St. James Greeneville, TN
Greeneville, TN
Year A - Lent 4 - March 22, 2020
Today is different… Today we see differently… Today we act differently… Today we worship in a way that we have never worshipped together before. It’s times like this where I like to remind folks that the church is not a building… The church is not a steeple… The church is a gathering of believers… The church is a people…
We’ve figured out today that we can gather in different ways than to come together in a building... The whole restriction on large group gatherings puts a new perspective on worship attendance and participation. I want to thank those who have joined us from home today… those of you outside of your comfort zones, gathering and engaging in a new way via technology.
Today’s reading from the Gospel according to John in a familiar story about Jesus’ encounter with a blind man. The thing that jumped out at me was the pharisee’s demand for testimony about how his eyes were opened about who he thinks Jesus is… “What do you say about him?” the Pharisees ask.
The man who was once blind declares Jesus a prophet, the Pharisees are split and his followers continue to be dazed and amazed at Jesus’ wondrous deed. We are just coming away from chapter 8 in John when Jesus narrowly escapes being stoned to death while he was preaching in the temple.
Jesus is on his way somewhere else and sees a blind man. This man doesn’t ask to be healed, it is Jesus’ disciples who are asking about the cause of the man’s blindness – thinking that the man had committed a grievous sin.
Sin was often associated with physical ailments… so naturally they thought that this man or his parents had committed some sort of sin. Jesus uses the opportunity to teach the disciples with the action of healing the man’s eyes.
In a very human, almost crude gesture, Jesus spits in the dirt and makes mud to apply to the man’s eyes. Then he "sends" the blind man to wash in the pool of Siloam… (which the name, Siloam, ironically enough means sent)
It is an incredible miracle. However, the Pharisees don’t get past the fact that it occurred on a Saturday and Jesus may have violated the Sabbath. Evidently, one cannot make mud from the spit on the Sabbath. The Pharisees question the man as to how his sight was restored and who did it. The strange fact to me is the blind man did not know where Jesus was (or even what he looks like), and yet the Pharisees are quick to assume some violation rendered this act of healing as not being of God because it was done on the sabbath. The scripture tells us that they were divided over the decision.
Jesus told the man, “Go and wash! Be made clean!” He sends the man to the pool of Silom (the pool of the sent) on the sabbath to wash. I feel that sometimes the gospel according to John can be referred to as a gospel of participation. Throughout John, it tells us how to participate… how to get the most out of our Christian life.
Our first act of full participation in this Christian life is Holy Baptism. It is the initiatory rite that makes us participants with Christ in his life, death, and resurrection, and it includes us as full members of Christ’s body, the church. In the waters of baptism, we are washed and made clean.
No, it doesn’t make us bricks and mortar… but it makes us part of a living whole; part of the great mystery that helps us make sense sometimes of the craziness around us… I feel that in this reading, we are called as followers, as believers in Jesus, to wash in the waters of baptism and be made clean. When we are made clean, our eyes are then opened so that Jesus can lead the way.
After continuous questioning, (because the Pharisees are obviously not getting the answers they want) the man who was once blind says, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again?” The continuous questioning seems to be getting on the man’s nerves.
The Pharisees are pushing the buttons again, scheming and trying to find something that Jesus has done wrong... Something to convict him of… I have got to say that I appreciate the man’s boldness as he stands up to the religious leaders. He answers their inquiries directly, completely, and somewhat sarcastically. The whole banter following the phrase, “Here is an astonishing thing…” offers the Pharisees an irrefutable explanation of the circumstances.
The leaders refute and claim that the man is trying to teach them (like they are beyond learning something new)... Maybe that’s part of the problem. The encounter between Jesus and the blind man is an intriguing one (then again, I think that any encounter with Jesus would always be intriguing).
In this meeting, Jesus helps a blind man believe. But not only believe, but be made whole, and clean, to be restored... restored to the community where he belongs. The man immediately believes and worships Jesus. Claiming him to be the Son of Man.
The leaders overheard Jesus and the man talking and then fall into a conundrum with Jesus over what it means to see. We are called to see, and not necessarily with our eyes. To see what God wants of us, we need the adequate light of Jesus and we need to take the time to focus.
Jesus is our light. During this season of lent, let him illuminate the dark places of our heart... the dark places in our lives. So we can see our real selves… The darkness is real… the darkness is fear and confusion… the darkness it’s panic and greed and selfishness... It’s all the things that we have seen played out over the past couple of weeks…
Over the past few weeks, we have heard this scripture played out… as we were told to be calm, and go and wash… If we would open our eyes to new ways and new possibilities, we may see God doing a new thing among us in this strange time… If we would let the light of Jesus shine in our life, we may be life to others that need us…
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