This seems like a fairly
straightforward story. Jesus is walking along, and sees a man who
has been blind since birth. Without being asked, Jesus heals the
man. Since it was the general understanding of the faith
community of that era that physical and mental defects were the result
of sinning, the disciples ask "Who sinned, the one who is blind or his
parents?" Jesus
replied "Neither, he was born so that God’s works might be
revealed in him." Jesus
spits on the ground, makes some mud, places it on the eyes of the blind
man and instructs him to go to the pool of Siloam. The man goes,
washes his eyes and is able to see.
Obviously, the fact that he can see
creates interest among those who have known this man for years. A
miracle has taken place, and the man is there all by himself.
Something very powerful and life altering has taken place, but the man
doesn’t have a clue how it happened" "What happened?" "Why were you selected?"
"Was it the mud, or the washing that restored your sight?" No one gave
credit to God. There was no "Thank God" offered, no praises sung, and
no prayers of thanks. All the man could say was "I don’t know
what happened. I was blind, but now I can see."
It isn’t enough that the reporters are
in on the act. Now, the religious authorities arrive on the scene
and begin their line of questioning. Despite the fact that a
miracle has transpired, because it wasn’t one of the religious leaders
who initiated this action, they are certain it is something unsavory.
Even the man isn’t sure. All he knows is that now he can see. The religious leaders proclaim taht
the one who cured your blindness is not from God because he healed on
the Sabbath. But the public said "How can one who is not of
God heal?" That is a common religious leader’s response. "God wouldn’t
do something like that! That’s not the way we believe; there must
be another explanation. They believe differently from us so we must not
associate with them." Sadly, we see such reactions daily in our
world.
The authorities call for his parents.
They know the parents; they are part of the orthodox believers of the
day. “Is this your son?” they ask. “How come that he can now see?” They
reply “Yes, he is our son, we can confirm that. But we
don’t know how he now sees, nor who did this to him. He’s of age, ask
him yourselves.” So the
authorities call the man again. They say to him, “Give the glory to
God, because this man is a sinner.” He replies “I do not know if he is
a sinner or not. I only know that now I can see.” They mock him,
and say “You are a disciple of this man whom you don’t even know.
But we are disciples of Moses, because we know that God has spoken
through Moses.” But this
man now sees clearly, and he says “This is amazing. You are the
religious authorities, and you do not know where he comes from, yet he
opened my eyes.” They answered “You were born in sin,” and they
expelled him from their midst.
Meantime, Jesus heard of this
expulsion, and returning, he asks the man if he believes in the Son of
Man, the title Jesus used for himself. The man says “Who is he,
tell me so that I can believe.” Jesus then says a remarkable thing: “I
came into this world so that those who do not see may see, and so that
those who see may become blind.”
Some of the religious leaders heard this exchange and said “Surely, we
are not blind, are we?” Jesus said “If you were blind, you would have
no sin. But now you say ‘we see’ your sin remains.”
This is powerful stuff and I dare say
that you and I cannot read this story without looking carefully at
ourselves. The story pushes us to ask the question "Who are the
Pharisees of today?" It might
help to know that for John, the Pharisees are like the examination
board of a denomination, or the self appointed judges in a local
congregation. These are the people who see themselves as protectors of
religious purity. They search for ritual purity and preservation of the
law. They are the ones who see themselves as keepers of the faith, and
thus the prosecutors of those who, in their eyes, do not keep the faith. It’s much too easy for us to say
"The Pharisees are Jewish, so this doesn’t pertain to us." That’s
a cop out. There are Pharisees in every Church and faith persuasion,
and if we are to know who they are, we need to ask some penetrating
questions. Who are the
people you know who follow all the tenets of the leaders, and who
because they are loyal feel they can tell who the prophets of today
are? Who are the leaders who feel they are so right in their pious
convictions that they cannot have fellowship with those who believe and
act differently? Psychologists would say, they are really so unsure of
their position that they must shield it from any outside influences.
Who are the self righteous, pledge
paying, faithful attending people who feel they can spot a heretic a
mile off, and who by their attitude drive off people with new insights
and equally valid ways of serving God? According to John, these are the
people you should watch out for, because they think that they can
see. Not only do they think they can see, but they think they can
see better than anyone else. Even worse, they are not shy about
telling you that what you see, or the way you serve or believe is
wrong. If one wants to know why the Church is having difficulty,
it is largely incumbent in these modern day Pharisees. When Chris and I were in India, I
was saddened to hear from my friend The Rev. Kenaz Solomon, that he was
not criticized or even questioned about his beliefs by the Buddhists,
the Hindus or even the Moslems in South India. However, he was
continually criticized and spoken of as a heretic by the ultra
conservative Christians, primarily the Pentecostals and the Roman
Catholics in that area. It is an even sadder reality that such
attitudes exist in our country, our province and our own community of
Squamish. Something is dramatically wrong when clergy members state
that they cannot even pray with those of differing viewpoints. That’s
what I call modern day Pharisaism.
