Lent 4 (A)
John 9:1-12
As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor 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; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.
The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
God Has a Cure for Your Secret Loneliness
Today we continue our series, the gospel in glee, where we are looking at how the Gospel of Jesus Christ appears in what is a pretty irreligious TV musical program. One of the main story lines in season one of glee is that the glee club, called New Directions, is preparing for competition. The competition determines whether they get to continue having their group. All their rehearsals and hard work is aimed at this one goal. But there is a snake in the garden. There is a foil, a destructive presence. Her name is Sue Sylvester. Sue hates the glee club and wants nothing but for them to fall on their faces in utter ruin and shame. To help them do just that, she leaks the song set and performance plans of New Directions to the other two schools competing.
Imagine the horror, the anguish, of the New Directions kids when they see their set being performed right in front of them before they go on. The other choirs stole their thunder. The other choirs took the spotlight away from them. This is not at all what they had planned. This was not at all what they wanted, to be cheated like that.
At the last minute the New Directions group regrouped and threw together a couple of songs, the last one being the Rolling Stones classic “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” It was the perfect comment on an awful situation.
Let’s watch the clip now.
If I’m not mistaken, I saw a number of you lip-sinking the song. I bet some of know it by heart. If not the words, then you know the truth by heart from your own life and experiences. You really can’t always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need.
In John chapter 9, Jesus is walking along with his disciples and they come upon a man who has been blind since his birth. Certainly, this man knows things don’t always work the way you want. Certainly, this man finds himself in a situation not to his liking, not of his choosing, not of his wanting. Imagine it if you can . . . never to see a flower, a sunrise, a sunset. He would never know what his parents looked like. Doctors tell us that when a baby is born and begins to open his or her eyes they can see about fifteen inches away. That’s just far enough to lock in on the mother’s face as the baby nurses. All those moments of intimate affection and life giving nourishment so common between mother and child was not for him to know. The sense of isolation and loneliness for him must at times have been unbearable.
Then here come the disciples. And the first thing out of their mouths was a question trying to assign blame. “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?” Noone was shocked at the question. It was rather matter of fact. There had to be some reason to explain it. There had to be some cause. Who messed up? Who blew it, Jesus? Did he have it coming, Jesus?
It reminds me of a single mother in 1980 in my home town of Odessa, TX. She was headed for home late one night after work when she stopped off at a car wash to wash her car. The car wash was not one you would drive through as you sat in the car. It was the kind you had to get out of the car and grab that big wand that sprayed the water and then the suds and then the water again. Well, as she was washing her car, she was accosted by a stranger. She was beaten and then raped. When news of the incident hit the airwaves and grapevine, do you know what I heard? I heard people ask questions . . . questions like “well, what was she wearing?” Or “What was she doing out that late at night?” Or “Doesn’t she have any better sense than that?”
It’s called blaming the victim. It happened in Jesus day among his disciples as they tried to ascertain whether the man born blind had it coming because of something he had done wrong or something his parents had done wrong. It happened in Odessa in 1980. And it happens today on every street in our community and in virtually every house.
The reason it is so prevalent in our world is that the vast majority of people who walk this planet have a continually looping tape in their mind that tells them when things go bad, God is evening the score. From the smallest hassle like the neighbor whose lawn mower quit halfway through cutting his lawn, then the trimmer ran out of line, and he cut his finger, all the while wondering if he had offended the lawn gods some way.
It happens during major catastrophes as well, as when Pat Robertson announced on his show that the devastating earthquake in Haiti was God’s judgment on them for something a long time ago.
It happens to people like you when something in your life turns sour. Losing a job. Fighting health problems. Struggling with wayward children. Broken relationships. All these and more are times when the tape plays in the back of our heads telling us “you had it coming.”
That’s what Jesus’ disciples were saying to the man born blind, sitting there begging his way through life, when they asked Jesus “who sinned?” But what does Jesus say? What goes through his mind as he looks at you sitting there with whatever troubles you? What he says is that the suffering and loneliness that people go through is not because God is trying to get even with you or pay you back for some indiscretion. Whatever the cause of what has gone wrong or turned sour for you, it is not because you stepped on God’s holy toes.
What goes through his mind when he sees you in any unwanted and unwelcome situation is “what great thing can be done with this?” That’s what he said to the disciples “It’s not because of this man’s sin or his parents’ sin, but that the glory of God might be revealed.”
Instead of placing a coin in the man’s lap or basket, Jesus places his hand on the blind man’s face and his eyes. Jesus knows exactly what is going on here. Jesus knows exactly what this man needs. And he gives it to him. He gives him his sight. And Jesus knows exactly what is going on with you. He knows exactly what you need. And he’s going to give it to you. Placing his hand in the place you are weakest. Placing his hand on the spot you are most tender. He heals. He restores. He brings to new life.
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