Here's to Mud in Your Eyes
John 9:1-41
1 Samuel 16:1-13
Here is a twist on a well known prayer, by an unknown author;
God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change,
the courage to change the one I can,
and the wisdom to know that it’s me.
The stories today from the Gospel of John, as well as the story from 1 Samuel, are both stories of blindness and of vision. They are stories for all of us who are visually impaired - or in other words for all of us who find ourselves thinking “what’s wrong with them” or that it’s “the other guy” who needs straightening out. This is an important Lenten lesson on recognizing our own faults and for each one of us to find a way to be able to admit, that no one, no one is blinder than me.
Jesus was walking along the road with his disciples, when they saw a man who was born blind. His disciples asked him, “Teacher, who sinned, this man or his parents, since he was born blind?” The disciples “saw” his blindness as evidence that he or his parents had done something to deserve his disability,
Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned. Look instead for the work of God in his life. As long as it is day we must do God’s work, and night is coming. While I am in the world,” said Jesus, “I am the light of the world.”
Then Jesus spit onto the ground, and made mud with the dirt and his saliva, and put the mud mixture on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam.” And so the man went, washing his eyes and returned home seeing.
Both the man and the disciples – were visually impaired. But this miraculous healing seems to only have set off a series of exchanges, which illuminate that the blind truly were leading the blind.
The man’s neighbors and some others, used to seeing the man as a blind beggar asked, “isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?"
Some claimed that he was, while others said, "No, he only looks like him." But the man himself said, "I am the man."
"How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded.
The man said, "The one called Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."
"Where is this man?" they asked him about Jesus.
And because he had not yet laid eyes on Jesus he responded, “I don’t know.”
Was the man so changed by this healing and his encounter with Jesus – that he was no longer recognizable? Or was something else going on? Only one thing is clear, this group of neighbors could have used some mud on their own eyes.
The neighbors then bring the man to the Pharisees, who question him about the occurrence. The man testifies again, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and now I see."
The Pharisees were divided about this. One group could not see the miracle, because they had determined that this happened on the Sabbath. Not being able to see beyond their own noses – they concluded Jesus was a sinner and the healing could not have been from God. The other half of the Pharisees asked, “Well how could a sinner have performed this miracle?”
The Pharisees question the newly sighted man again, "What do you think? It was your eyes he opened." The man is seeing things even more clearly and says, “He is a prophet."
The Pharisees couldn’t believe what they heard and they saw - they could have used some mud on their own eyes! They can’t imagine they could be wrong which might put in jeopardy all of their carefully organized theological assumptions. So they send for the parents of the man. “Is this your son who you say was born blind? How is it that he can now see?”
The parents are nervous and they mumble before the Pharisees. “Well we know he is our son and he was born blind and yup, now he can see, but we haven’t a clue how this happened. Ask him. He is old enough and can speak for himself.”
The parents, who were blinded by fear, could also have benefited from some mud on their own eyes.
One last time, the Pharisees call the man back in, “Do the right thing because we know this man Jesus is a sinner,” but the man emphatically declares, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"
The interrogation continues and all the while the Pharisee’s vision worsens - while the former blind man sees things ever more clearly. Their eyes cloud over – so that they “hurl” or “throw” insults at him.
Finally the man declares this truth, “if this man were not from God, he could do nothing."
The Pharisees don’t know what else to say, their well constructed theology and their self-righteousness has totally blinded them to God’s light working in this man and in the world. The Pharisees could have used an entire mud bath – but instead they throw him out and away. He is a person discarded and unworthy.
But Jesus hearing what has happened to the man, searches for him, finds him and then asks him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The man never having seen Jesus responds, “Who is he? Tell me so that I may believe in him.” And Jesus says "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you."
The man with eyes and a heart that is now wide open responds in faith, "Lord, I believe," and worships him. Jesus concludes by saying, “I have come into this world to make things clear and those who were blind – will now see. But those who see - will become blind to my light.”
This story should bring us to our knees and fill us with humility. It should also give us courage and the wisdom to know when we are blinded by our own self-righteousness, or our own self- assumptions or our own self-importance.
The Lenten journey that we are on includes a time for our own self examination. Lent is a time to take a spiritual inventory of ourselves and that includes looking clearly at parts of ourselves that aren’t so nice.
It is too easy to look at our family members, our neighbors or our co-workers and see their faults. If only “they” (whoever “they” are) would just shape up, all would be well. This story as well as the story in Samuel, reminds us that God looks at people differently than we do. Samuel, who was looking at the sons of Jesse, had to be reminded that “The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
As we journey towards Holy Week – this is a call for us to check our eyesight. Our Lenten materials suggest that we try looking at things in our life and in the world – with a different set of eyes this week. In all humility, looking at something from a different point of view, and see what insight God reveals to us.
This week, if Jesus were to find you, spit onto the ground, make some mud and put that cool mixture on your eyes, what would you see differently? What might God reveal and teach you?
As we journey closer to the cross of Christ, here’s to mud in your eyes.
Amen. |
