A Pretty Fragile Way To Start A Religion

Sermon-Easter morning April 24, 2011
(Based on the words of J. Gresham Machen, “Prophets False and True,” in God Transcendent (Edinburgh, 1982), page 125).
God, save me from the sin of paring down the gospel to suit the pride of men.
God grant that I may deliver your message straight and full and plain, that, whatever else I may sacrifice, I will have one thing— the favor of my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Do you know how your parents met? My father turned into a coffee shop one day and started flirting with the young girl who was the new waitress. When you find out how, quixotic, how chancy it was that got you here, you start thinking, wow, my life started in a very fragile way. A Serbian terrorist shot a minor Austro-Hungarian archduke in Sarajevo, Bosnia, in 1914, and that started a cascade of events that led to World War I. By the end of that War 4 years after that assassination sixteen million people died.
Mary Magdalene goes to a tomb where they have buried her friend, Jesus. What if she had slept in? What if she was too grief stricken to go? When she arrives, she sees the tomb is empty and decides to go and tell Jesus’ followers. Peter and John return to the tomb and find the clothes neatly folded ( this is to prove that grave robbers didn’t take the body) and the gospel says, (20:10) “Then the disciples returned to their homes.” What if the story ended there? What if Peter and John looked inside the tomb and thought, “hmm, that’s strange, Jesus is gone, let’s go back and have lunch”? Mary stays at the tomb, grieving. Two angels appear, and then Jesus. She doesn’t even recognize him at first! Until he speaks her name she thinks he is the gardener. As Barbara Brown Taylor writes: “The resurrection is the one and only event in Jesus’ life that was entirely between him and God. There were no witnesses whatsoever. No one on earth can say what happened inside that tomb, because no one was there. They all arrived after the fact. Two of them saw clothes. One of them saw angels. Most of them saw nothing at all.”(The Christian Century 1998)
But Mary is transformed-and she goes to tell the eleven disciples. And they go to tell the world. Bishop and Biblical Scholar N. T. Wright says that the greatest proof of the resurrection is that 11 scared little men who seem afraid of their own shadow suddenly overnight are willing to die for what they have experienced-and to die bravely. Does it strike you as fragile and frail how all of this is?
What if Mary the mother of Jesus had said “no” to the angel 30 years earlier? Theangel comes to Mary. This young woman and tells he that God has a wonderful plan for her life, and she simply responds, “”it’s not a good day for me, maybe next year?”
What if Mary Magdalene hadn’t gone to the tomb that morning? What if she overslept, what if in her grief she gave up, gave in, gave out? What if….What if… Does it strike you how thin, how fragile all of this was as the beginning of a world religion? What if Mary, thought to herself;”you know, Peter and John didn’t always treat me with a lot of respect as a woman and follower, I think I will keep all this to myself?”
It all depended on one person being changed-who then goes and tells another person who is changed-and another- …Life, especially life changing, life altering, life transforming events always seem fragile and thin when we look back at them. They always seem simple and uncomplicated. They appear so fragile, so tenuous, so feeble. You think this is thin? Ask your parents, the people who started YOUR life, the people who gave you life how they met.
Christianity, faith in Jesus has always depended, relied on, trusted in one person being transformed by the resurrection-and then their reaching out to another. Think about it. All of Christianity, all of Easter, all of God’s great power, may depend on what happens in your life-and who you tell. Does that feel like an awesome responsibility? Does that feel a little heavy? Burdensome? The thing is, when Mary Magdalene goes to tell Peter she isn’t thinking, “why did Jesus have to choose me? Why does it all depend on me? Why does all the responsibility for carrying this news fall on me” All she was thinking was, “my life is changed, and I have to let people know”. It wasn’t a burden for her, she didn’t act saddled with a terrible duty-for Mary learning that Jesus was raised was an amazing joy; she wasn’t weighed down-she was set free; she wasn’t overwhelmed, she was lifted up. Mary experienced a shift in the universe, a transformation for her life and the lives of the whole world, and all she could think was-I HAVE TO LET PEOPLE KNOW!
What if this same news depends on us? What if the whole world depends on us? All of Christianity, all of Easter, all of God, all of life may just depend on whether we let someone else know what has happened? Is there freedom in your faith? Is there joy in your life? Is there hope is you? Someone I think a lot of recently said to me, “how do I bring someone I love to Christ?” I told them, “just be loving, faithful, and full of hope and they will want to come all by themselves”-we are in a hungry world, carrying around platefuls of food. Let someone know what the resurrection means in your life. Is there joy in the resurrection, let someone know. Is there hope in this good news? Let someone know. Think of yourself as Mary Magdalene, and the whole world is counting on you. I know this seems pretty fragile, pretty thin, pretty powerless as a way of changing the world. But if the Resurrection shows us anything, it’s that one person being lifted up, one person being changed, one person being filled so full of God-will be enough. Hallelujah, he is risen, indeed.
Amen.

