Grace and peace to you from him who is and who was and who is
to come,
This
morning’s gospel text is one of the best-loved passages in the Bible. The account of a man who was born blind,
received his sight, and declared his faith in spite of opposition inspired a
former slave trader to write the gospel hymn “Amazing Grace.” This passage tells us a lot of other things,
too – about Jesus and the man to whom he gave the ability to see and ourselves,
too, of course.
For one
thing, we see our Lord’s love for the poor.
The blind man’s parents were so needy that he had to spend his days
begging in front of the temple; they didn’t have enough at home to care for
their disabled son. When he gave him the
gift of sight, Jesus enabled him to take part fully in earthly life, not so
that he could bask in luxury, but to free him from a burden. He could earn his living and even find a
marriage partner for the years ahead.
The man born blind had a reason to give God glory, just as we give him
thanks that none of us needs to beg. We
don’t live on the streets, and the Lord invites us to trust that we never
will. We thank him for blessing us with
the faith that life will go well.
The gospel
text also teaches us a lesson about suffering.
The Pharisees thought that the man was blind because either he or his
parents had sinned. This was the
teaching of the day – that suffering came as a result of sin. This is true sometimes, of course, as when
criminals are taken to jail for their misdeeds, but not every instance of
suffering is a punishment from God. The
Bible doesn’t explain why suffering takes place, but where believers are
concerned, we do know that privation drives us to God. Hard times refine our faith. Adversity gives us a chance to share in the
sufferings of our Lord. Jesus promises
to transform hardship into good for his own glory and the benefit of his
people. “Neither this man nor his
parents sinned,” Jesus said, “but this has happened so that the Word of God
might be displayed in his life.” God
showed his power and his will to heal by giving sight to this one blind
man. He sends a message about himself to
everyone who reads or hears this story; he is loving, sympathetic to our
troubles, and on the side of healing.
The gospel
reading also reminds us that God is in control of the universe. He is not indifferent. He acts in the world, though his presence is
hidden and he is concealed from view. We
trust by faith that he is the master. He
promises his people new and greater life beyond the gateway of the grave. Life with him will never end.
The healing
of the blind man also demonstrates that Jesus breaks through tiresome human
traditions. He cured the man on the
Sabbath with some clay he mixed with saliva.
There was a law in those days that said you couldn’t do any kneading on
the Lords’ day. A housewife could not
make bread. Jesus was not supposed to
mix clay and spit. There were dozens of
other rules that did not serve God’s intentions but worked to exalt the people
who thought them up. Our culture
nowadays has gone in the opposite direction. Secular society doesn’t recognize
a day of rest at all. Anyone who wants
to work all the time may do so. Some
folks hold two or three jobs just to get by.
We Christians express our freedom in the Lord by welcoming limits. We fix our attention on Jesus and receive
with delight the Sabbath rest he provides .
We don’t work all the time; we don’t bury our noses in a man-made rule
book. Neither do we take part in
foolish, sinful recreations. Like Jesus,
we are exceptions to the practices that surround us.
John used
the story of then man healed of blindness to emphasize one of the main points
of his gospel – that Jesus is the light of the world. His light exposes the darkness of sin; it
also draws people to new life. For the
Pharisees and others opposed to the Lord, the light of Christ accuses. For believers – that’s us – it is a light of
comfort, consolation, and hope. For
those who at least partly understand their sin and welcome forgiveness through
the blood Jesus shed, the light means life and salvation – the blessing of God
on his people.
We’ll switch
our standpoint now and focus on the man to whom Jesus
gave the ability to see. He received two
kinds of healing that day, physical and spiritual. We see growth in his understanding of who
Jesus is. He called him first a man,
then a prophet, then a righteous man of God, and finally the son of man, worthy
of his trust and worship.
He arrived
at secure faith only after a terrific inner battle, for conflicting influences
pressed upon him. His parents were
indifferent to spiritual things, for they believed that the best way to survive
was by sitting on the fence. The
Pharisees were hostile to the Lord.
