John 20:1-18
Easter Sunday
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Let us pray: O risen Christ, open us to the power of your resurrection as we hear it proclaimed again this day, that we too might rise to new life in you. Amen.
Peter and the Beloved Disciple go running to the tomb. It’s a foot-race, I think. They’ve just heard from Mary, who loved Jesus so much she went in her despair to care for his body while it was still dark. Imagine the dismay of Jesus’ closest followers. Their whole world has been rocked. Their Lord is dead, and now it looks like his body has been stolen. After this troubling news, they need to go with Mary and look again. Surely she missed something.
Maybe we’ve missed something too. We have looked at this story before, many of us. But have we seen what we need to see? Let’s go look again.
NRS John 20:1-18 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes. 11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." 16 Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
According to John’s Gospel, Mary Magdalene came first to the tomb, alone in the darkness. When she saw the stone rolled away, she ran to tell the disciples. Peter and the beloved disciple, presumably John, come running. The anxiety and raw emotion of this moment is clear. They are operating on a faulty but natural assumption – someone has taken his body. Now remember what a miserably dark couple of days they have had with Jesus dead. What can they see but despair? What can they see but dead ends to their vision of Messiah? What can they see but many reasons to fear their own death, now that Jesus, accused of treason, is gone. They are still in shock that he is actually gone. They are angry, confused, disappointed, scared, sad -- the same emotions we experience in times of loss and grief.
But now look again! The tomb is empty. The beloved disciple looks once but doesn’t go in. Peter went in. He sees the linens from Jesus’s body left there. John needs to look again. When he does, he believes. Is it not the same for us? we need to look twice.
“It is interesting to note that the beloved disciple does see and believe something about who Jesus is, but Peter, standing in the same empty tomb, has no such moment of belief. Why the difference? Could it be that “the disciple whom Jesus loved” sees something different in the empty tomb as a result of Jesus’ love for him? If that is his primary defining characteristic, then might we conclude that not only the empty tomb, but all things and all people, are perceived differently if viewed through the lens of Christ’s love? This is certainly a notion worth reflecting on in light of this text!” (Lee Koontz, Reflectious.com)
The disciples leave but Mary stays. She is weeping still, and decides to look again. One commentator said, “Those who seek with affection and with tears are most likely to see Christ.” (Matthew Henry)
Hear the poem by St. Anselm on Mary Magdalene:
Saint Mary Magdalene,
You came with springing tears
To the spring of mercy, Christ...
How can I find words to tell
About the burning love with which you sought Him
Weeping at the sepulcher
And wept for Him in your seeking?...
For the sweetness of love He shows Himself
Who would not for the bitterness of tears.
-- St. Anselm
Mary’s looking again allows her to see more of what’s going on with this empty tomb. This third look, she sees angels. They ask her why she is weeping. She tells them that someone has taken Jesus and she doesn’t know where they have put him.
At that moment she sees Jesus but thinks he’s the gardener. An old preacher once said, “Those that seek Christ, though they do not see him, may yet be sure he is not far from them.” (M. Henry) Interesting to think that Christ could just that near to us, even sitting beside us and we don’t realize who it is right there – right in front of us. Sometimes I lose my keys or my coffee mug or my cellphone, and it is sitting in a very obvious place but I cannot see it. Sometimes I have to leave the room, re-enter and look again. Sometimes I need another person to look with me. Sometimes our eyes cannot see the spiritual world behind the material world, but God is constantly using the material world to demonstrate to us who God is and how much God loves us. (Nikolai Velimirovich, The Universe as Symbols and Signs) We need the encouragement of one another in the church to see as we need to see.
You know that commercial where there are smiley faces in everything, in every piece of architecture, every item of food, everywhere? You do not naturally see that smiley, unless you are looking for it.
Mary does not recognize Jesus, but he responds to her grief with questions to confirm her desire to see him. He gives her an opportunity to express herself. “Why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” We need to put words to our tears and express our desires. But Mary is still presuming him to be the gardener and so she almost accuses him of taking the body away, which is funny if you think about it.