We Stand Tonight

Sermon-Easter Eve- April 23, 2011

The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Everything about tonight is supposed to be primal, visceral, powerful. We light a fire, we march into a shadowy church carrying candles, following a torch. We sit in neardarkness and listen to ancient stories, the stories from the Old Testament preparing people for Jesus.

For the last several months I have been reading a guy by the name of Bernard Cornwell who writes novels about 9th centuryEnglish history-The Saxon Tales, he calls them. His main character is Uhtred of Bebbanburg. Over and over again in these stories Uhtred stresses that you are only as good as your oaths. If you swear allegiance to someone, that is more important than your life-people throughout these books are often identified as either oathbreakers-or oathkeepers.
And so after hearing the ancient stories from the Bible, we stand up and renew our Baptismal covenant-which is our way of repledging our oath to God-that was made at our baptisms.
Then, we listen to the Resurrection story-for the first time in a year. The story on Easter Eve is always of earthquakes and lightning, guards who are scared to death, and tombs that are emptied out. It is Easter Eve and everything tonight is supposed to be raw and gritty and powerful. We’re supposed to be shaken by the earthquake, and shaking from seeing angels. Twice in 6 verses these words are uttered, “Do not be afraid…” That’s the whole point, we’re supposed to be afraid! The world is shifting, there is a new reality. The dead come to life, and the living look like the dead. Women are portrayed as the brave ones in this story, and throughout people are running, rushing, hurrying-either trying to get away or being sent on death defying missions to a far land. It is Easter Eve and everything tonight is supposed to be frightening, fearsome and overwhelming.
We sit down in a few moments for the sacred meal, the food of body and blood of a savior. We are allowed to shout alleluia for the first time in a month and a half, and we hear the ancient words, “alleluia, Christ is risen, the Lord is risen indeed, alleluia. And then we are sent back out into the night, just like Jesus told Mary, “go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me." She was sent to the disciples, they were sent to Galilee, and we are sent back out into our own darkness, to raise a light, to show the light, to be the light of Christ to the world. It is Easter Eve, and everything tonight is about darkness and light, fear and hope, death and life.
If we were doing this right, it would be freezing cold outside, and comforting warm within; we would walk into a blackened church with small tapers of light, our only protection against the unknown; we would hear the ancient stories of God and people, and we would tremble with fear and excitement. If we were doing this right, there would be no light only shadows, no noise except whisper and murmurs. In the early days of the church people would stay up all night, kneeling, praying, the only light being the candles, the only heat being the new fire. And they would be waiting for the sound of the authorities breaking in theirs door to arrest and imprison them.
This is the night we remember that a baptismal oath could cost you your life, and meeting around an altar for bread and wine might mean death.
Everything about tonight is supposed to be about fear and desperation , faith and hope. We bring small lights to fight darkness, we hear old stories to remember who we are, we take oaths pledge of who we will be, and we eat holy food to promise who we are pledged to. It is Easter Eve, the night when Christianity was born. We don’t just remember on this night- we boldly go where the first followers went-we leave here and head for our own Galilee where Jesus is waiting. Tomorrow, Easter Sunday is about light, and music, and laughter-tonight is about hope and courage and faith. “Don’t be afraid,” the angel and Jesus both told Mary. But it’s ok if we are. There is a lot of darkness and fear and discouragement in the world. Earthquakes and lightning and things that go bump in the night. But we stand before all those things (stand up), we make our oath, we tell our story, we kneel together for the holy food-and we say the bravest phrase that was ever said in the darkness-“Alleluia, he is risen!” Amen.

