In today’s gospel reading, we are invited into a story, a story that simply did not just take place a long time ago, but a story that is truly our story, here and now. Because of the nature of this gospel passage, I am going to do something different. Before we hear the reading, I would like to share just a few insights with you.
The community to which the Gospel of John is addressed may very well have been expelled from the synagogue for confessing Jesus as Messiah. They may well have felt isolated and abandoned. So, as you experience hearing today’s reading about the isolated blind man, ask yourself how this passage might address the isolated and the abandoned, not only within John’s community, but also the isolated and abandoned among us today. How does this story address us as we face a whole new form of living in isolation?
Not only does this reading address the nature of this early Christian community, it also works to undermine a simplistic understanding of sin. When the disciples voice a common view of the day that disability or hardship is the result of sin, a view some people today even continue to suggest, Jesus sharply disagrees. Also, when the Pharisees assume that knowledge of the law automatically grants righteousness, Jesus counters their thinking by saying that precisely because they feel so certain regarding their understanding, because they deny their sin and claim to “see,” they are in fact sinning because they do not recognize and trust God’s very saving presence to them in the person of Jesus. So, are they really the blind ones?
With these insights in mind, I invite you to listen or follow along and enter into this story.
John 9:1-41
As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, 7saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.
8The 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?” 9Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11He 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.” 12They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
13They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15Then 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.” 16Some 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. 17So 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.” 18The 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 19and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21but 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.” 22His 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. 23Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” 24So 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.” 25He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27He 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?” 28Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.
35Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” 37Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” 38He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him.
39Jesus 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.” 40Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.
Friends, to follow Jesus is to see differently. Sometimes, to follow Jesus is to be brought into a messy situation, maybe even a crisis. But, in the mess, we are called to trust that God is present and at work doing a new thing. Sometimes, this newness means discovering that we are actually the blind ones when we think we see perfectly. My friend, Pastor Bill Uetricht, quoted theologian John Petty on Thursday and then added some thoughts of his own. He wrote:
“John Petty speaks of Lutheran irony, the notion that ‘it is precisely when we are most spiritually confident that we are in greatest spiritual danger, that it is precisely when we feel strong in faith, precisely when we are feeling the most committed, precisely when we are the most religious, that sin lies closest at hand.’” My friend Bill then said, “I suspect that in the craziness of these current times, this wisdom is worth clinging to. Who knows for sure what it is all about? The call in the midst of it is not certainty, but trust. That isn't coming easy for me these days.”
I agree with my dear friend, Bill. That trust is not coming easy for me these days. Yet, I do continue to trust God’s word to us. That blind man was made new. Theologian, Nadia Bolz Weber, writes, “New is often messy. New looks like recovering alcoholics. New looks like reconciliation between family members who don’t actually deserve it. New looks like every time I manage to admit I was wrong and every time I manage to not mention when I’m right. New looks like a very fresh start and every act of forgiveness. New is the thing we never saw coming – never even hoped for – like our blind guy here. But new ends up being what I needed all along.” And, I would add, new is discovering the new ministries and new ways we are able to be together as people of Faith in the midst of the craziness of our present existence.
Such newness is also what we call grace, it is what we call love. Nadia Bolz-Weber continues by saying, “God simply keeps reaching down…reaching down into the dirt of your humanity and resurrecting you from the graves you dig for yourself through your violence, your lies, your selfishness, your arrogance, and your addictions. And God keeps loving you back to life over and over….There are times when faith feels like a friendship with God. But there are other times when it feels….I don’t know….more vacant. Yet none of that matters in the end. How you feel about Jesus or how close you feel to God is meaningless next to how God acts upon you. How God indeed enters into your messy life and loves you through it, maybe whether you want God’s help or not.”
In today’s story, one of the most remarkable things is the fact that the blind man didn’t seek out Jesus or ask his help. Yet, he was healed and made whole. And the powerful, life-giving truth of the gospel is that our suffering, our grief, the challenges we are currently facing, and even our sin will not have the last word. As our souls and bodies desperately cry out for relief, we hear the faint yet clear voice of the Christ calling us; reminding us that, through the cross, death and all its trappings have been swallowed up in victory. The final word rests not with suffering, not with blindness, not with this coronavirus and everything that we are currently facing and experiencing, but with the newness, life and peace that come through Christ.