It is at that moment that Jesus calls her by name, “Mary.” And with that, she looks again at the man she thinks is the gardener. It is Jesus! Looking again, she now sees. And because Jesus is alive again, he can indwell all of creation, including all people. Look again at the person who frustrates you and see Jesus. Look again at the person, getting paid to the yard work in your neighborhood. Look again at all people, and see Jesus. See Jesus’s smiling expression of love everywhere you turn.
Look again. Jesus is calling your name, inviting you to see more than the obvious. Don’t dash off unimpressed after an initial impression, as the disciples did, but linger like Mary.
Keeping searching for the living Christ in all of your life, in all of the people around you, and especially in worship as we hear the Word and experience the Sacrament. Don’t stop looking. Mary saw the Lord because she persisted in looking. Those who truly seek Christ, even through their tears, will never be disappointed.
Do you see only an empty tomb? Look again and you might see linens left by Christ – secondary material evidence. Do you see only the wrappings of Christian faith, look again, and maybe you’ll have a mystical experience of angels. Do you only see angels, look again. There may be a gardener, tilling the soil around you, a gardener who is more than a gardener. Look again with your ears and you may see the Flesh becoming Word, just as the Word became flesh. You may hear Jesus, asking you about your grief, allowing you to express your raw emotion, your loneliness and fear. Look again. He is here, but he is will not let you hold too tightly.
He tells Mary not to cling. As much as he is alive and real and present to us, Christ is still elusive, and not to be controlled by us. We are allowed to see only as much as we need to believe and bear witness to the truth of his existence.
Look again at the Easter story. Look again at your life, especially the people and the angels around you. Look with others who love Jesus, search together as long as you can. Find hope in the evidence of his resurrection. Then turn and look again at Jesus and really listen to him. He’s calling your name. If you will just linger long enough and keep looking, you will hear him, calling your name.
Let us pray: O God, Open our eyes anew to the Easter life you give us. May we continue to see more of you, Christ Jesus, than we’ve ever seen before, that our hearts would be filled with gratitude for your triumph over sin and death. Liberate us by your Word and Holy Spirit, to be your joyful and loving servants, we pray. Amen.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
The Last Week
Matthew 21:1-17
Palm Sunday
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Holy God, pour out upon us the spirit of wisdom and understanding that, being taught by you in Holy Scripture, our hearts and minds may be opened to know the things that lead to life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
What if this was your last week of life? Do you ever stop to think about that? Probably not unless you have a terminal illness. Most of us live as if death does not exist, and when it comes to someone we love, we don’t just grieve, we feel cheated, as if this were not a natural thing – life and death. We don’t even like to spend much time thinking of Jesus’ death, though through it, we are saved.
Jesus, being the perfect union of divine and human came into Jerusalem with some measure of knowledge that he was approaching death. Perhaps he did not know exactly how and when he would die, but there is a sense in which he drives the narrative, not the powers and authorities and certainly not the disciples.
In Jesus’ last week, he experiences what we experience in suffering and death. People rallied around him, treating him royally, embracing him. Then when things got really tough, he was largely alone. They intended to go with him all the way to death. They really did. Peter pledged he would. But they could not, would not. It got too scary, as it does for most of us, trying to care for the dying.
I’ve been reading a book given me by Gretchen, “The Art of Dying” by Rob Moll. He says our modern culture has grown increasingly uncomfortable with death, as we moved it to institutions. People died at home, including many children before the development of antibiotics about 75 years ago. Dead bodies were prayed over in overnight wakes in homes, in preparation for funerals. The grieving were expected to wear black for a significant length of time, before the community gave them permission and encouragement to get back to normal, to reintegrate into life again.
The church taught the practice of dying the good death. Christians related their death to faith in Jesus Christ, and found comfort in knowing he suffered and died, and was raised from the dead. They could readily call on Biblical images to reassure themselves of God’s power over death.