It's A Tough Week

Puritan Prayer, adapted. The prayer is adapted from The Valley of Vision
My Master God,
I am expected to preach today, but go weak and needy to my task;
Yet I long that people will be edified with divine truth,that an honest testimony will be given for you.
Give me assistance in preaching and prayer,with heart uplifted for grace and passion.
Present to my view things pertinent to my subject,with fullness of matter and clarity of thought,
proper expressions, fluency, fervency, a deep emotion to accompany the words I speak,and grace to apply them to people’s consciences.
Keep me conscious all the while of my defects,and let me not gloat in pride over my performance. Help me to offer a testimony for yourself and to leave sinners inexcusable in neglecting your mercy.
Give me freedom to open up the sorrows of your people, and to set before them comforting consolations.
Give your power to the truth preached, and awaken the attention of my slothful audience.
May your people be refreshed, melted, convicted, comforted, and help me to use the strongest arguments drawn from Christ’s incarnation and sufferings,that people might be made holy.
I myself need your support, comfort, strength, holiness, that I might be a pure channel of your grace,and be able to do something for you.
Give me then refreshment among your people, and help me not to treat excellent matter in a defective way,or bear a broken testimony to so worthy a redeemer, or be harsh in treating Christ’s death, its design and end, from lack of warmth and fervency.
And keep me in tune with you as I do this work.

I had kind of a tough week. As many of you know, my mother in southern Texas was diagnosed with cancer of the spine about 10 days ago. This is her 3rd bout with cancer in 46 years. I decided that I would go to be with her and her husband on Wednesday as she prepared for surgery. Late Monday night I learned that Joanne Ramey, a long time member, was very ill in St. Joe’s. I went to see her that night and the next afternoon she passed away from pneumonia. On Tuesday I was told that Margaret Carlson, a very active member at St. Luke’s-Allen Park, and a long time friend, was in Arbor Hospice with a rare form of cancer.
So Wednesday I went down to Texas to be with my mom and her wonderful husband Jack as she had surgery to remove the T4 vertebrae. We spent a lot of time at the hospital. The prognosis so far is good, and we are hopeful. It was tough coming home yesterday. A part of you wants to be there, and a part of you wants to be anywhere else but there. I felt terrible for leaving Jack there by himself- guilty, sad-I told him that I felt like I was abandoning him, just when he and my mom needed me the most. You know how this feels, many of you have been through it in your own lives. My mother has always been there for me, she has been my rock, and I wanted to be there as she went through this. Life is full of tough decisions and painful sacrifices.
All week I worked on today’s sermon, because more than anything I want things to get back to normal, for the routine to return. But every time I started to put something down on paper, it never seemed right. That happens a lot with my sermons, and especially on important Sundays like this one. Words always seem inadequate for the important moments in our lives. Sitting in the airport yesterday morning, going over the gospel, again, I started thinking, what do I need to hear in this story? It’s been a tough week, I thought, how does this story touch me? Where I’m at? In my life?
Sara Miles, the director of Ministry at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco writes: “Following Jesus on this path to new life means we have to stop pretending. The truth is that [bad things will happen to us]. That [you] we can't always prevent the pain of family or friends. That loved ones as well as strangers will betray us. And that we will hurt and fail others. “
We listen to a story that happened a long time ago and we say, “yeah, but that was him-and that was then-but what about me, and what about now?” The reason why we tell Jesus’ story every year, especially this long story of his last day and death, is because it’s supposed to teach us about life, and God, and death in a really non-religious way. It’s supposed to say to us-bad things happen, pain happens to those we love, those close to us may betray us, that we hurt and fail those we care for. And none of that is foreign to God. God knows, God understands, God has been there. That is what we are supposed to hear in this story. It’s not just Jesus’ story-we’re supposed to hear our own story in it, too. We watch all this stuff happen to Jesus, this terribly unfair, painful, discouraging stuff happen to him, and we think to ourselves-he understood. He knew how it is on our hardest days. He knew what it is like. He understands what life can be like.
We are always asking, why did Jesus have to die? Why did all this terrible stuff have to happen? Why do we tell this story? My mother, who has been through cancer and surgery before said, “I just want to wake up and for all this to be over.” And I told her, “yeah, me too.” All Lent we listened to long stories leading up to today, and they show us one thing-Jesus knew what was coming. He knew that love costs. He knew that there is a price to pay for loving people. And still he chose to come to Jerusalem.
We retell this story every year, even though it is hard, and sad and difficult to hear, because it is part of the story of love-an important part, a required part. For life to matter, we have to be willing to give up all we have, everything that we hold dear, for that which is most precious. This week, this story, teaches us again, that Jesus was willing to give up everything because he loved us so much. It is hard to end this story where it does, because we need to believe that God will win, that love will triumph, that this is not the end. We don’t want our story, our lives, and Jesus’ life to end here-at the cross, in the grave. We want our life, our offering to make a difference-we want his sacrifice to change the way life seems to end. We go through this challenging week immersing ourselves in Jesus’ story, because we believe that it will show us the way, and because we need to hear-every year, that the sacrifice of love is worth it. Today, this week, we hear what God was willing to give up-for us. This is hard, the story is difficult to listen to. That’s ok. Love costs, it’s good for us to hear the story and remember that. Before we get to Easter, we have to go through the cross.

