First Thoughts: This healing story investigates the difference between physical and spiritual blindness. Although the blind man can't see physically, his spiritual vision is completely clear. When he encounters Jesus not only does he allow Jesus to put the spit-mud on this eyes (which is pretty gross), he also follows the rest of Jesus' instructions to go a certain pool to bathe his eyes. He isn't worried about looking foolish, nor does he show any hesitation in pursuing the new life Jesus is offering him. He is ready, willing, and able to receive healing. On the other hand, the spiritual leaders have physical sight but stubbornly hold onto their spiritual blindness. Time and again they encounter evidence of Jesus' healing power in the world but, because seeing and accepting that power would require them to move into a new way of living, they keep their spiritual eyes stubbornly closed to the truth. This prompts inner speculation: Are there broken areas in our lives where we refuse to be healed? This is a real possibility if we benefit somehow from our affliction. Perhaps we hold onto our own wounds because they help us to fit in to a particular group of people, because they get us sympathy from others, or because we use them to justify our own lack of graciousness or compassion in the world. Perhaps we hold onto them simply because they are familiar and we don't know what life would be like without them. But Jesus insists in this text, "I am the Light of the world." It is Jesus' business to bring our struggles into the light of God's love and compassion that they might be healed, and we might be free of them. Our job is to grow in our trust of God's healing intention and -- despite our fear of what we might lose -- to step into the light.
Teaching On Your Own: (wears eye mask) Hey, guys. How is everybody? I'm doing great. Hey, who is that? (goofs off, touching kids' heads and so forth) It's a little hard for me to figure out who's here this morning. Know why? Because I'm wearing this eye mask! See, last night I was watching a scary movie, and it came to a part where there were all these spiders in a cave. I just hate spiders, so I covered my eyes. But I opened my eyes again and I began to be nervous that I would see spiders everywhere I looked like in my bed, the car, and even at church. It seemed too hard to keep my hands over my eyes all that time, so I decided to wear a mask. Doesn't that seem like a good idea? Why not? I guess it's not too safe, is it? I've already run into the wall three times this morning. Also I can't see any of your beautiful faces and that's a bummer! (takes off mask) Oh, that's better.
You know what? Our story today is about somebody else who couldn't see. His problem wasn't an eye mask, but that he was blind from birth. Then he met Jesus. Jesus spit on the ground and made some mud. Then he placed the mud on the man's eyes and told him to wash it off in a special pool of water. Then the man could see again! He was really happy but not everyone he met was happy about it. The religious leaders were upset because Jesus broke one of their laws. He had healed the man on a day called the sabbath, when no one was supposed to do any kind of work. They had a hard decision to make. If they said that Jesus was doing God's work, that meant their law was wrong, and they were afraid of questioning their laws. So they decided that Jesus couldn't really be doing God's work and they threw the healed man out of the temple -- all because they were afraid. Kind of like me wearing my eye mask because I was afraid of seeing spiders, isn't it? Sometimes God asks us to learn and do new things, and some of those things might scare us. But doesn't it make more sense that we ask God to make us brave in facing the new things, rather than putting on a mask so we don't have to see them? From now on I'm going to pray that God makes me brave when it comes to spiders, and all of us can pray for the bravery to keep our eyes open!
Teaching As A Team:
(Leader 2 wears eye mask, stumbles around, bumps into Leader 1)
Leader 1: Hey (name), what are you doing? Why are you wearing a mask over your eyes?
Leader 2: Last night I was watching a scary movie, and it came to a part where there were all these spiders in a cave. I just hate spiders, so I covered my eyes. But I opened my eyes again and I began to be nervous that I would see spiders everywhere I looked like in my bed, the car, and even at church. It seemed too hard to keep my hands over my eyes all that time, so I decided to wear a mask.
Leader 1: But don't you think there might be a problem with wearing an eye mask all the time? You might not see any spiders this way, but you also can't see anything else. It doesn't seem really safe.
Leader 2: Yeah, you're probably right. (takes off eye mask) I've already bumped into the wall three times since I got here this morning.
Leader 1: You know what? Our story today is about somebody else who couldn't see. His problem wasn't an eye mask but that he was blind from birth. Then he met Jesus. Jesus spit on the ground and made some mud. Then he placed the mud on the man's eyes and told him to wash it off in a special pool of water. Then the man could see again!
Leader 2: He must have been so excited!
Leader 1: He was but not everyone he met was happy about it. The religious leaders were upset because Jesus broke one of their laws. He had healed the man on a day called the sabbath, when no one was supposed to do any kind of work. They had a hard decision to make. If they said that Jesus was doing God's work, that meant their law was wrong, and they were afraid of questioning their laws.
Leader 2: What did they decide?
Leader 1: They decided that Jesus couldn't really be doing God's work and they threw the healed man out of the temple.
Leader 2: Just because they were afraid? That's like me wearing my eye mask because I was afraid of seeing spiders.
Leader 1: Right. Sometimes God asks us to learn and do new things, and some of those things might scare us. But doesn't it make more sense that we ask God to make us brave in facing the new things, rather than putting on a mask so we don't have to see them?
Leader 2: Yeah, it's better to be brave. I'm going to pray right now that God makes me brave when it comes to spiders.
Leader 1: And all of us can pray for the bravery to keep our eyes open!
Closing Prayer: Thank you, God, for the story of this brave blind man, who believed in Jesus and had his sight restored. Help us to be just as brave in our own lives, to receive your love and move in faith, so that we can always keep our eyes and hearts open to what you want to show us. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.
Follow-Up Lesson: To reinforce this message in a home or classroom environment, take some time to review the entire story in text, inviting the students to play the roles of blind man, Jesus, and religious leaders. Include the confrontation between the leaders and the blind man where he challenges them to acknowledge that Jesus is working out of God's power, and he is thrown out of the temple. Close with Jesus' pronouncement to the religious leaders that they're the ones who are really blind. Allow the students a chance to play the different roles, and then ask them to reflect on the experience. You might ask them where they can see blindness in the story and where they can see courage and faith. Also ask them what things they want to hide from in their own lives: maybe thunderstorms, a bully at school, or bugs and spiders. Our instinct is to look away from things that scare us, but what if instead we asked for the courage to look at them more deeply in faith? Invite the students to go around one by one sharing their prayer to God for courage in whatever areas of their lives most need it.
For a craft idea, invite the students to create a God's eye. Make a cross with two craft sticks. Secure them together by weaving colorful yarn around them, beginning in the middle and working your way out. (If you have smaller students, you might want to glue the craft sticks together in advance, making this a little easier to manipulate.) Continue until you have filled the cross with this colorful weaving pattern. If you need it, you can see many examples of a God's eye by doing a quick search on the internet. The craft reminds us that even if we're too scared to look at something ourselves, God is never afraid, and God's eyes are always open. Encourage them to put their God's eye somewhere in their room to remind them that God is always watching out for them. Close in prayer.
