SERMON 4th Sunday in Lent March 2, 2008 1 Samuel 16:1-13 Psalm 23 Ephesians 5:8-14 John 9:1-41 Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus, who is the Christ. Amen. The passengers on a commercial airliner were all seated waiting for the flight crew to arrive so that they could get under way. The pilot and co-pilot finally appear in the rear of the plane, and begin walking up to the cockpit down the center aisle. To the surprise of the passengers, both appear to be blind. The pilot is using a white cane, bumping into passengers right and left as he stumbles down the aisle. The co-pilot is using a guide dog. Both have their eyes covered with large dark glasses. At first the passengers do not react, thinking that it must be some sort of a practical joke. After a few minutes however, the engines start revving up, and the airplane begins to taxi towards the runway. The passengers look at each other with some uneasiness. They are whispering among themselves looking desperately to the flight attendants for reassurance. Suddenly the airplane starts accelerating rapidly, and people begin to panic. Some passengers are praying, others are demanding answers. As the plane gets closer and closer to the end of the runway, their voices become louder and louder. Finally, when the plane has less than 20 feet of runway left, everyone screams hysterically. At that point, the airplane lifts off and becomes airborne. Up in the cockpit, the co-pilot breathes a sigh of relief, turns to the Captain and says: You know, one of these days the passengers aren t going to scream, and then we re all going to die! Someone once said to Helen Keller; What a pity you have no sight! to which she replied, Yes, but what a pity so many have sight but cannot see! Our Gospel story today tells about a man who was blind from birth. As Jesus and his followers encountered this man, the disciples asked Jesus; Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? What an interesting question. First of all, if he was born blind how could HE be the one who had sinned unless it was in a previous life? Actually, reincarnation was a popular belief in Jesus day, especially among the pagans. This belief is still evident today in many of the worlds religions. One of the principle components of the theory of reincarnation is karma, the doctrine that everyone gets what he or she deserves. The idea is that there is an impersonal force in the world that causes us to build future debits and credits based on our behavior. This way of believing has many advantages. It is the ultimate in fairness. No evil will go unpunished and no good will go un-rewarded. If you think about it, we kind of like that system. We are brought up that way. How many times have you heard a child say; That s not fair! We as adults then have to give them the news that Life is not always fair. But what if everything was fair? How would that play out?
Let s think of the implications: Several children are suffering. One has leukemia, another is crippled, and a third is dying of starvation. You want to help these children understand their situation better, so you say; Sorry, you are getting exactly what you deserve. You have these problems because you must have committed some great sins in a previous life. Or let s go a little further. At my previous congregation there was a woman named Jan who was a foster parent and worked with rescuing children from abusive situations. I would like to share a few of her stories. A nine-month old boy was burned on his leg with a cigarette lighter. The burn went all the way to the bone. After numerous surgeries, the doctors still wondered if the boy would ever be able to walk. I saw the scar myself. When I left, Jan was in the process of adopting this sweet child. What had this child done to deserve this? Twin eight-year old girls were pulled from their house by DCFS authorities. As they were being fed and cleaned up, Jan noticed that they had a bunch of circular scars in their skin along their arms and legs. She asked the girls how they got the scars. One of the girls said; When my daddy gets mad at us, he power nails us to the wall. A four-year old girl was found half dead in a ditch. When asked what happened, she said that she had been locked in a room ever since she was born. Her parents would open the door a couple of times a day to slide in some food. A few days earlier she had escaped through her bedroom window when her parents were out. Perhaps we can say to them; You were not the victims of injustice. You got exactly what you had coming to you because of sins you committed in a previous life sins you cannot even remember. As Christians, many of us would like to see a direct and immediate relationship between a person s actions and a person s experience in life. We want to believe that life is fair that sin is punished by pain and suffering, and goodness is rewarded by blessings. And as a result, sometimes instead of having compassion, we become judgmental. When I was doing my Clinical Pastoral Education, I worked for three months as a hospital chaplain. I ministered with many HIV/AIDS patients. And painfully I must confess, there were times when I was like the Pharisees. When I would first meet an AIDS patient, I would immediately wonder how they contracted the disease. Was it from using dirty drug needles; was it from promiscuous sexual activity; or maybe it was from a blood transfusion. I was like the disciples wanting to know who was at fault. It seemed that if I could find a reason for why they suffered from this horrible disease, it would make me feel better. Jesus, on the other hand, is not concerned with the why question. Jesus is only filled with compassion. He has no need to figure out the where s and the why s. The Pharisees, on the other hand, had it all figured out. They knew the 623 religious laws of Judaism, and they followed them. They also knew that anybody who didn t follow those laws was a sinner. Faith was basically a closed system. If you knew the rules and followed them, you were saved. If you didn t, you were a sinner. It s as simple as that. They also believed that suffering and physical impairment were always the product of sin. Evidently, this was also the belief of the disciples. God punishes people by afflicting them, and sometimes God also afflicts their children and grandchildren and even their great-grandchildren. Now the logical consequence of this belief is that anyone who relieves someone s suffering or corrects a physical condition is interfering with the will of God. That means that when Jesus healed the blind man so that he could see, it was concluded by the Pharisees, that he was going against the will of God. For only God has the right to lift the punishment for sin.
