Sermon 3-10-02
Do you see what I see? - John 9:1-41
(preached at the Spring 2002 meeting of the General Board of Church and Society)
(view lectionary notes for this text)
Vision. Envision. Visioning. Vision 2000. These buzzwords have been circulating through the Church in the past few years, calling us to focus in on our mission for ministry and outreach in many settings. We may even ask ourselves, what is the vision for the General Board of Church and Society in this quadrennium? Sometimes, we even craft vision statements, laying out a path for the future that we use to guide our work. Yet, sometimes, in this process of visioning, we seem to 'lose sight' of what it is we are supposed to be envisioning in the first place. Exactly what is our vision supposed to be? How does the General Board of Church and Society see? Through what lens do we look to focus our work as an agency?
In the gospel message today we find Jesus restoring sight for a man born blind. Though it is the Sabbath day, Jesus remarks that as long as he is in the world, there is work to be done. "I am the light of the world", he says. Jesus puts mud in the eyes of the man and sends him to the pool to wash. The blind man is healed, he can see again. Praise God, right? Yet, for such a miraculous healing, for such a great gift of sight given to one who has never seen before, it doesn't seem that many find reason for rejoicing. The disciples, the neighbors, the Pharisees, even the man's parents seem less concerned with the healing of the blind man than they are with the details - how the healing was done, when it was done, by whom it was done.
Who sinned, the disciples want to know? Was it the man, or the man's parents? Who is to blame, they question, for this man's blindness? Who is at fault here, who is the sinner? The disciples seek to explain away the man's blindness by assigning fault to the appropriate party. Instead of asking if anything can be done for the man, they are busy analyzing the causes. They ignore the person affected completely. What is important to them seems to be showing the link between sin and the consequences of sin. Look what happened to this sinner, they might say, if they can figure out at whom to point fingers. Yet, Jesus refocuses their questions. Do you see what I see, he asks? Jesus doesn't see a chain of sin and punishment. He sees a man, blind, struggling, that he has the power to help and to heal. For Jesus, that is all he needs to know. Jesus sees the need, and moves to respond to that need.
The Pharisees have their own set of questions and requirements. Who is this man, this sinner who healed the blind man they want to know? They are upset with Jesus for healing, again, on the Sabbath. A few thought he must be special, since he could do such signs, but the others insisted Jesus could not possibly be a man of God if he broke the rules in such a way. They call the man who was healed not only once but twice to answer questions. How did he heal you, they ask? We don't know where he comes from, they exclaim. The man tries to reorient the Pharisees. Do you see what I see, he asks? I don't know if this man is a sinner or not. I know that I was blind, and now I see. If he is not from God, how could he do these things? The man knows: he was blind, now he sees. For him, that is all that matters.
The man's parents don't want to see at all. Instead of being thrilled for their son at his miraculous healing, they are frightened and try to 'play it safe'. We don't know how it was done, or who did it, they reply to inquiries. Don't talk to us; talk to our son. They feared being ostracized by the community, they feared being forced out of their comfortable community in the synagogue. They were not going to take any risks, no matter what had happened to their son. And the neighbors weren't even sure this man was the same man who was born blind. Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg, they gossiped? No, but just a man who looks like him. How many times did they walk by this beggar without really seeing him? Like the parents, these neighbors did not want to see at all. They could not even recognize someone who lived in their midst every day. He was invisible to them, because he was not deemed important. Do you see what I see, Jesus asks? I see this man. I look in his face, eye to eye. He matters. I know who he is.
Jesus asks us again and again to see as he sees. To love others the way that Christ loves requires us to see through Jesus' eyes, to look on our neighbors as Christ looks on them. Yet, sometimes we find ourselves struggling for clear vision. Too often, we see in the same way that the disciples, the Pharisees, the parents, and the neighbors see. Remember the disciples - so worried about who was at fault that they never thought of caring for the man at all. Are we like the disciples? How often have we heard about the causes of poverty and hunger and homelessness? Some ask, are they poor because they are unwilling to work hard enough? Are they without food because they don't spend welfare checks wisely? Are these teen mothers responsible for their actions? Who can be blamed? Jesus asks us to forget these questions and see as he sees. Who needs to be fed? Why are they hungry, when I have so much more than I need? What can I do to help them?
Maybe we are like the Pharisees sometimes too. They weren't sure that Jesus, who they deemed a sinner, was the right kind of person to be healing, especially on the Sabbath. They didn't know where he came from, and doubted it was from any place good! Do we ever get caught up in worrying about who our leaders are? Sometimes we worry about where they come from, or worry that they don't have the best image to represent our churches. We get upset when they break the rules we've laid out, so upset that we can't even appreciate the good they've done. We don't care how many lives they've touched and changed, because they did it in a way we didn't like, using a method we didn't approve. The man responds quizzically, don't you get it? I was blind. I was blind and now I see! What else could be so important?
Or maybe, even more often, we are like the neighbors. They walked by this blind man begging everyday. And yet, they had know idea who he was. They did not even recognize him, because they had never truly seen him before. How often do we walk through life without really seeing the people around us? Sometimes, it seems, we don't even want to see the people around us, we try not to see them with all our energy. Do we want to see the people who sleep in the subway station? Do we want to see the members in our churches who don't give enough to offering, don't wear appropriate clothing, and just don't fit? Do we want to see the people who suffer from government policies - from housing concerns to food stamps to health care to access to education? Sometimes we don't want to see, because seeing calls us to accountability and action, calls us to act because of what we see.
But Jesus won't settle for less from us. Jesus comes to correct our muddied, blurred, sight. He corrects our vision and helps us see more clearly. Jesus says to us, open your eyes! See what I see, and let it move you to your core and change your whole life. A man, once blind, now can see! Amazing grace! Praise God indeed! Amen.