These days, we hear people reminding us to wash our hands over and over and over again, and it is a necessary reminder. But, this story reminds us that the most sublime words imaginable are, “Go, wash.” And, I don’t mean just go wash your hands yet again. I mean wash in the waters of your baptism and the water of life in which God daily bathes each one of us, whatever our circumstances. We may not always sense this, but we trust God’s promise to us. And, as the cool and refreshing waters of life wash over all of us – those baptismal waters in which we daily live – our eyes and our hearts are opened to behold the living Christ, standing as the chains of death and hell lay broken at his feet. There is no other response than to simply trust, raise our voices and cry out at last, “Lord! I believe!”
This is a special musical presentation of God So Loved the World by the chancel choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, MIchigan.
I grew up as a sailor. From the age of two, my dad had me flying across the water on a Hobie 16, propelled by harnessing the power of the wind. I came to know my husband, Corey, through sailing, and sailing remains a special part of my life. My dad gave me a poster that I hung wherever I was, moving through high school, college and even into early adulthood that had an anonymous quote “You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust your sails.” Sailing is a challenging and invigorating sport because of the lack of control you truly have. You are totally dependent on the wind. Wind shifts, dies, and puffs so powerfully it tips you over, flinging you off the boat and into the water… as a little girl I would beg my dad “Promise you won’t let us tip!” He would say, “I can’t promise that we won’t tip but I’ll promise that I’ll do my best to keep us from tipping.” As teenagers Corey and I became more daring and tried to see how many times we could tip in one day...enjoying the rush of being overpowered by the wind. Now my kids beg me, “Mom, promise you won’t let us tip!” and I give them the same response my dad gave me. You must respect the power of the wind while sailing, and admit that you don’t have complete control. Sailors become keenly tuned to the wind. My dad would say to me: “feel the wind on your cheek”, and “watch for signs of the wind on the water”. The most essential -- and often frustrating -- rule of sailing is that it is impossible to sail directly into the wind. If you need to move in the direction of the wind you must zig-zag back and forth toward your destination. “You cannot direct the wind but you can adjust your sails.”
Jesus’ words today remind me of this quote that I have lived by. Jesus tells Nicodemus “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (Jn 3:8)
Nicodemus is a leader, a Pharisee, someone who is studied in the laws of the Jewish religion. He knows a lot about Jewish law, what’s right and wrong and what’s to be done about it. But something draws him out “by night” to Jesus. It follows the old stereotype that only shady things happen in the dark. That sneaking around in the dark means you’re up to no good. Perhaps Nicodemus is sneaking around to avoid being labeled a heretic by his community for his acknowledgement of Jesus. Despite these risks, he seeks Jesus. He greets Jesus respectfully, calling him “Rabbi”, acknowledging him as a teacher and openly affirms that Jesus is from God. Then things get pretty murky in the conversation with Jesus speaking about things like water and spirit. We witness Nicodemus becoming more and more confused as he tries to understand Jesus within his rational, law-abiding way of thinking. I really like Nicodemus because I can relate to his confusion and desire to understand. It’s hard to grasp God’s presence in the world with Jesus’ explanations of the nature of water, spirit, wind and flesh… I need a story.
The bible offers us many stories describing God’s agency in people’s lives. The first reading from Genesis this morning highlights Abraham’s call, which is a great story that demonstrates the persistence of God’s promises in the lives of human beings who don’t always go in a straight line to their destination…. But sometimes even these stories seem a little too distant to grasp.
This community at Faith Lutheran Church also has a really great story that many of you know, that many of you participated in, that I want to remind you of today. Two-and-a-half years ago Samaritas cried out for help for refugee youth who were aging out of their program without the government documentation needed to either continue in Samaritas’ program or provide for themselves. This is how the Parish House began. Over the last couple of years I’ve heard many stories about this old parsonage that sits behind Faith Lutheran Church. It was built in 1957 with the original church building and was a home for the first pastors who served this congregation until it was converted into an office. With the expansion of this church building, including the addition of offices, the parsonage became an inexpensive storage facility and the location of weekly sewing by the dedicated quilting ladies of this community. This congregation looked into having the parsonage burned by the fire department for training, or bulldozed, but those were expensive options. The parsonage was actually sold to a community member for the hot price of $10,000, a transaction that fell through just before closing. At the time of Samaritas’ need, the parsonage was rumored to be infested with mold and unlivable. Laurie and I believed these rumors as we entered the parsonage for the first time and discovered it had no kitchen sink, one working bathroom between the two, a leaky roof that had soaked through and collapsed part of the ceiling in one of the bedrooms, and many other issues. “You cannot direct the wind”... “the wind blows where it chooses.”
