SERMON John 9:1-41. our Golden Retriever might just accept it PART THE FIRST: 9:1 As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth.

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1 1 SERMON John 9:1-41 PART THE FIRST: 9:1 As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 9:2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 9:3 Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. 9:4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." 9:6 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, 9:7 saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. When bad stuff happens, people always want to ask why this is part of our grandeur as human beings our Golden Retriever might just accept it as part of life we don t. We want answers. We insist on asking the question and we expect an answer. And when bad stuff happens to good people, innocent people, the question is asked with even more intensity, and an under- current of outrage. One response to the intensity of the pain felt is to reach for some hobbled logic that makes a mistaken connection between being hurt, and being guilty being damaged, wounded or smacked in the face by misfortune, and somehow 1

2 2 being personally to blame for the misfortune. punishment of God crashing down on our life The disciples of Jesus reached for that flawed reasoning when they encountered the man blind from birth Who sinned this man or his parents? There must be some link some responsibility somewhere it certainly couldn t be just one of those things that happens sometimes in the strange mixter maxter that is the human condition someone is to blame they feel sure. That s not how it works, Jesus tells them not how it works at all.! And people who burden themselves with the flawed and flimsy equation Bad things have happened to me or to him or to her, therefore they must have, I must have, done something wrong to bring the wrath and Those who burden themselves with that notion, are being too simplistic quite misguided. A terrible load to lay on our back. Now, we know from experience that sometimes, people are responsible for the misery that haunts their lives. They make bad decisions, stupid choices they break rules, flout the will of God refuse to listen to wise advice given, stern warnings uttered and then the whole rubbish pile lands on their head there is loss, pain, brokenness and they know really, they have no one to blame but themselves And, certainly, we live in a world where the bad choices of other people impinge on our freedom to live in peace and harmony and serenity 2

3 3 so that we catch the flak, we can become the innocent victims of someone else s selfishness, irresponsibility or immorality and the flying debris from their choices, can damage our peace of mind. When a worker does a shoddy job, when a professional makes an error of judgement when someone forgets to do something they should have remembered there are effects consequences that s the real world on where the logic, justice, fairness in the world has gone where God has gone how come things are as they are why has this situation come about?? In all honesty, I m not sure how helped I am by the answer Jesus gives I like the bit that makes it clear, absolutely clear, that the man s blindness is not the fault of himself, or his parents and that reminds and reassures me that God s world doesn t work in that naïve and cruel way. that, too, is the grandeur of our humanity we don t live in a vacuum: and what people choose to do, or neglect to do generates momentum and has impact. But in spite of those realities, there are still times when we wonder what is going However, I m not sure what to make of the statement that the man is blind so that so that God s glory will be revealed. In this one-off, that just might be the case and indeed, turns out to be the case there is a miracle...a crucial debate 3

4 4 a sign is given that reveals who Jesus is something good comes out of the man s crisis surround them with love evidence day after day, year on year. but it is a long time to be in misery just so that he will be around when Jesus has a point to make and of course not every blind or deaf or disabled individual is privileged to serve in this specialised capacity. They just are how they are, and there are no demonstrations of God s glory to give meaning to their struggle other than the courage they themselves show, the indomitable human spirit they demonstrate, the immensely humbling way in which they refuse to let bitterness or self-pity define their lives, the patience support and selflessness those who Yes, there is majesty in that and immense dignity but no magic wand, No Look, see the hand of God is about to transform this situation only the relentless demand, the continuous exhausting requirement that they be not crushed! PART THE SECOND: 9:14 Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 9:15 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 9:16 Some 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. 4

5 5 9:17 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." The naysayers are ever with us Why could they not just be happy for him? Always someone willing to put the negative spin speak the cynical word...bring things down to the lowest common denominator. For us it can be a hungry press eager to build someone up only to bring them crashing down when the media tires of them or it can be a grudging attitude of negativity, that people bring to the world of work, or the world of church and instead of the crowds sharing the delight wonder and magic of the moment, they start to chip away at the joy, raise questions about the reality of the moment tone down the euphoria. And the legalism begins to creep in. All this happening on the Sabbath there was(shock, horror) activity, there was washing there were changed circumstances what does the rule book say what s the small print on this one has some holy line been crossed here? And instead of seeing the glory of the moment, embracing the miracle and having an eye and a heart for the big picture the debate gathers around the minutae the minor details of some possible infraction of a sub-paragraph of the law and nothing about liberty, sight, 5