Listen to this newspaper obituary from 1817, “She died in the full assurance of faith. The candle of the Lord shone upon her head. Death had lost its sting. She walked over the waters of Jordan…shouting the praises of redeeming love.”
Before we read the story of Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem, his welcome by the crowds and his confrontation in the temple, let me challenge you to go all the way to the cross with Jesus this week. Don’t deny him, betray him, abandon him this week. Suffer with him. You know the end of the story. Walk it with him.
Now let us both hear and participate in the Palm Sunday story from Matthew:
Matthew 21:1-17
1 When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives,
Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them,
"Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied,
and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me.
3 If anyone says anything to you, just say this, "The Lord needs them.'
And he will send them immediately."
4 This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,
5 "Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey."
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them,
7 they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.
8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road,
and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
9 The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,
"Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!"
10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, "Who is this?"
11 The crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee."
12 Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple,
and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
13 He said to them, "It is written, "My house shall be called a house of prayer';
but you are making it a den of robbers."
14 The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them.
15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David,"
they became angry 16 and said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?"
Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read,
"Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself'?"
17 He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.
New Revised Standard Version
Around the world there will be many different Palm Sunday sermons preached on many different aspects of this story, but I want us to focus on just two today:
First, let’s think about the primary plea of the people “Hosanna!” It means save us. It is a Hebrew word, used 209 times in the Old Testament – save or deliver us. Funny enough, most of us hear it Hosanna to the Son of David and it feels like praise, which it is. But we mistake it for being synonymous with another Hebrew word, Hallelujah (which parsed means literally, Praise We God) but Hosanna is really a plea, a prayer, more than it is praise.
In the last weeks of my father’s life, he was in the hospital , suffering from TIAs and heart trouble, after surviving a serious cancer diagnosis for several years. My mom and I would take turns sleeping in the recliner in his hospital room, and all night he would call out, “Help me.” Usually, he said, “Help me, Peggy.” When he got to the end, “He was calling to the Lord, “Help me, Lord.” There was nothing we could do.
Hosanna means “Help us.” There is an urgency to this request, “Save us now!” There is a prayer-like quality of humility, “We beg you to help.” There is also confidence in the prayer, as if to say, “We know you are our Savior” Hosanna occurs 6 times in the New Testament, all associated with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
What was so offensive to the scribes and Pharisees is that the human cry for divine help was being addressed to this man, whom they considered to be a scofflaw. He was breaking all their religious rules , ignoring their authority. Second, let’s think about the primary plea of Jesus to those in the temple, “My house shall be called a house of prayer.” My friends called Peace, whatever we do as a church, we should be doing by, in, with and through prayer. We should have the same dependency on our Savior as we see in that faithful crowd, who though they may have misunderstood the kind of kingdom Jesus was bringing, still knew that he was the One to whom they should depend.
And the ones who got it wrong were the ones who thought they knew how to please God, how to be religious, how to save themselves without listening to God, Jesus Christ, in their midst. The humble people who knew they needed help were the ones who appreciated Jesus. The self-confident leaders of the people found him a challenge to their system.
Jesus wanted his house to be a house of prayer. So we spend time in prayer (Word-Share-Prayer) in every gathering of Ministry Team, lest we become like the Pharisees and scribes, thinking we have all the answers. We spend time in prayer as a staff, lest we move forward with religious matters, failing to consult Christ, the Head of the Church. We spend time in prayer in worship and at home, because prayer is at the heart of remembering that God is the creator and we are the creature.
Prayer, understood as intimacy with our Savior, is the goal of our life. Why else should we have to suffer, but that it gives us opportunity to turn toward what we need most – prayer, dependency on God. So we utter “Hosanna. Help us, we pray.” My sister is nearly two weeks out from her difficult Crohn’s Disease surgery. Having lived with pain and nausea for a long time, she reflected on prayer. Why should God want us to pray for one another? God knows what we need. Her answer is this: God wants us to learn to depend on one another, even as we depend on God for our comfort, healing, strength or renewal.