That s why it was seen not only as wrong, but as arrogant for Jesus to heal the blind man that God was punishing. So again, we see Jesus confronting the religious establishment. Jesus says that this man isn t being punished because of his sin or his parent s sins. Rather, he says; he was born blind so that God s works might be revealed in him. As I see it, this is the heart of the Gospel. All things are for the glory of God. Even if we don t understand everything, we know that God s will is done. It s OK to say; I don t know. I don t know why some people are born blind and some people are not. I don t know why children die before their parents. I don t know why innocent people suffer sometimes far more than wicked people. I don t know why people kill each other in the name of God. I don t know when the world will come to an end and Jesus will return in all his glory. But it s OK to not know. After all, there is a God, and we are not God. All we need to know is that through all things God s glory will be revealed. Through suffering and tragedy, God s light will shine. I would like to close with a story that I shared with you several years ago. It is entitled; God s under the Bed. My brother Kevin thinks God lives under his bed. At least that s what I heard him say one night. He was praying out loud in his dark bedroom, and I stopped outside his closed door to listen. Are you there, God? he said. Where are you? Oh, I see. Under the bed. I giggled softly and tiptoed off to my own room. Kevin s unique perspectives are often a source of amusement. But that night, something else lingered long after the humor. I realized for the first time the very different world Kevin lives in. You see, Kevin was born 30 years ago, mentally disabled as a result of difficulties during labor. Apart from his size (he s 6-foot-2), there are few ways in which he is an adult. He reasons and communicates with the capabilities of a 7-year-old, and he always will. He will probably always believe that God lives under his bed, that Santa Claus is the one who fills the space under our tree every Christmas, and that airplanes stay up in the sky because angels carry them. I remember wondering if Kevin realizes he is different. Is he ever dissatisfied with his monotonous life? Up before dawn each day, off to work at a workshop for the disabled, home to walk our cocker spaniel, returning to eat his favorite macaroni-and-cheese for dinner, and later to bed. And Saturdays oh, the bliss of Saturdays. That s the day my dad takes Kevin to the airport to have a soft drink, watch the planes land, and speculate loudly on the destination of each passenger inside. That one s goin to Chi-car-go! Kevin shouts as he claps his hands. His anticipation is so great he can hardly sleep on Friday nights. I don t think Kevin knows anything exists outside his world of daily rituals and weekend field trips. Free from pride and unconcerned with appearances, Kevin is not afraid to cry when he is hurt, angry or sorry. He is always transparent, always sincere. And he trusts God. Not confined by intellectual reasoning, when he encounters Christ, he trusts as a child. Kevin seems to know God to really be friends with God in a way that is difficult for an educated person to grasp. God seems to be his closest companion.
In my moments of doubt and frustrations with my faith, I envy the security Kevin has in his simple faith. It is then that I am most willing to admit that God has some divine knowledge that rises above my mortal questions. It is then that I realize that perhaps people like Kevin are not the ones with the handicap I am. My obligations, my fear, my pride, my circumstances they all become disabilities when I do not submit them to Christ. And one day, when the mysteries of heaven are opened, and we are all amazed at how close God really is to our hearts, I ll realize that God heard the simple prayers of a boy who believed that God lived under his bed. Kevin won t be surprised at all. Society would call Kevin handicapped. Jesus would call him created in a unique way so that God s works might be revealed in him. And so it is with us. Perhaps our sufferings and tragedies we face in life are not always because of some sin we committed, but rather so that God s works might be revealed in us. For God loves us unconditionally regardless of our past sins, or the sins of our parents. Perhaps God does not desire to punish us, but to strengthen us. Perhaps God chooses you and me, as flawed as we might be, to reveal his glory. This, brothers and sisters is the scandal of the Gospel. Amen. May the peace that passes all understanding be with you now and for life everlasting. Amen. How many of you have ever been sick before? What kind of sickness did you have? Why do you think you got sick? I m going to tell you a secret. I know why you got sick. You got sick because you didn t obey your parents when they told you to clean up your room You got sick because missed going to church one Sunday You got sick because you really really wanted a toy that your friend has You got sick because you told a lie one time Don t you believe me? Why not? In our Bible lesson today, that s what people thought. There was a man who was born blind from birth, and everyone thought that he must have done something really bad to deserve that. But Jesus says; that s not why he was born blind. It was not because of something that he did. Jesus said; it was so that God s works would be revealed in him. Jesus can work good things out of what we think are bad things.
So when you get sick or when bad things happen to you, it s not that God is punishing you. Instead, if you let God, he can make something good happen. Let s pray