John 9:1-41 Open
Our Eyes, Lord
Do you know the story of Helen Keller? It is one of my favorites.
She was the remarkable woman
of the last century
whose story was told in the book and movie, The Miracle Worker.
She was born in 1880, and
suffered an illness as a baby
which left her both blind and deaf.
Because of this, she lived in
darkness until the day when her teacher,
Anne Sullivan helped shine
the light of language into her 7 year old world.
There is a scene from the
book, where Helen finally understands
the connection between the letters her teacher is signing
in her hands
and the world around her.
Listen to this excerpt which
is narrated by Helen:
“We walked down the path to
the well-house,
attracted by the fragrance of the honeysuckle with which it was
covered.
Someone was drawing water and
my teacher placed my hand under the spout.
As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word
water,
first slowly, then rapidly.
I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her
fingers.
Suddenly I felt a misty
consciousness as of something forgotten -
a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me.
I knew then that “w-a-t-e-r”
meant the wonderful cool something
that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it
light, hope, joy, set it free!
There were barriers still, it
is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away.” (Imaging the Word, p. 163)
Helen went on to become the
first deafblind person to earn a college degree,
graduating from
Although Helen remained blind
for the rest of her life,
it was that morning at the water pump that her eyes were
first opened
and she gained an understanding that would begin to
change her life.
Today’s story we hear from
John’s Gospel continues our sermon series
on some of the most well known characters from this
Gospel.
This is the story of the man
born blind who is healed by Jesus.
Although there are many other
characters who play a role in this story;
every one of them is spiritually blind,
lacking any understanding at all into the way
God’s works
are being revealed right among them.
The neighbors, the Pharisees,
the parents, - they are so limited by their own categories and experiences
that they can’t see the light that has come into their
world and the world of this blind man.
The story begins with the
disciples asking Jesus to explain
the age old question of why bad things happen.
According to some of the
thinking at the time, it was thought that suffering must be the result of some
sin.
Surely this man born blind -
or his parents - must have done something to deserve the life he lived.
But Jesus dismissed this
notion. The answer is not to blame
someone.
No matter what is going on in
our lives, God’s works can be revealed.
The light of the world always
shines through the darkness of our lives.
In this passage, and in other
places throughout John’s gospel,
Jesus calls himself the light
of the world. In the ancient world, light is associated with life.
As the light of the world, Jesus is inviting people to
open our eyes and see God’s possibilities - Change happens when we start living
out of God’s possibilities.
For most of the people in this story, change doesn’t
happen because they cannot see God’s possibilities.
The neighbors can’t see beyond neat possibilities and
patterned expectations.
Life was easier when you knew
what to expect from people.
Can you imagine the
scene?
The man who was blind from
birth, comes walking back into the neighborhood,
freshly washed at the Pool of Siloam.
And he is standing tall,
seeing clearly, walking without hesitation.
The blind man who was barely
visible before suddenly is in clear view.
The neighbors start to
talk. Isn’t this the guy who was a
beggar? It is!
They could hardly believe
their eyes. But others couldn’t believe
it.
Of course
not. It just looks like him.
And the questions they fired
at him:
How could this be? How did this happen? And where is this man Jesus?
How dare you be different
than who we think you are.
The Pharisees can’t see beyond their judgment.
They wanted to stick with
their categories of good and evil,
right and wrong, sin and righteousness.
Can you picture the
Pharisees?
Two times they interrogate
this poor guy.
He didn’t even ask to be
healed and look at all the trouble he was in.
For the Pharisees the surface
issue was the Sabbath.
The real issue was that Jesus
has healed this man.
But they stayed with the
surface issue:
How could anyone who broke
the Sabbath law be from God?
Surely God would not be
behind a sign like this if it broke one of the laws?
The man’s parents can’t see beyond their
fear.
Fear of authority, fear of
being wrong, fear of being judged.
Can you see this scene?
Called before the Pharisees,
fearful of their power,
they wouldn’t even put in a word to defend this son of
theirs.
Questioned by the
authorities, they just wanted to get this over with and go back home. Why had their son gotten tangled up with this
Jesus anyway and gotten into all this trouble?
In this story, the blind man is the only one who gains his sight.
But it’s not just physical
sight that he gains.
He also grows in faith and
spiritual sight.
But it’s worth noting that it doesn’t happen all at
once.
His change happens over time.
He moves from physical blindness to believing Jesus is
a prophet,
to recognizing he comes from God, to
putting his faith in Jesus.
You may recognize his
testimony of faith which is preserved in our hymn by John Newton, Amazing
Grace: “I once was blind, but now I
see.”
The rest of the characters
all remain spiritually blind, for they remain unable to see God’s presence in
the world.
They cannot change because
they cannot open their eyes to God’s possibilities -
And they miss the work of God
right there before them.
The contrast between the man
who is healed and the rest of the characters
is so great that this
also is a story about change.
There are people who change
and people who don’t.
This past week I was at a
workshop on family systems led by Dr. Peter Steinke,
a Lutheran minister who has studied and written
extensively in this field.
In family systems thinking,
families and churches - which often function like families - are systems of
interconnected relationships. We really
are a body.
It’s those relationships that
can either build up or tear down a body.
One of the points Dr. Steinke
made was that
we have to give people the freedom NOT to change.
That’s a tough reality for
many of us to accept.
But that reality is true for
churches, families, and individuals.
There is someone I know who
has been struggling with alcoholism for a decade.
He is just a young man, has
lost his drivers license several times,
has served a jail term, been fired from several
jobs.
He has been in and out of
recovery programs,
keeps trying to attend AA meetings, goes to church off and
on.
His family has had to learn
to step back from his addiction.
They are waiting and praying
for change.
But they finally know that
the change has to start with him. He has
to want it.
It’s not enough for everyone
else to want it for him.
Because he has the freedom NOT to change.
Just like the neighbors, the Pharisees, the young
man’s parents in today’s scripture.
If you look at the stories of
people who change -
people like Helen Keller, John Newton, the young man, even
friends and family we know - we see that change is a choice and change happens
over time.
Yet change is also an act of
God’s grace. The blind man in today’s
story never even asked to be healed.
Jesus gave him that gift, a gift which led to the greater gift of faith.
There is another man, whose
story of change may be less familiar to you.
C.S. Lewis was an
He was also an atheist from
the age of 15 till he converted to Christianity at 31.
He had an extraordinary
intellect, yet his own journey to faith took some time.
When he was converted, he
admitted that he came into Christianity
“kicking
and screaming.” He resisted; but God’s
grace prevailed.
In Mere Christianity one of his most influential books,
CS Lewis writes about how choices change.
“Every time you make a choice
you are turning the central part of you,
the part of you that chooses, into something a little
different from what it was before. And
taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices,
all your life long you are slowly turning this central
thing . . .
either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with
other creatures,
and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of
war and hatred with God,
and with its fellow creatures, and with itself. . .
.
Each of us at each moment is
progressing from one state or the other.”
We remember stories of people
who change.
Because deep down, even in
the most
cognitive corners and sensible sections of our brains,
we want to know - we want to see -
that Jesus has the
power and the grace to help us change.
Open our eyes, Lord, and help
us to see.