6 6 the power of God clearly present. It can happen in local churches too, when somehow or another, It s always disappointing when that happens. When we miss the real event, in our pursuit of the nitpicking niceties,. Or when we allow the niceties, and the nitpicking to blind us to the surprising and glorious things that God is doing. It can happen in the life of the church where instead of the General Assembly focusing on the amazing stories of lives changed hope born new beginnings wrought over the church s year in countless ways all across Scotland and the world we spend ages picking away at some fine point of church law, procedure or footnote in the pension plan. we don t catch the vision and allow instead the limited, negative focus to set the mood and sometimes the agenda what we can t do, allowed to become the defining characteristic of our mission and service, rather than what in the power of Christ we can do. Lighten up you people who gather round this former beggar whose life has been transformed and truly enlightened by his encounter with Jesus and the power of God to make all the difference in the world. This is what is happening it is this we should be celebrating instead of carping, criticising, condemning PART THE THIRD: 9:18 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 6

7 7 9:19 and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" 9:20 His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 9:21 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." 9:24 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." 9:25 He answered, "I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." 9:26 They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" 9:27 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?" 9:28 Then they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 9:29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from." not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 9:31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 9:32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 9:33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." 9:34 They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?" And they drove him out. And so the story rumbles on. I love people who stand up and tell it like it is straight-talking, no nonsense, cut to the chase common-sense. I m not so keen when they do it to me but they make an important contribution the ones who cut through the baloney and get right to the guts of things and this the man does, 9:30 The man answered, "Here is an astonishing thing! You do 7

8 8 in spite of the intimidating phalanx of establishment figures arraigned against him. Look I was blind, and now I can see you figure it out. All logic screams to me that someone who can transform a life with such dramatic creative power has to be on the side of the angels but if that s not good enough for you if you come blinded by your prejudices and shackled to your intellectual agenda and if you are too blinkered to see what s happening here, and how big God s presence is written across this situation well that s your problem all I know is that I was condemned to life in a dark terrible cell imprisoned by a crippling disability and now I m not because of that man and frankly, you can wriggle and squirm as much as you like but I m giving my vote to the man who in the power of God can do this wonderful thing and who doesn t give a fig for what day of the week it happens to be when he heals someone but who only cares for the people the person not the regulations. Who is he go figure! And the authorities don t like it. They have the degrees and the qualifications and the breeding and here is this upstart telling them that they might just have read the situation wrongly that they just might be missing the point They use their power to drive the man from the synagogue in their terms, effectively, they excommunicate him for having the audacity to speak the truth the uncomfortable and uncompromising truth. With pawky humour and a fair bit of cheek he wonders if the Pharisees, the religious experts are so interested in the doings 8

9 9 of the man Jesus because they want to be his followers too red flags and bulls and a street wise humour that sets their teeth on edge. He payed the price for his humorous presumption. They drove him out. those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind." 9:40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, "Surely we are not blind, are we?" 9:41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, 'We see,' your sin remains. No one loves the man or woman who asks the awkward question sometimes we have to learn to value that unsettling contribution, not try to mock it, sideline it or just be rid of it s challenging inconvenience. PART THE FOURTH: 9:35 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" 9:36 He answered, "And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him." 9:37 Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he." 9:38 He said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped him. 9:39 Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment so that And it boils down to the personal decision who to believe, who to follow. To put your trust in the rigorous attention to details, religious requirement and procedures, or to give your loyalty to the man who asks you to follow him. In the Church it has always been a tendency to drift back to the old formalism and the carefully drawn boundaries and to express religious life in a litany of does and don ts 9

10 10 and somehow in the Church of Scotland we ve come to flirt with that style of religious expression rather more than we should. In the pursuit of good order we have sometimes replaced personal loyalty to Christ with doing things right. communion of spirit with spirit, heart with heart and the precise form of words our worship takes, the manner in which we do things, the mechanics of liturgy and church order fade into shadow. Here he asks us So, do we believe in him do we put our trust in him But Jesus always makes it personal. His call, and his coming to our life is raw and intimate, dangerous and open-ended. and all the rest is simply that all the rest. Lord I believe. When we say our yes to him, we have no control over where that yes will take us when we say we will follow him we have no idea where he will ask us to go This is what makes commitment so powerful. Because it is so personal. In the moment, there is only the 10