Eugene Peterson says, Prayer is suffering’s best result. “In prayer, God’s anger is neither sentimentally glossed nor cynically debunked, but seized as a lever to pry open the door of redemption. The sufferer, by praying, does not ask God to think well of him or her, but asks that God will enact redemption, building in them “fruits consistent with repentance” through Jesus Christ who suffered and died for all. (Acts 26:20)
Back to the book, “The Art of Dying”…one of the things we see, if we give ourselves a chance, is that the dying have much to teach us about God. Because they themselves are closer to God in their suffering. Many people describe an experience of the thin place, the place where heaven and earth draw close together, when they sit with someone dying. Is it not somewhat ironic that the crowds are crying, “Save us” to the one who is close to death? They had seen his love, his miracles, his power. They did not know he was dying, but they saw in him the potential for new life, though they knew not how it would come. We read the story knowing he’s dying and knowing that in his dying there is new life.
Today we sing Hosanna, “Help us, Savior.” Next week we sing Hallelujah, “Praise Ye the Lord.” And in between, we remain have courage in our own suffering and share in the suffering and even death of others, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us. Life is prayer, and prayer is a dependency on God that says both Hosanna and Hallelujah.
Help us, our Savior to sing your praise, to know you are the Lord, even when we and others suffer. Remind us in this Holy Week of the courage and steady resolve you had in taking on our death and transforming it. By your Holy Spirit at work in us, may every week of ours be like the last week.. May we find the strength and faith to cry hosannas and sing hallelujah, no matter what kind of suffering or death we face. Amen.
Palm Sunday
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Holy God, pour out upon us the spirit of wisdom and understanding that, being taught by you in Holy Scripture, our hearts and minds may be opened to know the things that lead to life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
What if this was your last week of life? Do you ever stop to think about that? Probably not unless you have a terminal illness. Most of us live as if death does not exist, and when it comes to someone we love, we don’t just grieve, we feel cheated, as if this were not a natural thing – life and death. We don’t even like to spend much time thinking of Jesus’ death, though through it, we are saved.
Jesus, being the perfect union of divine and human came into Jerusalem with some measure of knowledge that he was approaching death. Perhaps he did not know exactly how and when he would die, but there is a sense in which he drives the narrative, not the powers and authorities and certainly not the disciples.
In Jesus’ last week, he experiences what we experience in suffering and death. People rallied around him, treating him royally, embracing him. Then when things got really tough, he was largely alone. They intended to go with him all the way to death. They really did. Peter pledged he would. But they could not, would not. It got too scary, as it does for most of us, trying to care for the dying.
I’ve been reading a book given me by Gretchen, “The Art of Dying” by Rob Moll. He says our modern culture has grown increasingly uncomfortable with death, as we moved it to institutions. People died at home, including many children before the development of antibiotics about 75 years ago. Dead bodies were prayed over in overnight wakes in homes, in preparation for funerals. The grieving were expected to wear black for a significant length of time, before the community gave them permission and encouragement to get back to normal, to reintegrate into life again.
The church taught the practice of dying the good death. Christians related their death to faith in Jesus Christ, and found comfort in knowing he suffered and died, and was raised from the dead. They could readily call on Biblical images to reassure themselves of God’s power over death.
Listen to this newspaper obituary from 1817, “She died in the full assurance of faith. The candle of the Lord shone upon her head. Death had lost its sting. She walked over the waters of Jordan…shouting the praises of redeeming love.”
Before we read the story of Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem, his welcome by the crowds and his confrontation in the temple, let me challenge you to go all the way to the cross with Jesus this week. Don’t deny him, betray him, abandon him this week. Suffer with him. You know the end of the story. Walk it with him.
Now let us both hear and participate in the Palm Sunday story from Matthew:
Matthew 21:1-17
1 When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives,
Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them,
"Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied,
and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me.
3 If anyone says anything to you, just say this, "The Lord needs them.'
And he will send them immediately."