The Next Level

Sermon-5 Lent-April 10, 2011 What a marvel, that I can proclaim your word, the word which saves in its hearing. Lead me, Lord, into a love of your word above all other words that clamor to call to me each day. Fill me with your sacred silence so that I might truly seek your instruction and only yours. Enable me to teach and preach out of such silence so that the people listening may enjoy the fruit of our intimacy, an intimate love contained within and ordered by the church's continual love and protection of your holy word. Amen from Deacon James Keating's new book "A Deacon's Retreat" John 11:1-45 11Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. 3So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, 6after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 7Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. 10But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” 11After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” 12The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” 13Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. 14Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” 17When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, 19and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. 21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” 23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” 28When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35Jesus began to weep. 36So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” 38Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” 40Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” 45Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. In paleontology, the study of prehistoric life, sometimes an organism that was thought to be extinct, “reappears”. This has happened at least 3 times and has a special name-it is called the “Lazarus taxon”(taxon means organism). There is also a term in medicine for a person who spontaneously returns to life (the heart starts beating again) after resuscitation has stopped-it’s called, the “Lazarus phenomenon.” The story of Lazarus is so famous, even paleontologists and doctors use the term with familiarity. This is a long story, the story of the raising of Lazarus. As usual, let me give you a little background to help you understand what was going on. The name Lazarus, is a shortening of the Hebrew name Eleazer, which means, “God helps”. The town Bethany, where Lazarus, Mary, and Martha live, means House of Affliction or Suffering in Hebrew. So, as Alyce MacKenzie points out, “God helps those going through affliction.” In the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke the reason why the authorities want Jesus to die is because he overturns the tables in the Temple. But in the gospel of John, if we were to read a little further in the 11th chapter we would hear that the Chief Priests and Pharisees want to put Jesus to death for raising Lazarus-in fact in chapter 12 it says that the Chief priests plan to put Lazarus to death, also! So its today’s story, today’s event, that the authorities will use to indict Jesus. When Jesus goes to Bethany he is a mere 2 miles from Jerusalem, near the city where people want him dead. For him to go this suburb of the capital city is as if he is asking for it. In the gospel of John, I have been telling you each week, every story serves as a metaphor for a spiritual challenge: Nicodemus comes in confusion and doubt; the woman at the well, full of guilt and shame meets Jesus; the man born blind gains his sight, and loses every other relationship; and here, Jesus comes to Bethany to raise the dead. More from Alyce MacKenzie: “Water is a metaphor for the quenching of our spiritual thirst through Jesus' presence; Jesus is the living water (Jn. 4:14). The bread Jesus multiplies to feed the crowd is a metaphor for the satisfaction of our spiritual hunger that Jesus brings; Jesus is the Bread from Heaven (Jn. 6:35). Sight is a metaphor for the spiritual vision and clarity that Jesus brings; Jesus is the light of the world (Jn. 8:12, and [in] chapter 9 where Jesus gives sight to a man born blind). Here, in chapter 11, the restoration of physical life is a metaphor for breaking free from the bonds of spiritual death into the gift of eternal life that Jesus brings. Jesus is the resurrection and the life [(Jn. 11:25-6: "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.")]