Suddenly I See! ~ John 9:1-41 ~ Fourth Sunday in Lent

There once was a time when I was a very picky eater…

In my grade-school years, I was so picky that I could go to just about any restaurant, and find nothing on the menu that I would eat.  And it wasn’t because I’d tried and disliked all of those foods.  The fact that I’d never eaten them made them gross…

My dad used to say to me, “How do you know you don’t like that?  It could be your new favorite food, but you’d never know!”

A Sunday school teacher got so frustrated with me, she said, “someday, your wife is going to teach you a few things!”

She definitely has—because most of the foods I eat now, I would never touch as a child.  I found I even like Brussels sprouts…  Dad was right!  My horizons have definitely broadened.

But it’s so easy to assume that we know the whole truth about something or someone, when in reality, we know nothing at all. 

Case in point: the Pharisees in today’s Gospel…

It all begins with a blind beggar seen on the side of the road.  The disciples ask Jesus, “who sinned, that this man was born blind?”  In those days, the answer would have been common sense.  His parents obviously sinned—and their child was suffering God’s punishment.  This is what the Pharisees would have taught.  In those days, they were the authority on everything religious to the Jewish people.  And their answer would not have been unfounded—because it is written in Exodus that God punishes children up to the third and fourth generation for their parents’ sins. 

But notice Jesus answer: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.”

Jesus then spits on the ground, and spreads the mud on the blind man’s eyes.  He tells him to go wash in the pool of Siloam, and subsequently he gains his sight. 

But now, the Pharisees are all up in arms.  At first, they don’t believe that the man was ever blind, and that this whole thing was a put-on.  But once his parents confirm that he was, they debate turns to the identity of Jesus.  The man argues that Jesus had to come from God.  To the Pharisees, Jesus is a sinner.  A false prophet.  A deviate.  Jesus did work!  He violated the Sabbath.  He made mud—and he healed.  Therefore, he cannot possibly be the Messiah.  But the man believes—and the Pharisees expel him from the synagogue on account of his faith.

So who was really blind here?  The man was, until Jesus came along.  This life-long beggar, whom everyone believed was struck blind by an angry God, now sees the truth.  Just as he said, Jesus used the blindness as occasion to reveal God’s works through him.

This all happened right before the Pharisees’ eyes—but they refuse to believe, because Jesus doesn’t fit into their box of who God’s Messiah should be and what he should do.  They were so set in their beliefs, and so intoxicated by the authority they enjoyed as gatekeepers to God, they became blind to the truth. 

For as much as we may despise these Pharisees, we share in their blindness.  There’s so much of Christ we just don’t see, even though he stands right before our eyes.

We, too, look for the Jesus who fits into our own little box.  One who conforms to our expectations of what he should do for us, because we believe in him. We look for a Jesus who exposes no sins.  One who fits comfortably into our lives and lifestyles, never challenging us to live or act differently.  We look for a Jesus we can worship our own way.  One who agrees with all of our beliefs and reads the Scriptures just like we do.  We look for a Jesus who would join us in sitting in judgment of other people, but would approve fully of how we live.

Trouble is, we’re not going to see Jesus with this kind of tunnel vision.  It’s like having blinders on.  Jesus will in no way fit into the boxes that we try and create for him.  If we are to truly see Jesus, we need to broaden our horizons.

Jesus says a very powerful thing: “[this man] was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.”  Jesus revealed himself to this man in the midst of his blindness; the shame he’d been under by people who thought God was punishing him.  Notice how this was not exactly a pleasant healing.  Jesus smeared mud in the man’s eyes—and he had to go wash in a pool.  Later, he was expelled from the synagogue on account of his testimony to Jesus.  Jesus comes into the midst of our hurts just the same—but his healing does not always come in the manner in which we’d like.  Furthermore, we cannot be passive recipients of his healing grace—only active recipients.  We participate in our healing through obedience to his word.  Through trusting.  Through acting. 

And if we are to see Jesus, we must first own up to the truth about ourselves—that we are sinners.  There are those sins of which we are ashamed—but there’s much that we call treasure that lures us into sin just the same.  We should expect that Jesus will challenge how we live; that Jesus will change our priorities in how we make use of our time and energy and the things we call treasure.  We should expect Jesus to lead us to worshipping him and serving others in ways that are not comfortable or familiar to us.  We should expect Jesus to challenge our long-held beliefs as he reveals his truth to us.  We should expect Jesus to demand that we forgive those who hurt us most. 

At the end of the day, we are all blind—we are all beggars on the side of the road, desperately in need of God’s saving grace.  But thanks be to God that Jesus meets us wherever we are, to open our eyes to the reality of his awesome love and forgiveness.  Know that as you walk with Jesus, what you see now is only the beginning of the vast horizons of power and wisdom and mercy that Jesus is bringing to this earth.  So may your eyes be opened today.