisees' knowledge of the law and ignorance of Jesus. He does not know all the correct religious phrases with which to interpret his salvation. He was not pious in the traditional sense and, as we've seen, not even respectful of his spiritual elders for he challenges them: "Hey, you guys, are you asking me all these questions because you, too, want to become his disciples!" ONE THING I KNOW IS THAT I WAS BLIND AND NOW I SEE. He acknowledged Jesus as the source of his radical change, new sight, and new hope. Likewise, believers have echoed a testimony like that of the blind man as they have through the generations given their suffering and handicaps over to Jesus: …ONE THING I KNOW I WAS STRUGGLING THROUGH THE PAIN OF MY DIVORCE BUT SOMEHOW I GOT THROUGH IT AND I KNOW THAT SOMEHOW WAS MY FAITH IN JESUS. …ONE THING I KNOW IS THAT I LOST MY JOB AND THE BOTTOM FELL FROM UNDER MY AMBITION BUT I WAS ABLE TO GO RIGHT ON BECAUSE I KNOW WHO IS JESUS. …ONE THING I KNOW I WAS ENDURING BURDENS TOO GREAT FOR ME BUT JESUS GOT ME THROUGH THEM. ONE THING I KNOW….If there is only one thing any one of us can know, hadn't it better be to know who is the source of our salvation. The healed man paid a terrible price for his salvation, cast out of the only fellowship that mattered in his town, the synagogue. Shut off from Torah, family, the sweet smelling incense of the Sabbath, the certitude of the Law all because he looked deeply into Jesus and acknowledged the Light. Some schools believe that this story reflects the historic parting of the Jews, who believed in Jesus, from their families and friends who clung to the Torah faith and stayed with the synagogues. We were once so close, and Christians must always remember how very close we once were with Jews. Indeed, the scene ends sadly: Jesus and the healed man are talking, but they are talking outside the synagogue. The division between the two faiths is symbolized in John's placement of their final conversation outside the synagogue. That tragedy of separation continues, not only between Jews and Gentiles, but more often among Gentiles who confronted with the Light of Jesus, turn away to pursue some alternative way. Whatever their good reasons may be, it is a tragedy when, like the townspeople and the Pharisees, modern people are exposed to His Light but choose to remain blind. Even believers are not immune from this experience of separation. We may let Jesus come close enough to help us with our immediate needs or griefs and then after a little while forget about him. The one comfort I can seize from this story at its ending is that just as Jesus spoke within the synagogue as long as he could, but then was wholly willing to continue dialogue outside the synagogue; so the Lord of the Church speaks to us within the congregation but he also engages in dialogue with those outside the congregation.
Pastor Gene Preston
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The Rev. Gene R.Preston14th Floor, Blk 36, Lower Baguio Villa Tel : 25516161 Fax: 25512114E-mail : gpreston@netvigator.com |
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