We Must Be Blind!
Sermon
Preparation And Manifestation
Sermons For Lent And Easter
What is the matter with you? Why do you never seem to understand what I say? You have ears: Why do you not hear me? Or are you blind? Can you not see what I am doing? You have eyes: Why can't you see?
Our Bible lessons for today speak directly to us. It is as if they were written with us in mind. They all make at least some reference to problems of sight and blindness - to the problem that plagues us.
"Wait a minute, Pastor! You must be kidding. These lessons cannot have much to do with our parish. To be sure, there are a few of us who do not hear as well as we once did or who could use a stronger pair of glasses. Yet none of us is blind or deaf. What does all this talk about the blind seeing have to do with us? Even if it did, you are not planning a healing service, are you Pastor?"
To the second question, I am not suggesting that we turn our parish into a congregation of charismatics. No healing services today. Yet to the first question, what does all this talk about being blind (and deaf) have to do with us, I say that it has everything to do with us.
In what way does blindness (and deafness) have to do with us? I think that to answer that question I should let you all in on a little secret about how to read the Bible. When you read the Bible or think about some of the stories in it, there is a great temptation to think, "Oh, all that is interesting, and it is wonderful to think that God could do this for people long ago; yet it does not have much to do with me" Certainly this is a temptation. However, what we really must do if we want to be open to hear God's Word in the scriptures is to be prepared to locate ourselves in the stories. We should seek to find ourselves in the biblical accounts, regarding the characters in the Bible to whom God is speaking and interacting as representing you and me. We come to learn a little bit about who we are by identifying ourselves with these people.1
This way of reading scripture entails identification with the blind man whom Jesus healed. You remember the story. A blind man had been brought to Jesus on the sabbath day, and Jesus healed him by putting some clay over his eyes. The Pharisees, who were some of Jesus' main tormentors, heard about what had happened, and they really grilled this poor fellow whom Jesus had healed. They grilled him first about the nature of the miracle. Then they made a lot of accusations against Jesus for working on the sabbath, which was, of course, a sin for the ancient Jews. Just the same, the man whom Jesus healed stood his ground. "This is a great man," he said. "He is a prophet (John 9:17)." And eventually he took his lumps for saying it.
What courage we have here! The man was harassed terribly for his brave defense of Jesus. The Pharisees questioned him and his parents about whether he was actually blind; they tried to show that the miracle was just a fake. Yet the man stood his ground (even though his parents backed away and let him take all of the heat). He even went so far as to confess that Jesus was from God (John 9:33). Of course, he paid the price. The Pharisees cast him out of the local synagogue.
This man whom Jesus healed certainly demonstrated an appropriate gratitude to Jesus, a true faith, did he not? In his faith he teaches us something about ourselves. Like him, we have all been touched by the good news of Jesus Christ. In a way it has healed us from our blindness, has it not? This is Paul's point in our epistle lesson for today (Ephesians 5:8-14). We are not in darkness; we are not spiritually blind anymore. We know everything that is necessary; we know that our salvation depends on Christ. We are not blind. Much like that blind man in our gospel text we are witnessing to our gratitude and our faith by our attendance here this Sunday morning.
To be sure, there is a lot that we can learn about ourselves from the blind man in this morning's story. Perhaps we can learn a lot more than we think. Listen to the rest of the story, and see if you do not gain further insights about who you are.
Immediately after standing up to the Pharisees, telling them what a great man Jesus was, and even enduring the Pharisees' chastisement, the blind man (now no longer blind) runs into Jesus again. Jesus asked the man, "Do you believe in the Son of Man (John 9:35)?" The man looked at Jesus, even after having been healed by him, and he said, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him (John 9:36)?" Jesus answered, "You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you (John 9:37)."
Imagine! Imagine that! Here the answer is standing right in front of this fellow, the Son of Man. He has been healed by Jesus. He has experienced his great power. The man who was healed can now see, his eyes are working fine, and he is still acting as if he were blind. This man certainly acts an awful lot like you and I do.
Week after week, you and I assemble in this building. We come together to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. Hopefully we hear a little bit of it on our own through personal prayers and family devotions. Yes, we hear a lot of the good news of Jesus Christ. But is it making a difference in our lives? Is it?
Week after week, we come together as the family of God. In fact our Christian community (the church) is not just a Sunday thing; it exists all week long. Its purpose, a primary purpose of the church, is to give support to Christians, to be a fellowship in which we can lean on each other's shoulders when things are tough (1 Corinthians 12:12-26). This is the purpose of the church. We all know this. Yet it seems like in any church, not just in our parish but elsewhere, too, you seem to find people more critical, more likely to stab others in the back, than among any other group of people. Consequently, the church does just the opposite of what God intended it to do. We must be blind - or deaf.
Time and time again we have heard the good news of Jesus urge us to live by faith. How many times have we heard Jesus ask us to consider the lilies of the field, how they do not sow or toil, and yet how God provides for them (Matthew 6:28ff; Luke 12:27ff)?" How many times have we been urged not to be too anxious about the future? How many times? Yet, we keep on worrying about tomorrow. We pile up more and more - more money, more things. We do not even seem to have enough. We need more - for security. It is as if we had never heard Jesus' parable.
