March 2, 2008
Rev. Patricia L. Liberty
Adventures in Missing the Point
“The story of the man born blind is a one-act play in six scenes, with a large cast of characters, as biblical stories go: there are the twelve disciples, a crowd of nosy neighbors, some Pharisees, two parents, the man himself and Jesus.” The story revolves around them, for the most part because they are the only so called sinners in it-the man because he was born blind, which in his day was a sure sign of God’s judgment-and Jesus because he broke one of the Ten Commandments by healing the man on the Sabbath.”
So writes Barbara Brown Taylor in her book, Home by Another Way.
It is a comedy of sorts, written for an audience of believers toward the close of the first century. Those who heard this comedy were people who never knew the historical Jesus and were trying, like the rest of us, to figure out how to live in the increasing days between his first coming and his second. The biggest difference between them and us is that, after almost 2000 years any sense of urgency about it is pretty much past. They were still sleeping with one eye open just in case Jesus came back in the middle of the night.
If Biblical editors were less uptight, the page heading might read “adventures in missing the point” rather than “Jesus heals a blind man” because the whole cast of characters, with the exception of the two identified sinners, Jesus and the blind man, does just that again and again.
Think about it…Doesn’t it seem a bit strange that not one person in this whole cast of characters says, “Wow! Congratulations, I’m so happy for you. So what’s it’s like to actually see? Does the light hurt your eyes? Am I as good-looking as you imagined me to be?”
Nothing. Not one word. It’s a problem right from the beginning, and here’s one of many funny parts…it’s not even the problem that some of the characters think it is.
The Pharisees pose the question in terms of sin…who sinned, this man or his parents? They asked the ageless question about human suffering. Why do people suffer if God is all good and all- powerful? Somebody has to be to blame and since it can’t be God, it must be because of sin, either the man’s or his parents. They asked the question supposing they knew the answer.
It’s a question that is never far from the lips of people of faith, we wonder how and why. Earthquakes, illness, tragedy, gun violence and pain…we can’t help but ask why?
To the Pharisees question of who sinned…Jesus replies, “neither this man not his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day”. It’s clearly not the answer folks were hoping for.
Jesus acknowledges that disease and disability and disasters happen in the world, he doesn’t say God caused them. What he does say is that even in such unfortunate circumstances, God can be known and the main way for that to happen is for all God’s followers to lend a hand in alleviating the suffering.
The point they missed is that all people are agents of God’s light…all people of faith are to join in the work of the God’s realm.
As Sarah Dylan Breuer suggests, “when folks wanted to sit around and think deep thoughts, the message was, get back to work.” This opening scene sets the stage for the rest of the comedy.
Scene Two: Mud, spit, washing…sight to the blind man. Enter nosy neighbors. Isn’t he the beggar? No, it’s just someone who looks like him. No, it’s me, it’s really me…a man named Jesus, I don’t know how it happened…I can see. And on and on it goes.
The nosy neighbors didn’t even recognize him…It’s someone who looks like him.
Point missed: How hard it is for us to acknowledge that God does change lives. How hard it is for us to really believe that discipleship and faith changes the human journey. Don’t you hope that someone who knew you 25 years ago and meets you again today would think you had changed and grown at least a little bit, and I don’t mean only in girth and gray hair.
When I was ordained over 25 years ago, the comment from my family and closest friends was, “we never thought you’d make it.” They were, after all, the ones who knew me best. On the other hand, there was a woman named Edith from my home church in Massachusetts; on the day I was ordained she said, “I hope you come to know the fullness and joy of God’s dream for your life.”
God changes lives.
Scene three. Here’s where it gets interesting. The Pharisees were so in love with the law and so sure it was the only way to God’s heart that they wanted everyone to know and follow it. If they were guilty of anything it was over zealous passion for being faithful and wanting others to be faithful too.
Here’s the heart of the turmoil caused by this wonderful miracle of restoring a blind man’s sight.
As Barbara Brown Taylor notes, “they were convinced God didn’t work on Sunday and that no one else should either. Since Jesus healed on the Sabbath, he cannot be of God, from God or for God. OF the 613 commandments in the First Testament, not working on the Sabbath is in the top ten. The Pharisees are painted into a theological corner of their own making.
Point missed: Can we let God be God and work in ways and through people God chooses even when we don’t think it’s proper?
The writer of John’s gospel points at the audience of his own time and the audience across the years and asks, at what point do we give up a cherished religious tradition so there can be openness to the new thing God may be doing that doesn’t quite fit the mold?
Scene Four. The parents. Yeah, he’s our kid and he was blind. If he isn’t now I don’t know anything about it. Ask him for yourself. Shut the door, pull down the blinds and hope those proper religious people who must know more than they do go away.
Point Missed: Sometimes we have to let our hearts lead the way, our faith…sometimes it doesn’t all make sense, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t real. This is a direct jab to the religious leaders of the day and an appeal for the early Christians to be strong in their faith in Jesus even when it clashed with the prevailing religious wisdom of the day. In other words, religious leaders and preachers don’t know everything. People of faith have a God-given responsibility to work things through for themselves and not take what leaders say hook line and sinker. Paul was right when he said we were to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.
The irony of this whole story is that the two sinners, the blind guy and Jesus, are the only ones who really see.
Scene Five: Back to the formerly blind guy. Get more information. One more time, tell us what happened. Formerly blind guy says, “Oh you must want to be his follower too. Well, that set them off….how could such a low life presume to tell them anything. And so they did what religious people have done with those who don’t agree with them. They threw him out. Rather than rethink the Sabbath and what can and can’t be done, they denied that Jesus performed any miracle and just dismissed the man completely. Problem solved.
Point missed: God will decide who’s a sinner and who isn’t, God will choose how God works. Thank you very much. God doesn’t pronounce the same judgments we do. Imagine if we were judged with the judgments we pass on others. Gratefully God’s love is far more pure than ours.
The final scene of the play…is the piece de resistance. The blind man is on his own in the world. The most wonderful thing in the world has happened to him and as a result he has been driven from his home, his community and even his own family…and Jesus finds him. He seeks out the man and comforts him. In the eyes of the Pharisees they were two sinners sitting in their own darkness. In the irony of God’s ongoing drama they were the only two who saw the light.
I can’t help but wonder if the blind guy thought…well if Jesus is a sinner and a heretic…sign me up…I doubt at this point in his journey if he had it all figured out…what he did know was that Jesus was the one who made him whole and he was going to stand with that no matter what anyone else said.
For those watching this play and perhaps squirming in their seats a bit by now… all the points point to this point…God is greater than we can imagine and God will choose the who when what and why of God’s work. The best we can hope for is that our own blindness gives way so we can see just what it is that God has in store. Amen.