Day 1567 - Surely we are not blind…

Adapted from a sermon shared at First Presbyterian Church, Spring City, TN Match 27, 2017

Isaiah 42: 5-10, 16

Gospel reading: See text (John 9:1-41)

One recommendation for pastors on preaching this passage is simply to read it completely with no interruption because the message has a two-way flow to it from blindness to insight and from seeing to spiritual blindness. This is how I’m going to do it with a slight modification. First, I offer some information about John’s gospel to establish a perspective on the passage as we listen (see Day  for more on John); and after the reading I’ll close by reflecting on the deeper meaning in it for Christians living in today’s world.

Introductory words. I would like to remind you that the Gospel of John presents a unique view of Jesus. John does not read like the other three gospels. From the beginning, Jesus openly admits being Christ, God’s son, and states his purpose is to bring light into the world, something we do not read in the other three gospels, or if we do it is at the end of them.

The gospel of John appears to have been composed in two steps over a significant time interval.  Most likely, the first writer recorded his personal experience of the events in the life of Jesus among the Jewish community some of whom believed Jesus and some opposed him. Some years after the first composer when was open conflict in the synagogue between those Jews who recognized and called Jesus, Christ, and the Jews and leaders of the synagogue who accused them of false belief a final editor, appears to have added and polished text relevant to this later time, adding chapter 21.

Two groups reoccur in the gospel.  One is the opponents that are called “The Jews.” These are probably contemporary Jewish public worshippers who rejected his teachings. The other is the “Pharisees” or elders who rejected Jesus in a time of open controversy after the life of Jesus who challenged avowed Christians and expelled them from the synagogues.

There are particular recurring themes in John. One is that Jesus is light and disbelief as darkness. The other is that Jesus is the constant source of division among listeners. The division arises because in the light of Jesus people choose either to accept the truth of Jesus or to embrace darkness and unbelief.

There is another important issue in this passage readers must understand before reading, otherwise, it may miss the words of Jesus that physical burdens are not a sign of sin but, like our righteousness as a Christian, an opportunity by God to show God’s glory in his love for us. In the days of Jesus some believed illness, deformity, and birth defects were caused by sin (the temple practices show this).

There are persons within every group that hears this passage who carry a physical burden or a mental worry, or know persons who do. In this text, both may will latch onto the criticism that this man’s blindness is a sign of sin by him or his parents and wonder, “Are we punished by illness because we are sinners?”  The scripture says it, even though many “preachers” discredit Jesus’ own words even in this story; namely, physical burdens are not a sign of sin but, like our righteousness as a Christian, an opportunity by God to show God’s glory in his love for us.

John also shows us there are two ways of looking at blindness, as the physical condition of no eyesight, and as a spiritual problem of no faith. Two people may see the same thing, one believes, the other does not.

Related to seeing and believing, this passage is heavy with the fact that words can have a more than one meaning, even words about salvation. It caused me to remember a “pun” the smartest guy in my middle school class told me.  Some say puns are the highest form of humor and others the lowest, but here it is. In retrospect, this pun clearly illustrates the irony of double meanings of words in this passage. “Once upon a time there was a blind carpenter. One day he picked up his hammer and saw.”  You may have to wait to the end to see how that pun relates to the story.

Before I begin, as you read it, notice how the blind man’s awareness grows with the narrative as the blindness of his critics increases. Notice the story of the blind man is broken into four major sections, his healing, a trial with the public and Pharisees and his time with Jesus, and the time of the Pharisees with Jesus

The Text. Please read John 9:1-41, start to end, and  return to this blog.

Reflection.

This is a beautifully crafted narrative full of guidance for faithful living.

First, Jesus acknowledges that we are born sinners. His tells his disciples who want to see illness as sin that no earthly trial, sickness or parent makes a person sinful or is a punishment for sin. We may suffer consequences of a sinful act or not, (good things often happen to “bad” people in this world) but our tendency to sin is “in our blood.”  The post last week took great length to explore Paul’s teaching about righteousness and forgiveness. Paul writes that because of our faith in the light of Jesus, our sin is erased and we are reckoned righteous regardless of sin. Confidence in our faith gives us confidence in our future regardless of what happens on this ground we call “Earth.” Therefore, it is always appropriate to glorify God (See v3).

Second, do not think that faith and seeing will exempt you from difficulty. We heard Jesus say peril and sickness are beyond our control – they are not signs of sin but are opportunities for God’s glory to shine.

