So that we May See

April 3, 2011
Fourth Sunday of Lent
Year A
John 9:1-41
In Order that We May See


Introduction – how we treat people with disabilities

Imagine how different your life would be if you were born blind? What in your life would you have never witnessed, how would you talk to people different? Who is it that you would have to depend on to get things done? Who would you have to trust to get you places? How would you be a different person? How would life be different with any disability? In the past years, we as a society are being more intentional about how we integrate people who don’t fit our view of what is normal, but the reality is that we still have a long way to go in how we treat one another, the labels that we put on one another, and how we accept people for who they are, and not for who we expect them to be.

The blind man’s encounter with Jesus

The encounter with Jesus today is the only story in the bible of Jesus dealing with someone who is blind, and Jesus heals not only his blindness, but is able to restore his life – so that he is able to return to life without the stigma of having a disability. Some people are not even sure that this is the same beggar that they knew all of their life. He acted so differently, now that it appears that he had his sight.

John’s Jesus – The Son of God
This whole chapter has many important messages for us. We won’t be able to focus on them all this morning. I just want to bring you a few of them, that I thought were important. When you read the book of John, John has a special message about the nature of Jesus Christ for us. He wants to make it plain that Jesus is not only a special person; he is the son of God. Jesus has all of the attributes of God. He is a healer, a restorer, a guide, a leader, a transformer, a way maker. He is the one who can supply all of our needs. Jesus is the messiah – the fulfillment of the promises of God.

Jesus came so that we might have life and have it abundantly
But the only way to take advantage of the attributes of God is to believe in Jesus and to believe in what Jesus can do. Have you ever noticed that people who don’t believe in Jesus, tend to be people who don’t need Jesus for anything?

The only way to really know Jesus, and to know what Jesus can do for us is to have an encounter with Jesus in some way in our lives. We know who Jesus is, and what Jesus can do, by the story of what Jesus has done for us in our lives. In that encounter, we come to know Jesus, but Jesus also comes to define us.


Story of a teacher giving a student identity

A sixth grade English teacher, really seemed to love her subject and her class. She would have them sit in a circle so that she could see them, and she would teach them her subject in a way that seemed to make sense to them. James seemed to love her class. She had him write a play, and then had his classmates read the lines and perform the play. It was a great feeling for him to see others perform his work. He started to write other plays and other writings. One day after class, she told James that she saw him as a writer, and that she did all that she could to bring that quality out of him. James grew up and became a famous playwright- because a teacher believed in him, and treated him as she saw him. He responded by tailoring his lifestyle after those expectations.
Jesus does the same for us. We give Jesus his identity as the messiah, as our lord and savior. He gives us our identity as the faithful people.

The blind man makes a choice
The gospel lesson for this morning is not a story of a man being blind. It is the story of how Jesus saves him. How that man dealt with the consequences of being saved, how he made a conscious decision to be saved, to be healed. And how he endured when it became evident that was not going to be an easy choice. Being saved, is not just one moment in time in our lives, it is a lifetime of making difficult decisions.
Remember that show extreme makeover, where they would radically change the appearance of people. At the end of the show at the big reveal, problems that people had dealt with all of their life had been taken away. I think one of the reasons that show is not on the air anymore, was because they realized that changing someone’s appearance, was not enough to change their lives. Along with those lifelong problems, were also lifelong habits. If you did not rehabilitate those habits, that person would continue to be miserable.

Blind man chooses life
Being cured of blindness does not mean that you will automatically go on about your life. Someone who was born blind has no idea of how to use their sight. They will still bump into walls, and not be able to pick up things, because they have no idea of depth perception, or what colors are. They are seeing all of these contraptions, a telephone, a radio, a salt shaker. But they have no idea of what these things are, or what they are used for or how to use them. You start to see all of these strange people, who know who you are, but you have no idea of who they are.

The new life can be overwhelming enough to make someone want to go back to being blind. And yet the bible says that this man not only was happy to be able to see, he embraced his sight. He went on with his new life. Because that is what Jesus told him to do.

After the healing, Jesus goes away and is not a part of the story. And even more hardship comes about. People start to talk about him, his family is threatened, he is eventually kicked out of the synagogue. But he holds strong to the new life that Jesus gave him. Making sure that he won’t turn back. He makes a conscious choice that he will be a new man with a new life. Salvation is not a moment in time, it is a lifetime of choosing to follow Jesus.

Story of a driver choosing sin
A man looks back at his life, and recalls that when he learned to drive as a teenager, he felt that it was a waste of time to stop at stop lights. Whenever he would come to a stop light, if there were no cars around, then he would slow down for a moment, and just keep driving. He continued that habit for years. He got to be a pro at looking out for cars and going on. He even go to the point where he did not even slow down, he just checked for cars. Well as you can imagine, one day that habit was challenged. Anyone who drives, knows that there are times when you can check and double check, and there is always this car that appears out of nowhere. The car that appeared out of nowhere for this man just happened to be a police car. He was able to stop on time so that he would not get a ticket. He vowed from that time forward to give up that habit and to intentionally stop at all stop signs. It wasn’t the police car that scared him. It was his own actions. When he go to the stop life, his foot went for the gas pedal. It then went for the brakes. But no sooner had he hit the brake, that out of habit his foot automatically went for the gas pedal. He was so used to running the stoplight, that his body could do it without thinking. He realized that it was time for a change.
That is what a life of sin does to our bodies, our minds and our spirits. It takes over our lives. It takes less effort for us to do the wrong thing, that it is for us to stop and to think and do the right thing. The path of least resistance is the path of sin. The decision to stop, think and to endure is salvation. What is the path that Jesus leads us on. Jesus says I am the light of the world. To embrace the light is to choose to be a child of God. But most of the world still prefers to live in darkness. They don’t want to see, the want to remain blind.

Jesus is the light of the world
Jesus says I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind. Those who see may become blind, what does that mean. There are many in the world who want to keep things the way they are, who can’t accept the change of salvation. Because to be saved, means that they would have to change their habits, their beliefs, their lives. If Jesus was to truly come into their lives, it would take too much effort on their part to maintain their salvation. After all, the Pharisee considered themselves pretty faithful people. They too made a choice. But the choice wasn’t to follow Jesus. Are you calling us blind? Jesus comes back by saying if you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty of your sin. But since you say you can really see, then your sin remains. There are a lot of people who claim to live in the light, but still embrace the darkness. But what about you? Have you had an encounter with Jesus? Are you willing to accept that things will never be the same? Do you really want to see, or is it easier to stay blind?
We need Jesus in order to see
If you want to see the stars you use a telescope, of you want to see the small things of life you use a microscope, of you need to see your insides you uses a x ray machine, but if you want to see your sin and the way to salvation – you need Jesus in your life.

Who is Jesus for you? Let us pray….