4 This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,
5 "Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey."
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them,
7 they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.
8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road,
and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
9 The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,
"Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!"
10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, "Who is this?"
11 The crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee."
12 Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple,
and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
13 He said to them, "It is written, "My house shall be called a house of prayer';
but you are making it a den of robbers."
14 The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them.
15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David,"
they became angry 16 and said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?"
Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read,
"Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself'?"
17 He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.
New Revised Standard Version
Around the world there will be many different Palm Sunday sermons preached on many different aspects of this story, but I want us to focus on just two today:
First, let’s think about the primary plea of the people “Hosanna!” It means save us. It is a Hebrew word, used 209 times in the Old Testament – save or deliver us. Funny enough, most of us hear it Hosanna to the Son of David and it feels like praise, which it is. But we mistake it for being synonymous with another Hebrew word, Hallelujah (which parsed means literally, Praise We God) but Hosanna is really a plea, a prayer, more than it is praise.
In the last weeks of my father’s life, he was in the hospital , suffering from TIAs and heart trouble, after surviving a serious cancer diagnosis for several years. My mom and I would take turns sleeping in the recliner in his hospital room, and all night he would call out, “Help me.” Usually, he said, “Help me, Peggy.” When he got to the end, “He was calling to the Lord, “Help me, Lord.” There was nothing we could do.
Hosanna means “Help us.” There is an urgency to this request, “Save us now!” There is a prayer-like quality of humility, “We beg you to help.” There is also confidence in the prayer, as if to say, “We know you are our Savior” Hosanna occurs 6 times in the New Testament, all associated with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
What was so offensive to the scribes and Pharisees is that the human cry for divine help was being addressed to this man, whom they considered to be a scofflaw. He was breaking all their religious rules , ignoring their authority. Second, let’s think about the primary plea of Jesus to those in the temple, “My house shall be called a house of prayer.” My friends called Peace, whatever we do as a church, we should be doing by, in, with and through prayer. We should have the same dependency on our Savior as we see in that faithful crowd, who though they may have misunderstood the kind of kingdom Jesus was bringing, still knew that he was the One to whom they should depend.
And the ones who got it wrong were the ones who thought they knew how to please God, how to be religious, how to save themselves without listening to God, Jesus Christ, in their midst. The humble people who knew they needed help were the ones who appreciated Jesus. The self-confident leaders of the people found him a challenge to their system.
Jesus wanted his house to be a house of prayer. So we spend time in prayer (Word-Share-Prayer) in every gathering of Ministry Team, lest we become like the Pharisees and scribes, thinking we have all the answers. We spend time in prayer as a staff, lest we move forward with religious matters, failing to consult Christ, the Head of the Church. We spend time in prayer in worship and at home, because prayer is at the heart of remembering that God is the creator and we are the creature.
Prayer, understood as intimacy with our Savior, is the goal of our life. Why else should we have to suffer, but that it gives us opportunity to turn toward what we need most – prayer, dependency on God. So we utter “Hosanna. Help us, we pray.” My sister is nearly two weeks out from her difficult Crohn’s Disease surgery. Having lived with pain and nausea for a long time, she reflected on prayer. Why should God want us to pray for one another? God knows what we need. Her answer is this: God wants us to learn to depend on one another, even as we depend on God for our comfort, healing, strength or renewal.
Eugene Peterson says, Prayer is suffering’s best result. “In prayer, God’s anger is neither sentimentally glossed nor cynically debunked, but seized as a lever to pry open the door of redemption. The sufferer, by praying, does not ask God to think well of him or her, but asks that God will enact redemption, building in them “fruits consistent with repentance” through Jesus Christ who suffered and died for all. (Acts 26:20)
Back to the book, “The Art of Dying”…one of the things we see, if we give ourselves a chance, is that the dying have much to teach us about God. Because they themselves are closer to God in their suffering. Many people describe an experience of the thin place, the place where heaven and earth draw close together, when they sit with someone dying. Is it not somewhat ironic that the crowds are crying, “Save us” to the one who is close to death? They had seen his love, his miracles, his power. They did not know he was dying, but they saw in him the potential for new life, though they knew not how it would come. We read the story knowing he’s dying and knowing that in his dying there is new life.