The blind man is a hero is the sense that he changed from thinking himself a sinner due to his blindness, to thinking Jesus must be a prophet because he was healed, to knowing he was healed because Jesus is from God. Still, he was ostracized from his synagogue and criticized by his fellow Jews and Pharisees who saw he was healed, verified who did it and disbelieved.

Third, Jesus says that God does not listen to sinners but to those who worship and obey him. (v31) Those who listen to Jesus and hear are enlightened because Jesus is the light of the world. They listen and see(understand). A human cannot gain enlightenment by one’s own action, it comes from Jesus by the Holy Spirit because he is the light from God (v33).

Fourth, Jesus said he came for judgment - not to judge but to be judged by humanity (v39).  Literally, those who do see and believe (who have faith), escape judgment as they are reckoned righteous, but those who see and do not believe judge themselves by their own blindness. Those who judge Jesus rather than accept him thereby judge themselves as darkness.

In our world of double meanings, a sinner who can sees Jesus for who he is and does not believe is blind to grace (v41).

As I introduced this passage, I remarked the final composition reaches across time not only from those Jews, Gentiles and the blind man contemporary with Jesus, or llater Christians in Jewish congregations whose belief in Jesus caused trials, tribulation and expulsion from fellowship in the synagogue by opponents, but also for us today.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about being holy and being right. The real message there was that Christians are reckoned holy before judgment and discover who God is by living one’s faith. This passage in John using the idea of seeing and believing says the same thing in a different way.

We don’t discover God by being disciples of Moses like the Pharisees, or by lip service as one-day-a-week-Christians. Certainly, we need and recharge our batteries and support each other by participating in a worship service, but - we don’t always easily discover who God is only by coming to a church worship service. We do discover God by worship. But know that the blind man showed the truest form of worship. He told people what he saw and glorified God by his very gift of sight.

You find your sight… you find God, when you go into the world and do your level best to look beyond its distractions to meet those who cry for your Christ-like compassion. That is the true life, living the way Jesus taught us to live.

Two brothers, Reinhold and Richard Niebuhr lived over the span of most of the last century. They strongly shaped the face of Western Christianity. One was instrumental in resisting the dark forces of Hitler and Stalin, the other pointed out the dents from our wrecks over time that need some body work in this van we call the Church.  (Some of those dents were ones his own brother Reinhold put in it.) Their daughters and sons kept a focus on faith as editors in publishing and national newspapers, seminary. This family left an enduring legacy on Christian thought.

Richard Reinhold Niebuhr, of Harvard Divinity School, wrote a book called “Streams of Grace*” in 1980. Dr. Niebuhr explains that on its deepest level the way we perceive and understand grace fundamentally shapes the way we understand meaning in the world. That is, our spiritual sight shapes the way we see the world, and that gives meaning to both the world and our self. His words reinforce Jesus’ kind of seeing in John’s gospel:

 “To see one must be like a mother and carry the world as a child. The world lives in us according to the purity and fidelity of our imagination (i.e., our faith) (and as such) we become…living symbols of (God’s) world. If we imagine faithfully and critically, then the world comes to new life in (us); and we in turn give something of ourselves to the world.  (This is) the great responsibility we all have on this green earth…the responsibility of seeing… (and) of imagining (God).”  (the parenthetical additions are mine.)

Returning to my bad childhood pun, the only way I can guarantee you may gain spiritual sight is to pick up your hammer and go out into the world with your saw and see. Then you may answer the question, “Do you bring light to the world, or are you blind?”

Amen.

*Streams of Grace - studies of Jonathan Edwards, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William James, The Second Neesima Lectures, May 10,14 and 28, 1980. Kyoto, JP: Doshisha University Press, 1983. The book is out of print and good copies may be hard to find.

Day 1560 - Living on Easy Street

A sermon given at First Presbyterian Church, Spring City, TN, March 19, 2017

Exodus 17:1-7

Romans 4:23- 5:11

How much do you think God loved the Hebrews in Egypt? They suffered under increasingly harsh slavery for years, and then after some magnificent divine deeds, the Pharaoh tells them not only are they free to go, but please leave immediately and take Moses with you.

