Sermon 3/2/08
Lion King: Blinded - John 9:1-41
(view lectionary notes for this text)
Today our song from The Lion King is “They Live in You.” This beautiful song appears twice in the musical, with slight variations. First, Mufasa sings this song to his son Simba, trying to teach him about the responsibilities he will someday have as leader in the Pridelands. Mufasa sings the song to remind Simba that his ancestors live with in him, that they will help him and guide him and shine through him as he seeks to make tough decisions. Years later, after Mufasa’s death, when Simba returns to his home to help his people, he again hears this song, this time reminding him that his father’s spirit is within him, giving him strength as steps into the role of leader, the role he was meant for. Simba goes through many changes during the course of The Lion King, changes in how he sees himself, and what he sees as his purpose, what he is meant to do. As a cub, Simba is all full of himself, wanting the power that will come with being a king, feeling sure he can do anything. After the death of his father, Simba sees himself as worthless, as a coward, as someone who deserves to be separated from society because of his actions. But finally, as a grown lion, Simba sees himself as his father saw him, sees himself as his peers see him, and sees himself as a leader, as worthy, as someone with responsibility and purpose.
How do you see yourself? How do you think others see you? Have you changed over time in how you look at yourself? When you look in the mirror, or look into your heart, what do you see? Our gospel lesson today is all about vision, about what we see, how we see ourselves, how we see others, and what others see in us. Today we encounter another long narrative from the gospel of John, another story that only John records for us. Jesus heals a man who was born blind. What a cause for celebration, right? But in forty-one verses, it’s hard to find anyone who is just plain happy with Jesus’ act of restoring vision to the man. The disciples, the Pharisees, the crowds, and even the man’s parents seem more full of questions and concerns than they are full of happiness at the miracle that has taken place. They take issue with how the healing was done, when it was done, by whom it was done.
Why do they all have such a problem with this healing? Let’s start with the disciples. The second verse of our passage brings us promptly to their big issue. 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. It certainly doesn’t occur to them that there was no cause, no reason the man was born blind – most people would have believed – and perhaps we still do – that our sufferings are caused by something we’ve done wrong. And instead of asking if anything can be done for the man, the disciples are busy analyzing the theological reasons for his blindness. They ignore the man 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. He’s asking them to see differently, to see the man differently, as Jesus sees him. 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. He doesn’t see an opportunity for judgment, but an opportunity to glorify God. 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. He asks them to see differently. “Here is an astonishing thing,” he says. You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes . . . if this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” I don't know if this man is a sinner or not, he tells them. I know that I was blind, and now I see. If he is not from God, how could he do these things? Isn’t my restored vision evidence enough of what kind of man Jesus is? The man knows: he was blind, now he sees. For him, that is all that matters – in fact, he sees the situation as so clear, so obvious, that he’s baffled that the Pharisees can see the situation in any other way.
The man's parents surprisingly 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. Jesus asks us to see differently. I see this man, Jesus says. I look in his face, eye to eye. He matters. I know who he is.
Who can see by the end of this story, and who is blind? Jesus tries to help us see – he wants us to be healed from our blindness, to see as he sees, to see as God sees. To see as God sees we have to open our eyes to see ourselves differently and to see others differently. Jesus let the Pharisees know that their vision was quite distorted – they saw themselves as all-knowing, all-important faithful Jews. They saw the blind man as a sinner if they saw him at all. They saw Jesus as a threat to their power, trying to take their places. They couldn’t see themselves and so they couldn’t see others either. Jesus says, “I came into this world . . . so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” The Pharisees wonder – can he possibly be saying that they, of all people, are blind?
“If you were blind,” Jesus says to the Pharisees, “you would not have sin.” In other words, if you were blind spiritually, if you really didn’t know what God wanted from you, God wouldn’t count your behaviors against you as sin. But, Jesus continues, “now that you say, ‘we see,’ your sin remains.” The Pharisees insist they know what God wants and means, and because they do, because they insist they ‘see’ so clearly, they have to be responsible for their sinful behavior.
How do you see? What do you see? How do you see? Do you see yourself as God sees you? Do you see others as God sees them? Or perhaps, the most important question of all is: do we want to see as God sees? If we do, we have to act because of what we see. Or would we rather remain spiritually blind? This story from John is amazing in that there is a ridiculous refusal of everyone involved to let the blind man be healed. They act as though they’d rather he were still blind! They don’t want to confront the fact that he can see, because if they do, it means they have to recognize Jesus’ authority and that Jesus is right – about everything! And if they recognize that Jesus is right, they have to act and respond to what he’s been teaching. If they see as he sees – see themselves in a new light, see those around them in a new light, then they have to change how they’re living because of what they see.
How do you see? Do you want to see as God sees? Nineteenth century theologian and philosopher Søren Kierkegaard wrote about our ability to ‘see’ as Jesus describes: “The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand [the scriptures] because we know very well that the minute we understand it we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God.” (1)
Do you want to see as God sees? In 1 Samuel, when Samuel is seeking to anoint a new King, he chooses the youngest, most inexperienced of several brothers, a young man named David. God tells Samuel, “The Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” What does God see in our hearts? How does God see us? What does God see when God looks at me, or at you, or at our neighbors, or at the blind man, or at a Pharisee?
Well, the scriptures are full of stories of God seeing in someone what they couldn’t see in themselves, and of God seeing in others what someone couldn’t see in others. That’s because we’re created in God’s very image – that’s right in the first chapter of the Bible! And so I think when God looks at us – God sees – a bit of God reflected right back! And so God looked at Sarah, a woman who saw herself as too old, and saw in her a mother of generations. And God looked a Moses, who saw himself as inarticulate, and saw in him the freedom of the Israelites. And while Samuel only could see in David a little boy, God saw in David a King like no other. While some might see in Mary only a young girl, God saw in her one who could carry the Christ-child. While the Pharisees saw only a blind man, Jesus saw the glory of God. How does God see you?
God looks at us with love, love without condition. God looks at us as God’s precious children. That’s how God see us, me and you. And that’s how God sees all of us. Do you want to see as God sees? If you see with God’s eyes, you’ll be amazed at how differently things appear. If you see, you’ll run out of excuses for not acting on what you’ve seen, who you’ve seen.
Jesus has come to open our eyes, and clear our blurred and muddied sight. He has come so that we might see more clearly. Jesus is the light of the world. Just open your eyes, and see. Amen.
(1) Søren Kierkegaard, not sure of source.