Today we sing Hosanna, “Help us, Savior.” Next week we sing Hallelujah, “Praise Ye the Lord.” And in between, we remain have courage in our own suffering and share in the suffering and even death of others, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us. Life is prayer, and prayer is a dependency on God that says both Hosanna and Hallelujah.
Help us, our Savior to sing your praise, to know you are the Lord, even when we and others suffer. Remind us in this Holy Week of the courage and steady resolve you had in taking on our death and transforming it. By your Holy Spirit at work in us, may every week of ours be like the last week.. May we find the strength and faith to cry hosannas and sing hallelujah, no matter what kind of suffering or death we face. Amen.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Are We Blind or Can We See?
Are We Blind or Can We See?
John 9:1-41
4th Sunday of Lent
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Kids: How far can you spit? What else can you do with your spit? Don’t do it here, please. You know what Jesus could do with his spit? He could make blind people see. And then the people who know they can see, try to figure it out, and discover that maybe they don’t know as much as they thought. Really Jesus wants us to not just see with our eyes but with our hearts. You know how you can see with your eyes somebody sad, but not pay attention? Other times you might look at them more carefully and see with the eyes of your heart. Jesus opened the eyes of his heart to the blind beggar and healed him.
Give me, O my Lord, that purity of conscience which alone can receive your inspirations. My ears are dull, so that I cannot hear your voice. My eyes are dim, so that I cannot see the signs of your presence. You alone can quicken my hearing and purge my sight, and cleanse and renew my heart. Teach me to sit at your feet and to hear your word. Amen.
Our scripture reading today will be read by a various people, so as to make these 41 verses come alive. Hear the story of Jesus, the Blind Man, and the Pharisees. Ask yourselves, who is blind?
John 9:1-411
As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." 6 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, 7 saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.
8 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?" 9 Some were saying, "It is he." Others were saying, "No, but it is someone like him." He kept saying, "I am the man." 10 But they kept asking him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" 11 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." 12 They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, "He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see." 16 Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?" And they were divided. 17 So they said again to the blind man, "What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened." He said, "He is a prophet."
18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" 20 His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself." 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."
24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, "Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner." 25 He answered, "I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." 26 They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" 27 He answered them, "I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?" 28 Then they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from." 30 The man answered, "Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." 34 They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?" And they drove him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" 36 He answered, "And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him." 37 Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he." 38 He said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind." 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, "Surely we are not blind, are we?" 41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, 'We see,' your sin remains. (New Revised Standard Version)
We are blind if we, like the disciples, think that we can so simply find a reason, find someone or something to blame for every hardship -- for every illness, every divorce, every untimely death, every job loss or failure to thrive. The disciples want to place blame squarely on the parents or on the blind man. They assume somebody sinned. We want to know what caused the cancer, why the person committed suicide, how a predisposition and circumstances lead to addiction, and which partner is primarily responsible for the break-down of a marriage. And Jesus says, “Neither the blind man nor his parents sinned.” It seems that Jesus wants to move away from blaming and toward healing. It is okay to want more information but not if we use it against people, not if it leads to a subtle elevation of ourselves.
Jesus’ answer to their question is that he was born blind that God’s works might be revealed in him. You were born with all of your character traits, your genetic predispositions, even the challenging ones, that God’s works might be revealed in you. Maybe you’re not the smartest kid on the block. Maybe you’re not the most athletic. Maybe you’re not the most beautiful. Maybe you were born with a different sexual orientation. Maybe you have always been painfully shy. Maybe you struggle with depression. Maybe you have a chronic or terminal illness, but Jesus says this no matter what it is, its purpose is so that God’s work might be revealed in you.
