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.