. Every story is supposed to lead us to something much deeper than what is on the surface. Get it? And then we get to today’s story. This is the climax. Every story has been building to today’s story. In the gospel of John every story has 2 meanings-on one level something is happening, but at a deeper level God is doing something profound-something to change us. Listen to the great preacher Fred Craddock: “… to say this is a sign story is to say that its primary function is revelation. Some truth about the meaning of God’s glory and presence in the world is made known through Jesus’ ministry. ….what is really going on here is not only a family crisis in Bethany but the crisis of the world, not only the raising of a dead man but the giving of life to the world. On one level the story is about the death and resurrection of Lazarus, but on another it is about the death and resurrection of Jesus. The sisters want their brother back, to be sure, but Jesus is also acting to give life to the world.. Jesus declares this truth to Martha at the heart of the narrative: "I am the resurrection and the life." Jesus is aching because his friend has died, but he also understands that he has come for more than just his friend-he has come for you and me, for all of us. Craddock again…. “the passion of Jesus bleeds through the surface of the story. Jesus was "deeply moved in spirit and troubled" (v. 33) , he was "deeply moved again" (v. 38) , and he wept (v. 35) . Why? He had deliberately delayed coming until Lazarus was dead and buried. The crowd said, "See how he loved him!" (v. 36) , but in this Gospel they never understand what is really going on. Jesus is experiencing something like a Gethsemane, for he knows that calling Lazarus out of the tomb means that he must enter it. The narrative will shortly make that fact abundantly clear: the belief in Jesus generated by his raising Lazarus prompts the religious leaders to plot Jesus’ death (vv. 45-53) . But for Jesus there is no other way because only in this act can he be the resurrection and the life for the world. And so the reader sees in and through the Lazarus story the Jesus story. Notice: Jesus is troubled and weeping; the tomb is not far from Jerusalem; the tomb is a cave with a large stone covering the opening; the stone is rolled away; Jesus cries with a loud voice; the grave cloth is left at the tomb. Sound familiar? Let there be no misunderstanding: Martha, Mary and Lazarus are not simply props for a spiritual story. They are real people trapped in death and grief, and Jesus brings comfort and life. Jesus was a real human being ministering among the suffering. This story is supposed to prepare us for Jesus’ own death. And it’s supposed to point us beyond it, too. The story of the raising of Lazarus tells us that Jesus doesn’t just come for his friends in the first century-he comes also for us-in the 21st. The people of Bethany were amazed that Jesus could raise Lazarus-but they couldn’t see beyond this amazing miracle. And neither can we. When there is a death in our lives, all we want is for the person to come back to us. We don’t understand death, we don’t like it, and ultimately we all want to say, “I thought if I believed in Jesus those I love wouldn’t have to die.” Jesus is telling Mary and Martha that he didn’t come just to raise their brother-he came to stop death forever. Like I said, they didn’t understand, and neither do we. Even after all these signs, after all these stories it is still a mystery how one person can change the power of life-and death. So today’s story is not finished. But the story of Jesus is still building, still adding new layers, new meanings, new insights. We will have to hear and experience the rest of this story in the next 2 weeks, for us to understand what death means-and how Jesus is the Life. Amen.

But What About Now?