Secondly, we are blind if we think we can understand or explain how Jesus heals. The people question, “Was this really man?” “What exactly did Jesus do?” The Pharisees questioned how Jesus could be a healer, because clearly he was not following their rules for the Sabbath. They questioned the blind man. They questioned his parents. Some people are always questioning, never satisfied with a miracle, they want to undo it with their logical minds. They want to disbelief it with their scientific reasoning. They want to discount it, by finding some flaw in the character of the healed or the Healer. We tend to value human knowledge over God’s wisdom. Paul says to the Corinthians (chapter 1), “Where is the one who is wise? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? …God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” But some people, even religious people like the Pharisees and us, get caught up in having their/our own answers. The blind beggar begins to explain things to people who think they know everything there is to know about God.
This leads me to my final point. We are blind, if we think we know all there is to know about God, if we think we can learn nothing from a beggar on the street, from a person whose eyes have been shut, whose disability renders them unimportant in society. We are blind, if we think that poor people, people from underdeveloped countries, disenfranchised people, people who are racked by disease or failures or all kinds of hardship, have nothing to teach us about God. Mother Teresa said if we judge people, we will have no time to love them.
The supreme irony of this passage is in the final verse. Jesus points out the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees, the ones who think they have mastered their faith and religious practice to the point of being free of sin and acceptable to God and above reproach among their peers.
Jesus tells them that their sin is the blindness of arrogance, of thinking they see, thinking they know, thinking they understand things. This arrogance leads them to judge others. They pre-judge the blind man and they pre-judge Jesus. Too bad they did not have the vision to love the poor blind man and love Jesus.
What about us? How is our vision? Do we close our eyes to the miracle of life all around us? Has our skepticism, our indifference to spiritual disciplines, our casual approach to the Christian faith, our tendency toward a moralistic deism formed cataracts on the eyes of our heart? Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” How pure, how clean is your heart? Do you even care? “All have eyes, but some have eyes that are shrouded in darkness, unable to see the light of the sun. Because the blind cannot see it, it does not follow that the sun does not shine.” (Saint Theophilus of Antioch, bishop) Turn yourself over to the Lord Jesus Christ and be healed, commit yourself to his truth and be led out of darkness into God’s marvelous light!
Everlasting God, in whom we live and move and have our being: You have made us for yourself, so that our hearts are restless until they rest in you. Give us purity of heart and strength of purpose, that no selfish passion may hinder us from knowing your will, no weakness keep us from doing it; that in your light we may see light clearly, and in your service find perfect freedom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
John 9:1-41
4th Sunday of Lent
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Kids: How far can you spit? What else can you do with your spit? Don’t do it here, please. You know what Jesus could do with his spit? He could make blind people see. And then the people who know they can see, try to figure it out, and discover that maybe they don’t know as much as they thought. Really Jesus wants us to not just see with our eyes but with our hearts. You know how you can see with your eyes somebody sad, but not pay attention? Other times you might look at them more carefully and see with the eyes of your heart. Jesus opened the eyes of his heart to the blind beggar and healed him.
Give me, O my Lord, that purity of conscience which alone can receive your inspirations. My ears are dull, so that I cannot hear your voice. My eyes are dim, so that I cannot see the signs of your presence. You alone can quicken my hearing and purge my sight, and cleanse and renew my heart. Teach me to sit at your feet and to hear your word. Amen.
Our scripture reading today will be read by a various people, so as to make these 41 verses come alive. Hear the story of Jesus, the Blind Man, and the Pharisees. Ask yourselves, who is blind?
John 9:1-411
As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." 6 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, 7 saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.
8 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?" 9 Some were saying, "It is he." Others were saying, "No, but it is someone like him." He kept saying, "I am the man." 10 But they kept asking him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" 11 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." 12 They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, "He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see." 16 Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?" And they were divided. 17 So they said again to the blind man, "What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened." He said, "He is a prophet."
18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" 20 His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself." 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."