Jesus overcame the impediments that held the man back and called him to
new faith. Unlike many others, he chose
the Lord. “I was blind but now I see.”
We humans
usually want to do things on our own. We
like to be our own masters and do everything our own way. Self-will explains the man-made so-called
spiritual laws of Christ’s time as well as the neglect of Sabbath guidelines in
our own, along with many other practices that do not please the Lord. We don’t like to depend on anyone. The man to whom Jesus gave sight, however,
understood his weakness and so he was ready to trust the Lord who had healed
him. There is a hidden blessing in
weakness. When we know we can’t take
care of ourselves, we’re willing to accept help. Children can be especially responsive to
God’s word, as can seniors, like some of the people here and folks I used to
know in Sudbury.
People in
their most active years can pass through terrific struggles over questions of
faith. People brought up with Christian
training at home and in Sunday school know that God wants to help them and
guide them and that they owe him their loyalty.
At the same time, the world encourages them to stand on their own, take
part in life, and not be held back by what look like restraints or sugar pills.
The problem
is not with God but in human nature.
Jesus’ healing of the blind man contradicts some popular beliefs about
the church. The Lord encourages his
people to be active and fully engaged in life. He supports us if we want to be
busy and if we find things to do that we like.
He helps us extend our influence into our communities and to take on
responsibility.
The problem
is that we don’t truly want what we claim we want. Isaiah wrote that nobody can be blind the way
God’s people sometimes can be blind. We
don’t look for responsibility but easy-going relationships. We look for fun forgetting that we’re called
to set Christian examples. We confuse sentiment with God’s kind of love. We think that others should live for our
benefit. We come to think that laziness
and rest are the same things. Our hearts
are divided. We’re imperfectly grown
up. We may even believe that the Lord
doesn’t want us to do our best. I’ve
heard that owners of sport teams sometimes worry if their players turn to
Christ, because they fear that they will no longer be capable of the extra
effort. This is true, of course, if the
words “extra effort” refer to cheating or roughhousing or drugs, but as a
general guideline the Lord expects his people to do their best.
It often
happens, though, as Martin Luther pointed out, that while our faith grows in
strength our old sinful selves also grow and become sneaky and experts at
making excuses. Christians can be as
skilled at self-righteousness as the Pharisees of Jesus’ time.
Our sight is
imperfect, but the good Lord sees things clearly, and he has his eye on
us. If we find ourselves in spiritual
struggles of one kind or another it’s because he has put us there. He trains and corrects our wills and teaches
us to want wholeheartedly exactly what he wants for us. We may fool ourselves with deceitful excuses,
but we don’t fool him. He knows that
we’ll mess things up if we try to decide on our own what’s best, and so he
teaches us the fine art of depending on him.
He brings us through suffering to humble trust in his word.
So we come
back to the gospel song “Amazing Grace.”
By nature we are all spiritually blind, spiritually dead, and enemies of
God. Some of these negatives remain even
in the hearts of Christians, for we are
saints and sinners at the same time.
Imperfection will stay with us until we reach the next life. But God’s grace also accompanies us, and
grace is stronger than sin. The formerly
blind man did not make excuses or take credit himself for his healing. He knew that without Jesus, he would have
remained a wretch, lost and floundering.
The Savior’s pardon covered him.
His grace flows down on the world in never-ceasing abundance. His blood washes away all our faults and
transgressions. It renews us and makes us whole, forgiveness is the true
healing.
There was
nothing extraordinary about the man born blind.
John tells us his story so that we may stand in his shoes. Our needs are not very different from
his. The Lord gave him both physical and
spiritual sight. The work of God shone
in his life; his healing brought glory to Jesus. The name of Christ shines in us, too. Our lives give him glory. In Jesus’ Name. Amen
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your
hearts and minds in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. Amen
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