Sermon-4 Lent-April 3, 2011 But what about, now?
O Creator of the universe, who has set the stars in the heavens and causes the sun to rise and set, shed the light of your wisdom into the darkness of my mind. Fill my thoughts with the loving knowledge of you, that I may bring your light to others. Just as you can make even babies speak your truth, instruct my tongue and guide my pen to convey the wonderful glory of the Gospel. Make my intellect sharp, my memory clear, and my words eloquent, so that I may faithfully interpret the mysteries which you have revealed. Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

First, let’s do the important stuff. The history part. Did you know that in the Church of England, “the 4th Sunday of Lent, is the only day in Lent when marriages can be celebrated”? Today is the 4th Sunday of Lent, known in the church as : Laetare Sunday so called from the Introit at Mass, "Laetare Jerusalem" ("O be joyful, Jerusalem"), is a name often used to denote the fourth Sunday of the season of Lent in the Christian liturgical calendar. This Sunday is also known as Mothering Sunday(only in England), Refreshment Sunday, Mid-Lent Sunday and Rose Sunday (because the golden rose sent by the popes to Catholic sovereigns used to be blessed at this time).
Some day you will thank me for this knowledge.
The writer Anais Nin once said, “We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are.” Years ago a long time member passed away. I was trying to comfort the family, so I said, “well, you had them a long time, and someday we’ll all be reunited and together again in heaven.” And one of the adult children said, “yeah, but what about now?”
This gospel may be my favorite story in the gospels, “the man who was born blind.” One reason is because there are so many layers to it, every time you peel back one understanding, there’s another one. But I think the best part is that I have always believed that this story was about me.
Jesus is a small part of this very long gospel. And that’s sort of the point. This whole story is about Jesus healing this guy, and then disappearing. In this gospel reading it’s what happens when Jesus is gone to the man born blind, that is important. Sort of like for us.
Let me set the stage. Jesus and the disciples are walking along, when they see this blind man. The disciples assume he’s blind because he is being punished by God. “Who sinned,” they ask Jesus, “this man or his parents.” “Neither,” Jesus tells them then he heals the man. This takes all of 7 verses. This is pretty standard gospel stuff, Jesus does a miracle, a person’s life is changed. But then it starts getting interesting.
This is from Fred Craddock, one of my favorite preachers: “In scene one (vv. 8-12) , the healed man tries to go home again but cannot. So radical is the change in him that his reappearance in the old neighborhood generates no joy, no celebration, no welcome home, only questions and doubts. His insistence that he is the same man gains mixed responses.” The man is healed, but the people people aren’t happy. They aren’t even sure that it’s him! I know I’ve told you this story, but I go to my mother at 19 and say “mom, I’ve joined the Episcopal Church and I want to be a priest,”, and she says, “what! You can’t do that, we’re not even religious!”
Again from Fred Craddock, “In scene two (vv. 13-17) the healed man is hauled before religious leaders. They are interested in all reported miracles, especially if performed by unauthorized individuals and most especially if done in violation of some law. Such is the case here; the healing occurred on the sabbath. A quandary: if this man is truly healed, it was done by someone with the power of God, but if the healing took place on the sabbath, then it was done by someone opposing God’s law. Are you sure you can see? Were you really blind? Who did it? Further investigation is needed.” Do you know what Jesus did wrong? It wasn’t the healing that was the problem. This is from John O’Day in the New Interpreters Bible: “The mixing of spit and dirt occurs only in this story. It probably was deliberate [by Jesus]to evoke the ire and blindness of the Pharisees. Kneading[of the dirt/mud/spit] was one of the 39 forbidden tasks on the sabbath [see O'Day, John]”. Jesus kneaded the dirt and mud.
“Scene three (vv. 18-23) finds the parents of the healed man being grilled by the religious leaders. Yes, he is our son; yes, he was born blind; no, we do not know what happened; no, we do not know who did it. Whatever joy they[the parents] may have had is drowned in fear. Expulsion from the synagogue and social disgrace is a high price to pay for having a son especially blessed by God. They were unwilling to pay it.”
The neighbors are angry, the religious authorities are outraged, the parents now disown their son. This is tuning into some miracle, isn’t it?
And finally, “(vv. 24-34) the man is grilled a second time and more intensely. The authorities, faced with the irrefutable evidence of the healing, try to make the man denounce Jesus as a sinner. The poor man, armed only with his experience and sound logic, cannot believe a sinner could have the power of God. Anger and frustration rule: the man is denounced along with Jesus and expelled as a sinner.”
At least when the man was blind, he had friends, neighbors, family, and an established place in society. And he lost all that for having his sight. Some trade off. He must have been thinking, “be careful what you pray for…”.