Now, we need to understand that this
story is much more than a recounting of the historical acts of Jesus.
This is a story of how the Christian community is struggling with the
issue of maintaining the faith in a post-resurrection era. In the
story, after the miracle, Jesus simply disappears and the man, a
neophyte in his faith, is left to answer all the questions that were
being asked. He is the object of the snide comments and the
accusations of wrong beliefs. All the man can answer is, I don’t
know; all I know is now I can see. After Jesus was gone from this
earthly existence, his followers were the objects of questions and
accusations, just like the blind man. The community was struggling with
the problem of how can we be faithful in the second and third
generation of people who were living without the physical presence of
Jesus. They were struggling to hold their own in the face of attacks by
non- believers, just like that blind man.
The early Church, just like the Church
of today, was struggling with the issue of when is it appropriate to
give up some fond ideas of the past, and to embrace the thinking of
modern scholars, so that modern thinkers can conscientiously embrace
the Christian message. And, just like back then, many are fearful to
express their own feelings because of fear of what the religious
leaders may think- or afraid of offending their pastor or their fellow
members. That’s what the story is about. That is the issue that
you and have to struggle with, and come to our own conclusions.
But it doesn’t end there. If we are
truly seeking and truly trying, then just when we are about to be
kicked out of the Church, or about to quit on our own, Jesus reappears
and says "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" The blind man said "Lord,
I believe." Then Jesus
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." Some of
the Pharisees heard this, and said to him “Surely, we are not blind,
are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not
have sin. But now that you say 'we see,' your sin remains.”
Those, my dear people, are the
questions before us, and they are the questions that we have to answer.
If we are blind to the differences, and willing to follow Jesus and the
life that he lived, then we in the fold of God. If we see, and are
willing only to hold fellowship with those who see as we do, we are in
sin. Then as now, Jesus
is at the centre of all the controversy. The questions that are asked,
and the insults or rejections that we face, like the blind man, are
because of Jesus. Do we understand that Jesus was not the favourite of
society? It was the
religious leaders of Jesus day who were so critical of him. "This man
eats with sinners. This man talks with harlots and forgives adulterers.
This man got angry at the temple and kicked out those who were selling
objects to be used in worship. This man is not of God; God does not
work on Sundays. God doesn’t spend time with prostitutes or invite the
outcasts and downtrodden to his table. God is found in ritual and law
and obedience to the principles of the Church, not in serving the poor,
healing the sick or dealing with the sinners of society."
People who say they are Christians are
still saying that. "How can we fellowship with that Church? They
are opposed to war. We can’t be part of them. They want to help
people, and they don’t even require that they be converted to Jesus
Christ first. We can’t fellowship with them; they commune with Jews and
Catholics; with people with addiction problems, with people who are
poor and who are using the system to survive. Those folks over there at
Squamish United need to find themselves as children of God, like we
have." And Jesus said
“The one who would save his life will lose it, but the one who loses
his life for my sake, shall find it.” When we lose ourselves in
the service of others, we find ourselves. When we give a prayer shawl
to a person in pain or worried to death, we find ourselves. When we
make a meal for someone who is incapacitated, we find ourselves. When
we prepare a meal for someone who is hungry or come and pack food to
give out to people who need it (or in some cases may not), we know what
it means to serve Christ and not to worry about the way others see us. Don’t worry about what you don’t know.
Don’t get exercised about what others may say about us, or about you.
Simply try to follow Jesus. Who knows who is God’s spokesperson? Who
knows whether or not God works through sinners, or those who are
different from us? We
know that Jesus never paraded his piety. He just served.
Jesus was never dogmatic. He simply accepted, and said "Try to do
better." Jesus shunned the religious establishment, and healed,
spoke to, forgave and loved people who had never heard of him and had
no idea of who he was; and he never wavered, even in the face of the
cross.
When we, here in this Church, learn to
follow Jesus, even when we don’t understand all there is to know about
him, we will truly be healed of our blindness. When others ask us, why do you
believe in Jesus and do what you do, we need give only one answer. "I
don’t know all there is to know about him, but this much I know, once I
was blind but now I see."
"Do you believe in the Son of
Man?"said Jesus. And he answered "Lord, I Believe." May it
be so!