By all realistic, rational accounts, this old, dilapidated house could not be turned into a home within two months when it would be desperately needed. It was obvious that this conversion, this transformation, was not possible. “What is born of the flesh is flesh.” And yet something inside this community persisted, insisted, that we try. “What is born of the Spirit is spirit.” And so we tried, we started, we began, piece by piece to empty the house of its random stored items, to transfer the quilting projects out of the house and into the church basement. We zig-zagged toward our destination with the hope that the wind would somehow carry us there. This entire community came together, once individuals, now joined by the spirit toward a common goal, to transform this house into a home. To repair its brokenness. To believe in God’s promise of newness. By the world’s standards we were not licensed professionals, and yet the spirit inspired and empowered us to say “sure”. The spirit called us to use our skills at plumbing, rewiring, painting, repairing and moving. We adjusted our sails, we learned to feel the wind on our cheeks, and we listened to the spirit. What’s amazing is that through witnessing the the renewal of the brokenness of this old house -- this community was renewed too. Our eyes were opened as they witnessed God’s presence living, working and moving within this community. What we had thought was impossible became transformed into a new reality before our very eyes. We did not know where the wind would blow or where it would go but we felt it and responded. And we stumbled into something beautiful.
Jesus tells Nicodemus “We speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen” (Jn 3:11). Still, when I look back on this experience, there are many things that I don’t understand, things that don’t add up according to the way I know the world to work. Richard Rohr in his book Falling Upward describes this:
God has to undo our illusions secretly, as it were, when we are not watching and not in perfect control, say the mystics. That is perhaps why the best word for God is actually Mystery. We move forward in ways that we do not even understand and through the quiet workings of time and grace. When we get there, we are never sure just how it happened. (p. 51)
This lack of clear understanding makes it difficult for me to talk about this experience with people who didn’t live it. This unknowing also brings a sense of humility, especially when I’m asked to share this story. Laurie and I have been asked to develop a model so other communities can embark on their own similar project, and we find ourselves at a loss. I have no model for God’s work within community -- except to feel the wind on your cheeks and look for signs of the wind on the water.
Jesus seems exasperated with Nicodemus because Nicodemus, like us, wants a model, a pattern, a guide, to tell him what he has to do. Really what Jesus describes is a process of letting go of control. Of giving oneself up to the Spirit, to God’s will. We must not try to direct the wind, we can only adjust our sails. We need to learn to feel the power of the spirit on the tiny hairs on our cheeks. We need to learn to see the signs of the spirit moving across the waters of our lives. This learning is releasing control. This learning is grace. This learning is God undoing our illusions. God’s presence within our lives does not fit within conventional categories that we easily understand.
This Lenten season, as we approach the time when Christ will be lifted up on the cross like the serpent in the wilderness, we are called to bear the cross within our own lives. We are called to recognize that the cross is no longer humiliation, but exaltation, in Christ. God revealed in Jesus is a God whose love knows no bounds and a God who reshapes us through that endless love. Through our identity as God’s beloved we are given the courage to face those burdens that painfully stand between us and the Spirit of God. The love of God empowers us to consider and face what illusions of control persist within us today… and let them be crucified. Let them die. Let them go. As Christians, this is the foundation of our belief: that every death leads to newness and wholeness of life. You never know what beautiful new thing might be waiting for you on the other side. Amen.
Many of you are probably familiar with the term Theme and Variations. This term describes a very common form of musical composition. When used, this compositional technique first presents a simple theme or idea and, after it is initially stated, repeats that theme but alters it and embellishes it. There can be multiple variations presented, based on this simple theme, but each variation can always be traced back to the original presentation.
Today’s Old Testament reading from Genesis as well as the Gospel reading from Matthew present a form of theme and variations. You see, there are not really three temptations in our Gospel story. There are three variations of the same basic theme. As from the beginning, the devil always tempts his victims to reach for, access, and attain power.
As we look at our reading from Genesis, I want to first make clear that this ancient story was written to help explain why, in God’s creation, there came to be sin and death. It is not a story to be interpreted as literal. The truth of this story goes much, much deeper. This ancient tale helps to communicate something about human nature, something about our alienation from God. It serves to narrate aspects of human brokenness and it helps us understand more about the way we disobey God by eating false foods of all kinds. And, it describes how we invite others to join us in our disobedience.
