Reflection: “Washing in the Life-Giving Water”There are several ways of dealing with this week’s passage from the Gospel of John and one of them is from the perspective of the blind man. We can ponder what it means to be blind, the difficulty of getting through the day, what it means to be cut off from family and friends, etc.
We’re faced with not only the struggle to cope, but with the guilt that overwhelms us when they try to convince us that we must have sinned, to cause our blindness. Or the anger, when we’re told that it was something our parents did wrong – they must have sinned, too! If we follow the blind man, we can follow a journey - from being a sinner in the eyes of the world, to being a believer in Jesus as the Messiah. Another perspective we can take is that of the religious leaders, the guardians of tradition, the pillars of the community, who stood between God and the people. We might ask, "Aren’t they more handicapped by blindness than the man who was healed?" For this is a story of two kinds of blindness. One is physical – which is a tragedy - but one that can be dealt with through courage, determination, and education and calls for our support through research, compassion, and consideration. The other is spiritual, for which there is no excuse - spiritual blindness, which can be overcome through the extravagant grace of God in our Lord Jesus. If we’re honest, for most of us, this is the one we must deal with in our Christian lives. Lent was, and remains to this day, a time in which all Christians are called to reorient themselves from the distractions of sin, apathy and mundaneness and return to the life-giving will of God. The Gospel of John calls the faithful to do the same thing. It stands as a powerful and provocative witness to the fact that in Jesus Christ, God has revealed himself to the world. John’s gospel begins by calling Jesus, simply, but profoundly, “the Word.” John describes Jesus, not simply as a miracle worker or faith healer, but rather as a worker of signs, each pointing beyond itself to a larger truth. Here in Chapter 9, Jesus works a sign by healing a man who had been blind from birth. As word of what Jesus did begins to spread, the Pharisees puff out their chests, saying, “If Jesus really was from God, he would have known that the law prohibits such actions on the Sabbath.” But by questioning the legality of what Jesus did, the Pharisees totally miss the point. They focus on the action itself, and not the larger truth that the action reveals. The blind man receiving sight isn’t the point of the story – at least, not entirely. The man’s physical traits are only a part of the larger narrative. What is more to the point, however, is what the blind man’s relationship with Jesus teaches us about our own relationship with Jesus. John Chapter 9 is a sign that calls our attention, not to the story’s resolution, but to the ways in which we find ourselves caught up in the midst of the story. The disciples ask Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” They assumed, as most people did in those days, that suffering was the result of sinfulness. As the disciples’ question meets our ears, we may find ourselves thinking, not of physical blindness, but of other scourges that plague us. We watch helplessly as the news reports yet another terrorist attack. We weep as we hear of yet another life cut short by bullying. We feel inexplicable anger at the grim prognosis of a young mother stricken with cancer. “What have they done to deserve this?” we wonder. “Is God punishing us?” we ask. Suddenly, we realize that the question is familiar, because it’s one that we’ve all asked of God ourselves. And yet the answer Jesus gives is unwavering: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned.” Jesus reminds us that the axiom is true, indeed: Sometimes bad things happen to good people. But Jesus goes beyond platitudes: “He was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” Jesus shows the disciples, and us, that even in the midst of things we can’t understand, God is at work. And to prove it, Jesus works a sign. He gives the man sight, yes, but he also gives him something greater. We see that the man couldn’t quite put into words what had happened to him. He didn’t know exactly why it had happened, but he knew the Saviour’s voice! So, when Jesus says to him, “Go, wash,” he does just that. He hears the Saviour’s voice, he follows it, and at long last, he sees Jesus, crying out, “Lord, I believe!” as he falls down and worships at the feet of Jesus. At the end of the story, some Pharisees do begin to see. The evidence of that insight is in their own questioning. They question whether they can see at all when they ask Jesus, "Surely we’re not blind, are we?" And the response from Jesus is sharp and precise: "If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say 'We see,' your sin remains." Be careful, then, whenever we say, "We see." Human speculation, as fun & provocative as it may be, can never comprehend the amazing power of God. We can never enclose the presence of God, for God will burst the boundaries and walls of our personal agendas with new light - the light is Jesus, the Lord, the Light of the World, who shines in our lives. Jesus does that by focusing not on the reasons for illness, not on the philosophical justifications of reality, but by focusing on human need. There are people around us whose needs are so familiar to us that we now ignore them. They were born blind, we say, and that is that. Jesus, however, refuses to walk past them, just as Jesus refuses to walk past each one of us. Jesus wants to touch each one of us with sight, whether we’re blind or sighted, Pharisee or disciple, we’re all an opportunity for Jesus to reveal light in utter and elegant simplicity. Let Jesus touch our eyes today; and we will see the Light of the World. We don’t have to be world changers, but we do have to be in touch with God and ask him what he wants us to do with the gifts and talents he gave us. If we work for him, his kingdom will grow and grow. Who among us has not experienced spiritual blindness in one form or another? When we put ourselves before others, we’re blind. When we hold grudges and refuse to forgive others, we’re blind. When we do what’s easy instead of what’s right, we’re blind. Blindness affects us not only as individuals, but as communities as well. Economic, social and political systems often turn a blind eye to the poor, the outcast and the marginalised in every corner of the world. Who among us has not experienced suffering at one point or another? Depression, anxiety, abuse, neglect, broken relationships, illness, lost jobs, fear – the list goes on. It plagues our communities with natural disasters, terrorism and national tragedies – no-one’s immune. Of course, there are those who’ll attempt to lull us into believing that faith not only brings an end to suffering and blindness, but that it also makes our hurts and pains disappear. But the hard truth is that this simply isn’t so. Even after the blind man received his sight, he was faced with the rejection of his friends and family. Suffering is painful and grief is awful – even horrifying, but it’s an inescapable part of our humanity. The powerful and life-giving truth of the gospel is that our suffering and grief will not have the last word. As our souls and bodies cry out for relief, we hear the faint, clear voice of the risen Christ calling us; reminding us that, through his time on the cross, death has been swallowed up in victory. The final word rests, not with suffering and blindness, but with life and peace. Then we hear the most sublime words imaginable, we hear Jesus tell us to “Go, wash.” And, as the cool and refreshing waters of God’s forgiveness wash over us, our eyes and our hearts are opened to behold the living Christ, standing as the chains of death and hell lay broken at his feet and our voices can cry out at last, “Lord! I believe!” Pastor Rick
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