How about the good news? How about the good news that, because of Jesus Christ, God has forgiven us, that he loves us just the way we are - that we do not have to earn his love? That means that we are lovable. We cannot be all bad. What other people think does not have to matter so much anymore.
Yet no matter how many times you and I have heard it, it just does not seem to sink in - not really. To be sure, we all believe that God loves us. Yet, too often we do not take the next step. We do not believe that, if God the Creator loves us the way we are, then we must be quite lovable. No, we do not live our lives in that kind of confidence. Instead, you and I become too preoccupied with what other people might think of us. Sometimes this unfaithfulness on our part takes the form of an "I can't do that; I'm not good enough." Other times we wind up doing things that we really do not want to do, simply because other people think that we should do it, because it is the thing to do.
Again and again the good news of God's love for us and the self-confidence that goes with it comes our way. It comes to us in God's Word. We can see it, even taste it, in the sacrament of Holy communion. Yet it is often like we never "heard" about this Word, for all the genuine self-confidence it gives to us. No, we are just like the blind man whom Jesus cured. We have our eyes, but we cannot see. We cannot seem to recognize God's love and what it could mean for our lives. We cannot recognize that love, even though it is right in front of our eyes.
The prophet Isaiah (in our first lesson, Isaiah 42:19-20) says it all: "Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the Lord? [Israel] you see many things, but do not observe them ..."
We see many things in our daily lives, but really do not observe them. The secret to life, everything that we need in order to live happy and fulfilled lives is right here. It is here in this book (the Bible). It is here at the altar on every Communion Sunday. It even comes from this pulpit, at least every once-in-a-while (whenever the Holy Spirit uses the preacher who stands here). Yes, the key to a full, happy life is all here.
Isaiah is really correct. We have seen so much; yet it has not meant enough to us in our lives. We have the eyes that we need in order to see and the ears that we need in order to hear. Yet we have not seen and heard - not really.
Jesus said that same thing at the very end of our gospel lesson's story about the healing of the blind man. Some Pharisees were overhearing Jesus' dialogue with the blind man whom he had healed, and Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains (John 9:41)." We say that we can see, but in actual fact we do not notice all that God has given us. We really must be blind!
Listen all you deaf and blind people: There really is good news! God is still eager to save. Prepare yourself for his coming into your life. He is already present. It is all here; the secret to the good and happy life is already manifest and present. Consequently let us wake up and start grabbing hold. God is eager. It is like the old Christian hymn that Paul sang in our second lesson says: "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light (Ephesians 5:14)."
Christ shall give you light.
Our Bible lessons for today speak directly to us. It is as if they were written with us in mind. They all make at least some reference to problems of sight and blindness - to the problem that plagues us.
"Wait a minute, Pastor! You must be kidding. These lessons cannot have much to do with our parish. To be sure, there are a few of us who do not hear as well as we once did or who could use a stronger pair of glasses. Yet none of us is blind or deaf. What does all this talk about the blind seeing have to do with us? Even if it did, you are not planning a healing service, are you Pastor?"
To the second question, I am not suggesting that we turn our parish into a congregation of charismatics. No healing services today. Yet to the first question, what does all this talk about being blind (and deaf) have to do with us, I say that it has everything to do with us.
In what way does blindness (and deafness) have to do with us? I think that to answer that question I should let you all in on a little secret about how to read the Bible. When you read the Bible or think about some of the stories in it, there is a great temptation to think, "Oh, all that is interesting, and it is wonderful to think that God could do this for people long ago; yet it does not have much to do with me" Certainly this is a temptation. However, what we really must do if we want to be open to hear God's Word in the scriptures is to be prepared to locate ourselves in the stories. We should seek to find ourselves in the biblical accounts, regarding the characters in the Bible to whom God is speaking and interacting as representing you and me. We come to learn a little bit about who we are by identifying ourselves with these people.1
This way of reading scripture entails identification with the blind man whom Jesus healed. You remember the story. A blind man had been brought to Jesus on the sabbath day, and Jesus healed him by putting some clay over his eyes. The Pharisees, who were some of Jesus' main tormentors, heard about what had happened, and they really grilled this poor fellow whom Jesus had healed. They grilled him first about the nature of the miracle. Then they made a lot of accusations against Jesus for working on the sabbath, which was, of course, a sin for the ancient Jews. Just the same, the man whom Jesus healed stood his ground. "This is a great man," he said. "He is a prophet (John 9:17)." And eventually he took his lumps for saying it.
What courage we have here! The man was harassed terribly for his brave defense of Jesus. The Pharisees questioned him and his parents about whether he was actually blind; they tried to show that the miracle was just a fake. Yet the man stood his ground (even though his parents backed away and let him take all of the heat). He even went so far as to confess that Jesus was from God (John 9:33). Of course, he paid the price. The Pharisees cast him out of the local synagogue.
