4 Lent, A March 30, I wasn t exactly paralyzed with fear, but I wasn t brave enough to

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1 4 Lent, A March 30, 2014 I threw out my back a week ago, so I spent a few nights sleeping in Grace s bedroom. Grace is away in college, so she doesn t mind, and this allowed Doug the chance to sleep without a heating pad and a million extra pillows cluttering up his bed and disrupting his REM cycle. As you can imagine -I didn t sleep well not only was I in a strange bed with an achy back, but I noticed a light that seemed to be shining in the little closet located directly across from the foot of the bed. As I lay there, gazing at it, this became more and more disturbing, especially as it occurred to me that there is no source of electricity in this closet no light switch, no light fixture, no light. And yet, there was light somehow making its way between the closed door and its frame, reminding me of those scary movies where the door framed in light indicates that something scary is I wasn t exactly paralyzed with fear, but I wasn t brave enough to get up and check it out, either. So I lay there - staring and thinking about how ironic it was that instead of being afraid of sleeping in a strange room in the dark, I was afraid - of the light. It reminded me of something Plato said, We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; [but] the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. This doesn t make much sense being afraid of the light. In Ephesians we are called to be children of light and we are reminded that Jesus is the light of the world. How could we possibly be afraid of this light? On the surface there doesn t seem to be anything to be fearful of but if we think about it a little, there IS one good reason to be afraid because when Jesus shines his light in our lives things get disrupted, and no one likes that... coming lurking just on the other side 1

2 quo and they were afraid of what life would be if things were The Pharisees in our Gospel reading certainly were afraid of this light but not because it reminded them of a scary movie. Rather, they were afraid of Jesus light, because of what it could reveal that their relationship with God wasn t as perfect as they thought. transformed and disrupted by the light. But you know - if we want to be children of light children of Jesus - transformation is bound to happen, and transformation is disruptive. Consider the blind man s neighbors. Jesus shines his light and heals the blind man, and in the blind man s new state of The Pharisees could try to hide from knowing this, but Jesus wholeness, his friends and neighbors don t recognize him. continued to challenge them, shining his light upon the things that came between them and God. They were so insistent that following God should be done by particular people, on particular days, and in particular ways, so when Jesus broke their rules and healed a blind man as only one who comes from God could do and the Pharisees couldn t accept it, because accepting it would mean they would need to change what they believed, and this was most Now, does this make sense to you? He d been part of their community since the day he was born, yet even when the man who was blind insists over and over again, I am the man! they still don t know who he is. It s as if they had defined him and put him in a box labeled, blind man, and once he gained his sight and no longer fit into that box, he was a stranger to them. frightening of all. Jesus was there to change humanity s relationship with God and they didn t want to change. They liked the status We do this, too think about the way we talk about people: He s unemployed. She s a felon. She s divorced. He s a high school 2

3 dropout. She s an addict. He has cancer. She suffers from depression. to change a label especially one you ve given to yourself and lived with for so long And so what happens when the situation changes? - When the man gets a job, and another gets remarried; When she gets her GED, or starts attending 12-step meetings; when his hair grows back after chemotherapy, and she gets counseling and meds for her depression then we don t know them anymore. We don t know who they are. We don t know how to define them. Like the neighbors in our story, we fail to see them beyond their issues. They So, how do you define yourself? Maybe you accidently left your kid alone at church for 5 minutes, 15 years ago so you say you are a bad mom. You got passed over for that promotion you re a poor employee. You can t bear to talk to your dying father because you cannot handle it so you re a bad son. I could go on and on We all have these voices in our heads have new identities and don t fit into our boxes anymore. Even if we try not to define ourselves by our weaknesses or our And what about us? We talk about ourselves in this way, too, allowing ourselves to be defined by our disappointments and failures rather than by our possibilities. Case in point: note that pasts, often they have become our reality, and the only way we know how to define ourselves and so we resist the invitation to a new identity to a new possibility. even after the miracle the man in the Gospel reading is still referred to as the man born blind, not the mans who sees. It s really hard 3

4 How have we come to allow our flaws and our faults to hold so much more power over our lives than our gifts and our dreams and especially our call from God? But here s what s wrong with that way of thinking: If we define ourselves according to our dysfunction, we deny our identity as beloved children of God. I could say we re like the Pharisees - that our inability to define ourselves by our possibilities is due to our dislike of change our need for stability our discomfort with disruption but I think it s We have to let go of that way of thinking. Because Jesus is the light, and Jesus promises new life and yes, things will change- but with Jesus, change is GOOD. With Jesus, the disruption is worth it. deeper than that. I think we resist Jesus presence and healing in our lives, not just because he s going to change things, but because we don t believe we re worth it. That poor blind guy, he deserved a little help but us? We deserve everything we have brought upon ourselves, the labels we give ourselves and the way we define ourselves - so surely Jesus wouldn t want to heal us We don t deserve it. It s interesting to me that Lent and Advent are the two church seasons when we think most about darkness and light. In Advent it s because God loves us so much he sends the light to be born into the world, to banish the darkness, and in Lent it s because God loves us so much he sacrificed his Son for us, allowing the darkness to creep in on the cross, until the light could rise and be born again. Notice that what these seasons have in common is God s love for us. This is the love that brings us the light and chases away the dark. 4

5 I don t know what walking in this light will look like for you. I don t know the disruption that needs to occur in your life to make you whole and to get you out of the box you have put yourself in - ready Look at the blind man He didn t ask for Jesus help, but Jesus came to heal him anyway. And we can sit in the dark as long as we d like, but Jesus is still coming after us, too because he loves us so much to accept that you are loved and worthy. But I do know Jesus wants to get you there Jesus wants to change whatever needs changing, so that you can fully live into the gift of his love. Amen. and he wants us to be who God created us to be not just surviving or getting by but living a life that is rich and full and abundant. And isn t that the person you would like to be? The one God created Sources: Feasting on the Word Synthesis, Lent 4 Year A Identity Theft, Part 2, David Lose, workingpreacher.org you to be? Someone who is defined by their dreams rather than their burdens? Someone who is worthy and loved rather than riddled by negativity and self-doubt? Someone who lives in the light of God s love instead of in the dark? If so we cannot be afraid of the dark. We have to welcome the light and let it remind us of the person God created us to be Beloved, worthy, and healed. 5

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