Sermonating

Since it's an easy thing to post and many of you weren't there to hear this in person, my sermon from the end of March. Year A - Lent 4 - March 29/30, 2014 - John 9:1-41

CONNECTIONS AND COMMUNITY

Jesus likes to heal people. Jesus likes healing a lot. Oftentimes when I say prayers while I am in the hospital with one of you, I pray to the Great Physician, Jesus Christ. I believe in a God who cares for our souls AND for these bodies of ours. If God knows every hair on our head (or lack thereof with some of you??), then surely God knows every thing about our bodies. Aches and pains and joys. We could say God knows us, warts and all.

So we have a healing story today. Jesus, wandering around, doing his thing, comes across a man who is blind. People ask Jesus how this man became blind, assuming it was his sin or his parents sins that caused then. The response is interesting and has caused some theological turmoil. Jesus says, “He was born blind, not because of someone's sins, but so God's works might be revealed in him.” What is tricky about this is that one could assume that all our ailments, every tragedy and death, is God's plan.

This is a common bit of popular theology or understanding – that everything bad is a part of God's plan for good. And while I don't want to discredit that understanding if it has gotten you through some particularly dark places in your life, I don't find it to be true. We hear in scripture that God has plans to prosper us, not to harm us. Plans to give us hope and a future. God is parent and healer. If you doubt this, look at the promise of the rainbow.

Bad things happen. What God DOES with those bad things, those dark places, can be absolutely amazing. You all have those stories. One man's death that causes someone else to wake up and pay attention to their own blessings. Family drama that brings everyone closer together. Economic depression that realigns our priorities.

God does not look down on earth and go, “Hm, let's have this person die over here and let's make a car crash happen on this street. I'll make a woman miscarry over here and a heart attack on this person looks good.” It sounds absurd when I put it like that, right? It isn't that we are all so innocent and underserving. To the contrary, we mess up all the time, deserve punishment. That is what sin is all about. Which is perhaps why those early crowds around Jesus assumed that the man's blindness was a result of sin. Jesus corrects that assumption and says it was for the revealing of God's glory. And that is certainly a good thing. A very good thing.

But that does not tell me that all the horrible parts of our life are planted so that God can pop up ten years after and go, “Look at how this was a good thing!” When we find light in dark places, we can certainly credit Jesus, the light of the world. But don't you ever tell a mother who has just lost an infant that the baby died because she sinned or because it is all part of God's plan. God is grieving with them. Aching with them in that loss. Hurting for them.

But back to the story. How does this man born blind reveal God’s works? Is it the miracle of turning blindness into sight? Not completely. If you read about the times Jesus lived in, there were other miracle workers around. And today, medical technology can fix a number of illnesses or impairments. Not that I don't call those miracles, but the world around us does not always recognize our God as the source of those miraculous healings.

So while healing a man’s blindness is a miracle, this is only part of how God gets revealed. You always need to pay attention to the action when you hear the gospel. What is important in this story is how sight happens. Because it would be easy to walk away from this story telling ourselves that we should open our eyes and see God in our midst or pull the wool from our eyes to see the suffering of others. But we can’t see. The man born blind had no way of gaining sight. Jesus walks up, makes mud, tells him to wash, and then he can see. Jesus is the active healer. Did you notice that the man was not even seeking Jesus out? Just as the woman at he well was not searching for a better bucket. And Jesus makes some mud and puts it on the man’s eyes. After the man washes, he sees.

And then the entire rest of the chapter is about the community’s response. They doubt he was actually blind. They think it was a different man than the one born blind. They question the validity of the healer. His friends and parents believe but are afraid to admit it. And then the community drives the man away.

This is the truth about miracles – they're scary. And when miracles are in our community and within our midst, it is easier to rationalize them than to accept them. Because here's what I find beautiful in this story – the miracle is for the entire community. That is how God's works are revealed. Yes, the man can see and he now believes, but it changes the community. The entire community is in on this piece of news.

Think about it this way. You know how in strands of twinkle lights, one light goes out and then the whole strand is dead? They are coming up with clever ways to work around this, but you are familiar with the old school strands, yes? Jesus likes to make sure every light is lit, not just so that one single light will shine, but so the whole group is lit up. So all can see.

We are at a disadvantage when we read the gospel in English because we don't have a great word for y'all that is widely accepted. But often when Jesus is speaking to you and you think it means you on your own, single individual, he's actually speaking to y'all. All y'all. The group. The community. The church. We miss the healing power of Christ when we overlook how Jesus heals communities. Because this healing story is about so much more than one man’s sight.

So look at the story again. Jesus comes into this community which believes people have illnesses because of their sin. Jesus identifies one man and debunks this theory. No, he committed no sin. He's not blind because God punishes. But I'm going to make him see to show you how you are all blind. And it is only collectively that you can see. I'm going to take away blindness from one man to show all y’all God's glory. I'm going to start with mud. I'm going to make it with spit and dirt from the ground you walk on. Then the man will go and wash and he will see.

And this man sees. He believes. But it changes the entire community. And that’s how community works. One person can see things others cannot. One can see. Another can feel. Fix. Talk. Hear. Understand. Move. In this community, we have blind spots. But you can see what I cannot. I can see what you do not. You can reach places others can’t. Go where others cannot. Talk when others are silent.

We are one body. One. All together we make up the hands, ears, eyes, fingernails, teeth, and heart of one body. And that’s the body of Christ. Individually, we all lack something essential. But as a part of this community, I connected with all of you. And let us not forget those who do struggle with blindness within this church but who have abundant faith. We all have different abilities and gifts.

Did you notice that Jesus started his miracle with mud? Dirt and spit. And that’s what Jesus applies to the man’s eyes to heal him. So people, we’ve got mud – the ugly bits of church that are hard to witness or the changes happening that are confusing. Jesus is smearing us with mud. But God gives us mud to heal us. All the worry, tension, sorrow, and anxiety I hear and feel from you is that mud. But Jesus has not left. What does Jesus tell the man to do? Go wash. And when you hear wash, I want you to picture a very specific kind of water. Baptismal water. Life giving water. And we wash in it. Together. Over and over again. Daily.

Miracles are scary. Mud is dirty. And yet, we are connected to one another through the mud and the miracles and we are in the hands of an amazing healer. And for that we say Amen. +

Copyright 2014

To watch weekly: https://www.youtube.com/user/BethelLutheranTV