This man whom Jesus healed certainly demonstrated an appropriate gratitude to Jesus, a true faith, did he not? In his faith he teaches us something about ourselves. Like him, we have all been touched by the good news of Jesus Christ. In a way it has healed us from our blindness, has it not? This is Paul's point in our epistle lesson for today (Ephesians 5:8-14). We are not in darkness; we are not spiritually blind anymore. We know everything that is necessary; we know that our salvation depends on Christ. We are not blind. Much like that blind man in our gospel text we are witnessing to our gratitude and our faith by our attendance here this Sunday morning.
To be sure, there is a lot that we can learn about ourselves from the blind man in this morning's story. Perhaps we can learn a lot more than we think. Listen to the rest of the story, and see if you do not gain further insights about who you are.
Immediately after standing up to the Pharisees, telling them what a great man Jesus was, and even enduring the Pharisees' chastisement, the blind man (now no longer blind) runs into Jesus again. Jesus asked the man, "Do you believe in the Son of Man (John 9:35)?" The man looked at Jesus, even after having been healed by him, and he said, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him (John 9:36)?" Jesus answered, "You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you (John 9:37)."
Imagine! Imagine that! Here the answer is standing right in front of this fellow, the Son of Man. He has been healed by Jesus. He has experienced his great power. The man who was healed can now see, his eyes are working fine, and he is still acting as if he were blind. This man certainly acts an awful lot like you and I do.
Week after week, you and I assemble in this building. We come together to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. Hopefully we hear a little bit of it on our own through personal prayers and family devotions. Yes, we hear a lot of the good news of Jesus Christ. But is it making a difference in our lives? Is it?
Week after week, we come together as the family of God. In fact our Christian community (the church) is not just a Sunday thing; it exists all week long. Its purpose, a primary purpose of the church, is to give support to Christians, to be a fellowship in which we can lean on each other's shoulders when things are tough (1 Corinthians 12:12-26). This is the purpose of the church. We all know this. Yet it seems like in any church, not just in our parish but elsewhere, too, you seem to find people more critical, more likely to stab others in the back, than among any other group of people. Consequently, the church does just the opposite of what God intended it to do. We must be blind - or deaf.
Time and time again we have heard the good news of Jesus urge us to live by faith. How many times have we heard Jesus ask us to consider the lilies of the field, how they do not sow or toil, and yet how God provides for them (Matthew 6:28ff; Luke 12:27ff)?" How many times have we been urged not to be too anxious about the future? How many times? Yet, we keep on worrying about tomorrow. We pile up more and more - more money, more things. We do not even seem to have enough. We need more - for security. It is as if we had never heard Jesus' parable.
How about the good news? How about the good news that, because of Jesus Christ, God has forgiven us, that he loves us just the way we are - that we do not have to earn his love? That means that we are lovable. We cannot be all bad. What other people think does not have to matter so much anymore.
Yet no matter how many times you and I have heard it, it just does not seem to sink in - not really. To be sure, we all believe that God loves us. Yet, too often we do not take the next step. We do not believe that, if God the Creator loves us the way we are, then we must be quite lovable. No, we do not live our lives in that kind of confidence. Instead, you and I become too preoccupied with what other people might think of us. Sometimes this unfaithfulness on our part takes the form of an "I can't do that; I'm not good enough." Other times we wind up doing things that we really do not want to do, simply because other people think that we should do it, because it is the thing to do.
Again and again the good news of God's love for us and the self-confidence that goes with it comes our way. It comes to us in God's Word. We can see it, even taste it, in the sacrament of Holy communion. Yet it is often like we never "heard" about this Word, for all the genuine self-confidence it gives to us. No, we are just like the blind man whom Jesus cured. We have our eyes, but we cannot see. We cannot seem to recognize God's love and what it could mean for our lives. We cannot recognize that love, even though it is right in front of our eyes.
The prophet Isaiah (in our first lesson, Isaiah 42:19-20) says it all: "Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the Lord? [Israel] you see many things, but do not observe them ..."
We see many things in our daily lives, but really do not observe them. The secret to life, everything that we need in order to live happy and fulfilled lives is right here. It is here in this book (the Bible). It is here at the altar on every Communion Sunday. It even comes from this pulpit, at least every once-in-a-while (whenever the Holy Spirit uses the preacher who stands here). Yes, the key to a full, happy life is all here.
Isaiah is really correct. We have seen so much; yet it has not meant enough to us in our lives. We have the eyes that we need in order to see and the ears that we need in order to hear. Yet we have not seen and heard - not really.
Jesus said that same thing at the very end of our gospel lesson's story about the healing of the blind man. Some Pharisees were overhearing Jesus' dialogue with the blind man whom he had healed, and Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains (John 9:41)." We say that we can see, but in actual fact we do not notice all that God has given us. We really must be blind!
Listen all you deaf and blind people: There really is good news! God is still eager to save. Prepare yourself for his coming into your life. He is already present. It is all here; the secret to the good and happy life is already manifest and present. Consequently let us wake up and start grabbing hold. God is eager. It is like the old Christian hymn that Paul sang in our second lesson says: "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light (Ephesians 5:14)."
Christ shall give you light.