At the end of this story, after the man who was born blind has lost everything, Jesus comes back into the picture. So, at the end of the story the man who was born blind says to Jesus, “well, I guess I will follow you-what else is there?”
In the early days of the church, it is supposed, Christians hearing this story would have thought this miracle was being told for them. Many of them lost their families, many were ostracized by their friends, frequently they were kicked out of their communities. They followed Jesus- and lost everything. And the Jesus that had called them, didn’t seem to be anywhere around as they went through all the trials and challenges of being his followers. They felt alone, abandoned forsaken by Jesus, and they wondered if it was all worth it. So when they heard this story of the healing of the man who was born blind, they would have nodded and said, “yeah, I know how he felt.”
When I decided to follow Christ it cost me very little. But it felt like a lot at the time. The friends I had had before didn’t find me as much fun anymore. They said, “you’ve changed, what’s wrong with you, why are you so different?” My parents wondered where I went wrong. I didn’t know what to do, where to go, or who I would feel comfortable with, ever again. I changed, and I was scared. I started to wonder if being a Christian was worth it. In the grand scheme of things, it cost me very little. But when I hear this story, I know how this guy felt. His life had changed, and he couldn’t go back to who he was. And this new life certainly wasn’t easier. In fact, life was a lot more confusing, a lot more difficult, for me as a Christian, than it ever was before. I was blind, and then I could see, and I couldn’t go back.
When we say, like this man in the gospel, “Lord, I believe.” They aren’t just words. They are not just words. To see this truth, to understand this truth, cost this man-everything. If we say these words, if we mean these words, it will cost us, too. It will change us.
One last quote from Fred Craddock: “The time of Jesus’ absence is no picnic. In fact, the man born blind could have said understandably to himself more than once, "I never asked to be healed. If this is what it means to be blessed of God, I think I am willing to relinquish some divine favors." Perhaps no biblical story illustrates quite so dramatically the truth of repeated experience: God’s favor more often leads into than away from difficulties. A relationship to God does not remove one from, but often places one in the line of fire. Those who preach faith as the cessation of pain, suffering, poverty, restless nights and turbulent days are offering false comfort. Notice what happened to the healed man during Jesus’ absence.
The grieving adult child asked “yeah, but what about now?” Now we live in faith, we trust the love that has claimed us, we embrace a life that will be a lot more uncomfortable and difficult than the one we had before. That is the reality of following Christ.
Faith is not the cessation of pain, the end of suffering, the absence of poverty, the finish of restless nights and turbulent days. To say “I believe” means we will step out fiercely into an uncertain world, we will challenge the powers with light, and we will likely lose more battles than we will win. To say, “Lord, I believe” is a costly thing. But once we see, once we know the truth, once we are claimed by the voice of Jesus, what else can we do? For me, being a Christian meant that I had to grow up, and become a person of faith. I heard the truth, and once I did, I was compelled to follow. At the time, it seemed to cost me a lot. I often wondered where Jesus was as I stumbled forward in faith. Like that young man of long ago, I, too, wondered, “but, what about now?” But I knew that once I received your sight, I could never go back to being blind.
John 9:1-41
9As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, 7saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.
8The 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?” 9Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11He 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.” 12They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
13They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15Then 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.” 16Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. 17So 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.” 18The 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 19and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21but 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.” 22His 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. 23Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” 24So 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.” 25He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27He 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?” 28Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.
35Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” 37Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” 38He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him.
39Jesus 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.” 40Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.