One would think this awesome power of God would fill the Hebrews with faith that they were in good hands on the road to the Promised Land. They probably thought they were on Easy Street wandering in the Sinai Desert free of the Pharaoh until hunger and thirst fueled doubt in this powerful God. They lament, “Why didn’t we stay in Egypt as slaves, at least we would have food to eat and water to drink?”

How did doubt overcome them after all the mighty acts they observed in Egypt? In full view of the Hebrews and Pharaoh, the Lord gave Moses the power to turn his staff into a snake and the power to turn the Nile River into blood. God sent a plague of frogs that all died and stunk everything up and then a plague of gnats that bit everyone and messed everything up, and then a plague of flies that fouled and ruined. Then the Lord gave Moses the power to bring a plague that killed all the Pharaoh’s livestock but left the livestock of the Hebrews untouched. This was followed by a plague of boils to beset the Egyptians, and a hailstorm that destroyed all the Egyptian fields but spared the Hebrews’ in Goshen.

With God’s power, Moses then brings a plague of locusts that ate everything green on trees and bushes in all Egypt. Next, the Lord darkened the sky all over the land for three days. Still the Pharaoh does not relent. Moses tells the Hebrews God is doing all these things.

Finally, God gives Moses special instructions for the Hebrews. They are to slaughter a lamb, sprinkle its blood over their door, lock themselves in their homes and feast on the lamb. During this time, the Spirit of the Lord passed over the Hebrews and killed the firstborn of all the Egyptian people and animals, leaving loud cries of anguish in the land. Then the Pharaoh begs the people to go.

The Hebrews took silver and gold from the Egyptians as they marched to the Red Sea with Moses following a cloud before them at day, and a pillar of fire at night. When the Pharaoh had second thoughts and sent his army after the Hebrews, God parted the Red Sea and the Hebrews crossed over. Then God closed the sea drowning the Egyptians who pursued the Hebrews. As the Hebrews journeyed through the desert for years, God sent them manna and quail so they would not be hungry. Can they doubt God is at work after all these mighty deeds?

Yes, they do. The Hebrews find themselves in adversity without water and can only complain bitterly against God. They seem to think, “So much for Easy Street!” Has the same blindness to recognize the power of God struck them as with the Pharaoh, or are they just too stiff-necked and proud to acknowledge and trust the source of their help? Still a loving God tells Moses to strike a rock and they get their water anyway. Thanks be to God.

Now let’s fast forwards thousands of years to the time of Paul. He is languishing in prison in Rome writing his grand letter on Christian belief to the Roman congregation. It captures the full breadth of his teaching on Christian belief. In Paul’s estimation, Jesus was the singular event in human history. His appearance changed the course of history and began the completion of the history of God, the Hebrews and all humankind.

Paul Achtemeier in his commentary on Paul’s letter to the Romans says, “Unless there is some way our knowledge of the past can influence our lives in the present, the study of history is nothing more than a simple exercise of collecting (antiques).” The Apostle Paul clearly sees all Jewish history pointing to the presence of Jesus Christ in the world. For Paul, who was a Jew’s Jew, the history of the Hebrews and Gentiles began with Abraham.

Paul is systematic and builds his point. Today we see how chapter and paragraph divisions in the New Testament are artificial divisions of translators trying to make sections “fit together.” Often the divisions reflect more the translator rather than the intent of the person who wrote the scripture. Even though I cited Romans 4:23-5:11, we must start with verse 1 of chapter 4 to appreciate Paul’s words about faith and adversity.

Paul argues that the essence of our Christian faith is rooted in Abraham, the father of all nations. He explains how faith in God is the basis of Abraham’s righteousness. Let me paraphrase excerpts of what Paul says in Romans 4:1-12;

 “What did our human ancestor Abraham gain from God? God called Abraham righteous. Did Abraham bring about this righteousness by his work? If he did, he could boast about this blessing of righteousness.  After all, when one works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due the person. Abraham was justified by God before he did anything. This is what “reckoned righteous” means: before any action or indictment for sin, he is made righteous, regardless. Scripture says before he left Aram for Canaan, before he took Isaac up on the mountain for a sacrifice, and before he was circumcised he was reckoned righteous because he had faith to follow God’s command. His faith caused him to leave Aram, to take Isaac up on the mountain, to be circumcised.

“Abraham’s trust in God alone gained him righteousness. Because of Adam all humans are ungodly, even Abraham.  Yet, because God justified Abraham, we know God justifies the ungodly. All the Hebrews who trust in God with the faith of Father Abraham are reckoned righteous as Abraham.