24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, "Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner." 25 He answered, "I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." 26 They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" 27 He answered them, "I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?" 28 Then they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from." 30 The man answered, "Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." 34 They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?" And they drove him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" 36 He answered, "And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him." 37 Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he." 38 He said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind." 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, "Surely we are not blind, are we?" 41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, 'We see,' your sin remains. (New Revised Standard Version)
We are blind if we, like the disciples, think that we can so simply find a reason, find someone or something to blame for every hardship -- for every illness, every divorce, every untimely death, every job loss or failure to thrive. The disciples want to place blame squarely on the parents or on the blind man. They assume somebody sinned. We want to know what caused the cancer, why the person committed suicide, how a predisposition and circumstances lead to addiction, and which partner is primarily responsible for the break-down of a marriage. And Jesus says, “Neither the blind man nor his parents sinned.” It seems that Jesus wants to move away from blaming and toward healing. It is okay to want more information but not if we use it against people, not if it leads to a subtle elevation of ourselves.
Jesus’ answer to their question is that he was born blind that God’s works might be revealed in him. You were born with all of your character traits, your genetic predispositions, even the challenging ones, that God’s works might be revealed in you. Maybe you’re not the smartest kid on the block. Maybe you’re not the most athletic. Maybe you’re not the most beautiful. Maybe you were born with a different sexual orientation. Maybe you have always been painfully shy. Maybe you struggle with depression. Maybe you have a chronic or terminal illness, but Jesus says this no matter what it is, its purpose is so that God’s work might be revealed in you.
Secondly, we are blind if we think we can understand or explain how Jesus heals. The people question, “Was this really man?” “What exactly did Jesus do?” The Pharisees questioned how Jesus could be a healer, because clearly he was not following their rules for the Sabbath. They questioned the blind man. They questioned his parents. Some people are always questioning, never satisfied with a miracle, they want to undo it with their logical minds. They want to disbelief it with their scientific reasoning. They want to discount it, by finding some flaw in the character of the healed or the Healer. We tend to value human knowledge over God’s wisdom. Paul says to the Corinthians (chapter 1), “Where is the one who is wise? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? …God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” But some people, even religious people like the Pharisees and us, get caught up in having their/our own answers. The blind beggar begins to explain things to people who think they know everything there is to know about God.
This leads me to my final point. We are blind, if we think we know all there is to know about God, if we think we can learn nothing from a beggar on the street, from a person whose eyes have been shut, whose disability renders them unimportant in society. We are blind, if we think that poor people, people from underdeveloped countries, disenfranchised people, people who are racked by disease or failures or all kinds of hardship, have nothing to teach us about God. Mother Teresa said if we judge people, we will have no time to love them.
The supreme irony of this passage is in the final verse. Jesus points out the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees, the ones who think they have mastered their faith and religious practice to the point of being free of sin and acceptable to God and above reproach among their peers.
Jesus tells them that their sin is the blindness of arrogance, of thinking they see, thinking they know, thinking they understand things. This arrogance leads them to judge others. They pre-judge the blind man and they pre-judge Jesus. Too bad they did not have the vision to love the poor blind man and love Jesus.
What about us? How is our vision? Do we close our eyes to the miracle of life all around us? Has our skepticism, our indifference to spiritual disciplines, our casual approach to the Christian faith, our tendency toward a moralistic deism formed cataracts on the eyes of our heart? Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” How pure, how clean is your heart? Do you even care? “All have eyes, but some have eyes that are shrouded in darkness, unable to see the light of the sun. Because the blind cannot see it, it does not follow that the sun does not shine.” (Saint Theophilus of Antioch, bishop) Turn yourself over to the Lord Jesus Christ and be healed, commit yourself to his truth and be led out of darkness into God’s marvelous light!
Everlasting God, in whom we live and move and have our being: You have made us for yourself, so that our hearts are restless until they rest in you. Give us purity of heart and strength of purpose, that no selfish passion may hinder us from knowing your will, no weakness keep us from doing it; that in your light we may see light clearly, and in your service find perfect freedom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
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