Scripture/Sermon of the Day. March 19, 2023

John 9 (1-41)

A Man Born Blind Receives Sight

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, 7 saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. 8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am he.” 10 But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. 17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”

18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind, 21 but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28 Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.

Spiritual Blindness

35 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man? 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see and those who do see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

Reflection/Sermon:

I. John has some of the longest stories of any of the gospels. This is one of them, which is all of chapter nine. Last week was another, Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. Both are about people at the outside of respectable Jewish society. And in this reading today, the man is kicked out of the society he was born and raised in, just because he said Jesus healed him. The Pharisees claimed Jesus was a sinner, and the man Jesus healed said, “God doesn’t listen to sinners. Jesus worked that miracle on me because he is from God.”

II. The Pharisees said, “You were born entirely in sins and are you trying to teach us?” No-one could teach the Pharisees anything because they said they already knew everything about God. The name “PHARISEE” means “SEPARATED ONE” — they separated themselves from the rest of society because they believed they were superior.

III. The Pharisees believed the man Jesus healed was born in sins — but they were not. They thought they were superior to people who did not follow the law as closely as they did. In those days — and even today — people believed that if you were born poor or with a handicap, like blindness or a disease — then someone in your family did something awful and God is punishing the family through generations. And if you were born well-to-do and into a prominent family, then God must be blessing their good behavior.

The PHARISEES were the KU KLUX KLAN, the PROUD BOYS, the OATH KEEPERS, NAZIS, TALIBAN, PUTIN — all the groups and people who believe they are RIGHT and therefore BETTER THAN PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT LIKE THEM.

They hated Jesus because Jesus said they were no better or worse than anybody else — they were struggling human beings like everybody else. They weren’t special.

IV. The irony of this story is the people who were born able to see were the real blind ones. They couldn’t SEE they WERE NO DIFFERENT FROM this blind man they were condemning.
ACCORDING TO THE GOSPEL OF JOHN, SEEING is when we realize we are, for the most part, like everyone else. The individuals on the FBI’s most wanted list are more like us than not.
And deep down I know that though I may be critical of people like our 45th president, George Santos and Marjory Taylor Green, I know I’m more like them than not. Like Paul the Apostle says, we “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

V. Which brings us back to our story. It’s not about a physical healing — though the man could see now. It’s about SEEING/KNOWING/BELIEVING that Jesus is “the light of the world.” Jesus’ way of love for everyone, and forgiveness — is the way that lets the light shine through our lives.

It’s why we are here in this life — to let the light of Jesus’ love shine through our lives. As Desmond Tutu once told Richard Rohr: “We are only the light bulbs — and our job is just to remain screwed in.”