So, from the beginning, we see evil, in the form of a serpent, tempting victims to go for power, saying, “You will be like God.” For the tempter, there seems to be no surer path to internal contradiction and self-destruction. You see, this story is our story because human beings repeatedly succumb to such temptation. All we need do is look around us at what is happening in our country and the world, and we see not only the result of people eating false foods (foods being a metaphor for all kinds of things), but we also see the result of human beings wanting to be like God. It is all about the desire for power. This Genesis story provides a foil to our Gospel reading today because it not only represents us, it represents the opposite of what happens when Jesus encounters temptation.
In our gospel reading, Jesus is tempted to misuse power. As we look at our reading from Matthew where the first temptation, or first variation of this theme, is presented, the devil goes right for the jugular. The tempter addresses Jesus’ very identity saying, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” This first variation is a temptation for Jesus to use power to show the miraculous. Having just heard for the first time, at his baptism, that he is God’s Son, the tempter then calls that holy moment into question saying, “If you are the Son of God.” Lutheran Minister Nadia Bolz-Weber reminds us that God’s first move is always to name us and claim us as God’s own. But soon other people try to tell us who we are and to whom we belong. Nadia writes, “Capitalism, the weight-loss industrial complex, our parents, kids at school—they all have a go at telling us who we are. But only God can do that. Everything else is temptation.” Jesus responded in this moment of vulnerability by quoting scripture saying, “One does not live by bread alone.” In this first confrontation, the deceiver attempts to mislead Jesus into using his God given power for himself rather than trusting the Father to satisfy his need. Jesus refused. He will not misuse his power for personal material gain.
In the second variation on this theme, the tempter takes the quest for power to yet another level. After leading Jesus to the holy city of Jerusalem and placing him on the pinnacle of the temple, the tempter again calls Jesus’ identity into question saying, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.” Then, misusing scripture and taking it out of context, the tempter says, “For it is written in scripture: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you’ and ‘on their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus is tempted to use his power to save himself from danger. This is a test of heroism and what kind of Messiah Jesus will be. Is he going to be the warrior king, the superhero who can leap from buildings in a single bound and be saved at the last instant because he is God’s Son? Or is he going to be a Messiah folks never imagined possible, the Son of God who will suffer and die on a cross? Jesus says, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” Jesus will not and does not use his power to make himself safe and secure.
Well, the tempter has yet one more power play to make, yet another variation on the same theme, and he raises the stakes even higher. He attempts to seduce Jesus with domination and prestige. Essentially, he offers Jesus all the power in the world. He offers Jesus control over all the world’s kingdoms, along with their praise and glory, in exchange for Jesus’ allegiance to him, allegiance to evil itself. He says, “All these kingdoms I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” But, Jesus is not led astray. Jesus rejects the deceiver’s misdirection and Jesus quotes Scripture in its context, saying, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only Him.” Jesus will not misuse his power to amass clout and esteem. Jesus will not turn from God to embrace the kinds of success we would recognize and applaud. In fact, contrary to the way most human beings pounce on the opportunity to attain such power, Jesus remains exasperatingly himself, and he remains steadfastly faithful as God’s beloved Son.
Human beings – individually, corporately and institutionally – all know the pull of the quest for power. What could be more human? And, we have seen throughout history as well as in today’s present context, the way in which the quest for power corrupts. But, in Jesus, we find a very different kind of power. In Jesus, we find one who not only speaks the power of love but also lives the power of love. And, divine love is infinitely more powerful than all the powers of this world combined. What is even more fascinating is that such love is the only power that assumes the utter vulnerability of the lover. As St. Paul wrote, “whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”
Theologian, Paul Tillich, wrote, “We long for a Christ of power. Yet if He were to come and transform us and our world, we should have to pay the one price which we could not pay: we would have to lose our freedom, our humanity, and our spiritual dignity. Perhaps we should be happier, but we should also be lower human beings, our present misery, struggle and despair notwithstanding….Those who dream of a better life and try to avoid the Cross as a way, and those who hope for a Christ and attempt to exclude the Crucified have no knowledge of the mystery of God and humanity.” (The Shaking of the Foundations, p.148)
In today’s reading, the tempter finally leaves Jesus. But, we soon find this tantalizing deceiver will again voice one more variation on his major theme. The tempter will present yet one more power play as Jesus hangs on the cross, despised and rejected. In that seemingly God forsaken place, we hear the taunts voiced by those who pass by, shaking their heads while saying, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” And, in that place of horror, we find out just how powerful the force of divine love really is. There we find the greatest love and grace the world has ever known, a power that will ultimately trump evil forever. As we make this Lenten journey together, live into that divine love.
This is a special musical performance of My Jesus Walked by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.