John 9:1-41: Jesus heals the Blind Man
Note: Because this is a very long reading I have not included it before the sermon.
Sermon: Now I See!
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents?”
The situation in which this blind man finds himself…is somewhat different than we expect for a person who is blind in our country. While in the eyes of many they have a disability…most blind people in Canada are able to work and become productive contributors to our society. We marvel at their competence…how they handle money…make crafts or are sometimes are great musicians…like Stevie Wonder. And in our world if a blind person is unable to support them self…we have social programs that keep them from having to beg.
A second point of difference is that in his world God is responsible for everything that happens to people…both good things and bad… God blesses with good things…and God punishes with bad things… Since his blindness is a condition was laid on him by God…as God’s judgment… Everyone even the disciples assumed that the man was blind because of sin… either the sin of his parents or his own sin. Therefore, he was receiving what he deserved from God. This places the blind man in a very difficult position… To help him too much …even giving him money for his begging…would be going against the will of God. The practice of shunning…the deficient…the crippled…the handicapped and the blind in his world is normal. Is this another ancient world story… in which Jesus shows his compassion …for a poor beggar forgotten, ridiculed… and shunned by prominent members of his community.… We like the story about how Jesus cares…we like how in comparison to him…the Pharisees and temple priests appear mean and uncaring. But it just seems to be too distant to be our story…but is it?
A scattering of news stories from this past weeks have some real similarities to this story… This week the city of Saskatoon is becoming concern about its image for people who come shopping. City Hall is examining ways to clean up its image…and is looking at the harsher penalties other cities like Winnipeg and Regina are imposing on panhandlers… they determined make it more difficult to beg on their city streets. Fines will be levied and if they are not paid they will be sent to jail.
Earlier in the week, it was announce that one of the temporary homeless shelters in Regina was closing on March 31st, because of lack of funding. It sheltered 25-30 people for the four coldest months of the winter. The users were mostly single moms who were no longer unable find affordable housing…as rents continue their dramatic rise… almost doubling in the last three years.
There are also two other shocking but similar stories about forgotten people. The first is about the brutal death in a Winnipeg Nursing Home… in which one dementia patient killed another… Last fall while he was waiting for a space in a facility…the perpetrator had violently injured his wife… Rather than putting him in jail… because of his health diagnoses authorities put him into the Alzheimer’s Care facility…where the tragic incident happened.
Finally… instead of sending them for treatment people…people suffering from paranoid schizophrenia… are very often sent to prison… because most treatment facilities have been closed or have no spaces for new patients.
People’s responses to these news items…have been varied… Sometimes there has been sympathy…but more often there is contempt for those who are begging on the streets…they are ridiculed…considered lazy and do not contribute to our society. Everyone has a horror story about an encounter with a persistent panhandler… who just would not take “NO” for an answer.
Often the plight of the homeless is minimized…with suggestions that they should have done something about it years before…they should have bought when prices were low… they should have got an education …they should have married well…and so on.
Finally we want the mentally ill put away…anywhere… where we can’t see them…and where we don’t have to see or think about them. Calling people lazy, or poor managers or physically removing people from our sight and our minds is called self imposed blindness. We see only what we wish to see.
When talking about people in these situations we sound like the disciples…wondering who should be blamed. The questions follow one after another. Is it because their parents never taught them how to work? Is it because they made bad choices when they were young? We like the fault to belong to the people found in their situations.
It is at this point that we might become almost like the Pharisees. The blind man has been sitting beside the temple begging for many years…and neighbors who have passed by… recognize him… Those who sit along side and beg recognize him. But the Pharisees…who enter the temple daily for prayer…don’t know him…and have not seen him. They who consider themselves holy…have never given the blind man one penny. They may complain about the riff-raff out on the street…they may even want them moved away from the temple…out of sight out of mind. But they have never looked into the face of the blind man… wondering about his life…what it means to be born blind…where blindness is God’s harsh judgment… what its like being a hungry beggar…in a place where holy people refuse help …what it is like being labeled a sinner…and being driven out of the house of God.
But Jesus enters into this blind beggar’s world and looks directly into his eyes and loves him…Through this encounter the blind man sees. He sees with a clarity that the physically sighted cannot see. He sees that rather than being God’s negative judgment…his blindness reveals God’s true work. God’s work sends Jesus into the world for judgment…But Jesus’ judgment is not a judgment which is meant to punish. Instead Jesus’ judgment reveals a love God who only wants healing. But more importantly…Jesus’ judgment is that people who do not see may see… What Jesus is asking is that we open our hearts that we are able to SEE the world through his eyes… Jesus’ judgment calls us to see…to look under the surface asking: “What is it like to beg…in a place where you are despised by hard working people? What is it like being homeless…in a place where prosperity denies it should happen? What is it like in prison…because there is no place available to treat your health condition?” After opening our eyes…Jesus calls us to become part of the healing of our world.
Let us open our hearts that our eyes may also be opened. Let us see what we wish not to see… And let us participate as we can in the work of our God. Thanks be to God. Amen
Out of the Wilderness 