AN INSPIRING THING!
A sermon by the Rev. Dr. James G. Kirk
Harundale Presbyterian Church
Text: “What an inspiring thing!” (John 9: 30)
First
Second
Our story
begins as Jesus and his disciples are walking together. They see a man blind from birth. The disciples ask Jesus, is the man’s
blindness because he has sinned or is it due to the sin of his parents? So often, when something bad happens either
to us or to someone else, we look to God for the cause. Why did God let this happen? The other day, at
Jesus doesn’t let his disciples dwell on the past. He’s ready to move on. He sees the man’s blindness as an opportunity for God’s light to shine, and you know the story. He spits on the ground, makes a ball of mud, puts the mud on the blind man’s eyes and tells him to go bathe in the waters of Siloam. The man does as he’s told and for the first time in his life he sees the light of day. Last week, we took time to pray for endurance. That came in handy this past week, as I was visiting with the family in the hospital. I remembered all that we had done, how we laid hands on one another, the children anointed our hands with oil and we prayed that each other might have the endurance they need in the midst of their suffering. I didn’t have any oil with me, nor would I have wanted to scare strangers by requesting that I anoint them, but I did suggest that we lay hands on one another. Somehow that seemed to comfort them. Their emphasis shifted from blaming the father and their own anger to his treatment and how it just might help him. I promised to look in on them while he was in hospital and we would have some more prayers.
Jesus doesn’t let his disciple’s question sidetrack him from his intended goal. His goal is to turn the blind man’s suffering into a moment for God’s light to shine. We, likewise, do our best work when we don’t dwell on the reasons for someone’s suffering, but how it may be an opportunity for us to witness God’s love in our lives.
Our story continues when a problem occurs. We hear how it happened to be the Sabbath when Jesus made the mud and cured the blind man. Now, we’ve read before how Jesus’ interpretation of the Sabbath was at odds with some of the Pharisees. We’ve also noted how Jesus loved to debate that fact with them. Jesus was, likewise, a very good interpreter of the Law, and took issue with those schools of the thought that held that the Law forbade work of any kind on the Sabbath, even something that could save a person’s life.
Last Sunday was a classic example. William was camped outside the door from the parking lot. His wheelchair was right in the way of people coming for worship. The suggestion was made that his wheelchair be moved out of the way, closer to the wall. When the chair was moved, a part of the cushion was exposed to the rain and that angered William. He let everyone know who passed him how thoughtless the church was and how inconvenienced he had been by his chair getting wet. Well, that started the whole debate about why he was camped outside the door in the first place.
Just as in Jesus’ day, so also in our day, there are those who feel the Sabbath is a day sacred to God and a time to worship and to enjoy the fellowship of believers. It’s not a time to engage in an argument with a street person who has for some time taken liberties with the church’s attempts to help him. There are others who feel the church’s mission is to reach out to such people and provide them with hospitality regardless of what day of the week it may be. Both sides argue their case very effectively and it’s difficult to say who’s right and who’s wrong.
Jesus has stepped away from the action for the moment and the blind man is doing a credible job of arguing his case before the Pharisees. Their point is, how can a sinner, that is someone who healed on the Sabbath, have the authority and the power to open the eyes of someone blind from birth? The blind man’s argument points to the very fact that he can now see. “What an inspiring thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if any one is a worshipper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that any one opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” Well, this must have angered the Pharisees, because the next thing we know is they cast him out of the synagogue.
Jesus reenters the scene. He’s heard that they had cast him out, finds him and gets right to the point. “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” When I went to the hospital the other day I could have used that moment to proselytize those people. So called religious people do it all the time. They will use a person’s weakness and vulnerability to “win them to Christ” so to speak. It has become such a problem that the hospital has asked for assistance from some of the mainline churches to come up with guidelines anyone visiting someone in the hospital will have to follow. Proselytizing wasn’t what those people needed or wanted. They wanted some assurance, some understanding, someone they could trust to comfort them and be with them in their time of need.
The same could be said about our free lunch program. There have been those who wanted to use the time those people are here with us to teach them about Jesus. The most we’ve done is to have some Bibles and religious tracks available to them on a table should they want them. The purpose of the lunch is not to win people to Christ, but to provide them with a warm lunch.
Which brings us to the question we’ve been asking our Scripture readings during this season of Lent. That is, why do we want to hear this particular story on the fourth Sunday of Lent? The answer is, all of us have blind spots. We may be blind to someone else’s gift. It would mean a great deal to that person if we were to acknowledge their gift and would help them celebrate the Day of Resurrection in a new way.
We may be blind to a gift God has given to us. God puts us in certain situations and empowers us in those situations to make a contribution. Sometimes, we avoid those situations, because we don’t think we’re qualified and have nothing to offer. So, our decisions to avoid such situations flies in the face of what God may want us to do. Our story today begs us to let the light of God’s love shine through us, perhaps in new ways.
When the
young man was shot by the FBI on
We don’t like to be “blind-sided,” that is someone accusing us of something and our having no clue what the problem is. If a person has an issue with us, we would all prefer that the person talk us about the problem rather that about us to other people. Help us to see things in a new way rather than blindly continuing in what may be an offensive or not the most constructive behavior.
Remember that Lent is a time of preparation. It’s time to make those adjustments necessary in order to celebrate more completely the Day of Resurrection. The storyteller this morning does a remarkable job of weaving an intriguing tale of how one man’s blindness becomes an opportunity for God’s light to shine. It all comes back to the question Jesus asks him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” If so, what are you going to do about it? We can all make changes to take away those blind spots and let the light of God’s love shine through all that we do!
Thanks be to God,
Amen