Then Paul makes a critical leap recognizing the cosmic implication of Jesus Christ for all humanity.

“Because Abraham was righteous (had faith in God), God promised Abraham that he would be the father of the Hebrews and many nations, more numerous than the stars in the sky. Abraham’s faith did not waver when God promised he would be the father of many nations even though he and Sarah were childless and very, very old. Because of this, not only Abraham and the Hebrews, but all his descendants enjoy the benefit of his faith. We are connected to the righteousness of Father Abraham through God’s promise that Abraham is our Father. Furthermore, God promised through the words of the prophets that Jesus Christ will erase our trespasses thereby justifying the righteousness of those who are not Jews. Christians are intimately connected to the righteousness of Abraham. Paul says (1) we have confidence in this promise of righteousness. (2) Christ’s resurrection is the guarantee of salvation and the source of the Holy Spirit. (3) This faith in righteousness and salvation gives us peace with God and confidence in our future.

“Why? The promise of righteousness comes from God’s love for humanity. That love gave over Christ to death for all sins. Achtemeier puts it this way, ‘Imagine Jesus dying for sinners! It is unusual enough to die for a good person, yet Jesus did it for sinners.’

“Paul says those who have the confidence and peace of faith can meet any test of adversity. The upshot of Paul’s message is that we have full confidence in the future. We do not fear judgment because our faith reckons us righteous.”

Righteousness connects 21^st century Christians to the hungry and thirsty Hebrews who wandered in the desert, doubting and wondering where or if God is, in spite of the unimaginable acts of God that led them from Egypt and promised them a new Land.

We share the same thing. The Hebrews doubted God’s promise and had no reason to doubt and plenty of reason to be confident. So do we. God’s promise to them was binding through the righteousness they inherited from Abraham.  God loved them and brought them food and water so they would not die in the desert. Nevertheless, the Hebrews, like all humanity, still faced the eventuality of death and no promise of salvation.

Paul tells us that salvation through Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise of righteousness. Salvation is guaranteed for all those who have faith in him. This is the good future in which we have confidence. It comes from peace with God. We are reconciled to him even though we sometime share the doubt of the Hebrews in the face of mighty divine deeds.

During Lent we walk towards the Easter victory. It is a time to turn inwards acknowledging our own human shortcomings and our guilty verdict that is erased before the grand jury even meets.

But, it is a little uncomfortable standing up here and talking about suffering and disappointment that everyone faces frequently. It sounds hollow, like a platitude. I imagine it can make a person doubt as the Hebrews did in the desert, why didn’t we just stay in Egypt where we at least had a full stomach? Doesn’t being saved mean we are on Easy Street now, we are safe with no worries?? Bad things are not supposed to happen to good people.

You might say, “Henry, your easy answers just make my grief worse.” All I can do is admit that I have no authority to explain suffering and disappointment. Job’s friends just made Job’s suffering worse. Job’s wife said, “I’m tire of listening to you complain about your afflictions, why don’t you just go ahead and die?”

 Some of you share the acute pain of Job. Some of you have experienced family members criticizing you because you joined another denomination, because your babies were baptized, or you were victim of circumstances beyond your control, such as having a husband divorce you. They might even tell you that you are no be longer a Christian.

Paul said the best response to such things is to heap coals on their foreheads by pouring love out on them (Romans 12:20/Proverbs 25:21-22) That opens their eyes that Christian love is not about judgment but love. (If you do that in this day and age, do it carefully.)

But let’s get back to the Hebrews in the desert, bellyaching about food and water, and shaking their fists at God. Remember Laurel and Hardy, “Look at the fine mess you’ve got us in.” The Hebrews remind us of our own feeling that we are suffering when we thought Christians were supposed to always be happy.

More than the Hebrews, we should know about the gift of peace and confidence our faith in Jesus brings. Jesus remarked that we may suffer for our faith and righteousness, but nothing that happens to us here on earth is a measure of our faith or righteousness, because we did not earn it, we were blessed to receive it as a gift for our faith. (Some say in a way, suffering reveals more clearly what the world has to offer compared to faith.)

The message in Romans 5:1-11 is that we do have confidence to live joyfully as Christians today because our faith today is in our future.  Our faith may help someone find an easier path today, and we will find the way home to the true Easy Street where we are delivered from death to life to the feet of God as if a child at play.