March 10, 2002
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| Touched
To Testify: The Hands of Christ Prayer: Holy God, we sense your involvement in our lives. Like a shepherd, you watch over us and provide for us abundantly beyond our needs. You lead us in right paths when we are tempted to go astray. You refresh us with living water that overflows with your generosity. Let your light shine on us now to reveal truth we have not seen and open our eyes to possibilities we may not have realized. Touch us by your Holy Spirit. In Christ’s name, amen (Taught by Love, Invocation for the fourth Sunday in Lent, Year A). We have been looking in this Lenten season at intimate encounters with Jesus Christ. These encounters are so important and life-changing that we can feel in our bodies the difference it makes to be a follower of Christ. We have heard what it means to live with the presence of God, in both pleasant places and when we are surrounded by the long shadows of danger and death. We know how frightening it can be to walk through shadowy places. We can thank God that a table has been set for us in the middle of the valley, and at that table is all we need to see in fresh new ways. Then we can live with a pledge and a promise to dwell in house of the Lord forever. But the witness of the Psalmist is that because God is with us, we need not fear the evil that comes. We will not ignore it, we have to confront it, but we know that our trust is in the one who helps us to over come with divine provision, direction, protection, grace, and eternal power. The gospel of John tells a longer story about how we live in the presence and knowledge of God. It is a story of sight and insight and if we listen carefully, we will be helped to broaden our own perspective, and to see how it is when we feel ourselves touched to testify to the good news that has come to us in Jesus Christ. This story of the man born blind is told as if it were a fast paced production played out in seven quick scenes. It is satire, after all a blind man comes to see, and those who can see really can’t see what is important at all. It pokes a bit of fun at church people’s inability to adjust to change. But it quite seriously reminds us that we can move from our blindness and isolation to insight, faith, and community. As we do, we will be led, as he was led, to testify with increasing and unflinching boldness. Scene One: Blinded By The Need To Place Blame. Jesus and his disciples see a man born blind. Right away, as they notice him, the disciples are uncomfortable, and they need to know which sinful person caused this situation. Who’s fault is it that some people are poor and homeless while others are wealthy and comfortable? Who is to blame that some families, of many different types, are happy and functional while others are fractured and toxic? Who sinned? This man even before he was born so that God punished him by blinding him, or did his parents sin, did they commit some offense to God that was so horrible that God would cause their son to be born with out sight? Jesus tells them that no one sinned. Sometimes things happen that result in difficult consequences. Sometimes things happen that result in our seeing the glory of God in ways we would not have imagined. His blindness is not about sin, it is about the revelation and glory of God. It is really about how God can work miracles in the light of divine power. Jesus says if you are with me then you are in the company of the light of the world. Watch and see what God will do in the light of God’s revelation. This is not about fault, it is about the marvelous work and glory of God. Then Jesus mixes his own spit in the dirt and puts the paste on the man’s eyes. He sends him to wash his face and when he comes back, the man can see. Scene Two: Blinded By Big Change. The healing has occurred it seems in the full view of some neighbors, and it has confused them. People who make big changes in their lives sometimes make us nervous. We have gotten used to them being one way when it seems like everything about them has changed. It might be good for them, but what about us? Think of the colleague at work who used not to care much about anything except the paycheck. Then one day they showed up for work and they were creative, serious about the work and highly productive. Recall that family member who was so much trouble that you dreaded attending family gatherings. Now that same family member is kind and respectful of the entire family. They have changed, but you wonder when the next shoe will drop. Think about high school. Go back as far as you need to - go back years or just to last Friday and think about the ones not part of your group. They don’t dress the same as you, or listen to the same music, or join the same clubs, they are outside your group but they want to be in desperately. Then one day, after summer break, there is a change. They do not need you anymore, their walk, their talk, their confidence, is all different and has nothing to do with us and we just don’t get it. Something has touched the members of our family, co-workers, other students and their whole being bears testimony to the fact that they have changed, and we are not sure that we like it. It is hard to see people in ways that are different than we have known them before. That is so because sometimes our lives are so bound up with each others, that if one of changes, then it just might be that we all have to make some changes, and change is not easy. There in that neighborhood, people saw the blind man looking at things and really seeing them. It created quite a stir. “Isn’t that the guy who used to sit at the busiest intersection in town and beg for spare change?” “Looks like him, I think it is.” “No, it isn’t him, it does look like him though. Do you think he has a twin? What do we do if it is him? It’s all changed now.” Finally the man speaks. “Hey, I am the one you are talking about. I do not have a twin. I used to beg in the street, but no more.” “Then tell us, what happened to you?” “Well, it happened like this. A man named Jesus mixed his spit and some dirt, put it on my eyes, sent me to wash and now I can see.” “Really?” “Yes, really.” “Where is he now?” “I have no idea.” Quickly we move to Scene Three: The Interrogation. It happens when the people escort the man to the Pharisees, the religious leaders. Think of the church board and the city council as a single unit. It seems sometime that the Pharisees operated that way. They were the religious leaders of their day, but their impact on the whole society was great. They are so caught up in legal tradition that they cannot see or celebrate the miracle God has done. All they know is that Jesus has healed the man on the Sabbath. We may not think of healing as work. We think nothing of going to the emergency room or doing other healing work on Sunday. If the need arises, it would not enter our minds not to respond. But in Jesus’ day, healing was work and work on the Sabbath was prohibited. Some must have believed healing on the Sabbath to be OK
because John says they were divided among themselves. But the loudest voices
said, “only a sinner would violate the law. What do you say about this Jesus
now?” The man’s boldness grows. “First I just knew that he was a man named
Jesus, now I think he must be a prophet.” So, they move into Scene Four: Blinded By Fear Of Retaliation. In order to prove it, they call the man’s parents. Answer these questions please. 1) “Is this your son?” Yes, he is.” 2) “Was he in fact born blind?” “Yes, he was.” 3) “Then how come he can see now?” I believe they really, deep in their hearts, praised God for their son’s sight and that they thanked Jesus for this gift to their family. But blinded by their own fear of being expelled from the temple, no one wants to be shunned, isolated, excluded from a community they have known, in public, they fudge a bit. “We don’t know. You know what, he is over 18. He is a legal adult well able to speak for himself. Ask him.” Like the parents, we can become so blinded by fear that we cannot celebrate the good news all around us. Instead, we hold back, even when it is not helpful. But we do it and so cause our own isolation as we refuse to take stands, refuse to say what we know, and we all know what God has done for us, and we refuse to speak up, and part of our witness is lost. Quickly we move to Scene Five: Blinded By Anger. The Pharisees do as the man’s parent have asked, they decide to ask him what happened again. Although before they do, they pile on a bit of guilt. “Give God the glory! We know Jesus is a sinner - you know it. Just say it.” But the man has been touched by Jesus. He is growing bolder and stronger. “I’m not a theologian, priest, or rabbi. I am not equipped to judge his relationship with God. All I know is this morning I was blind, and now I am not. This morning my living was made by begging, and my options were limited, and now they are limitless.” “Yes, but give us the facts. How did he do it? We have never seen anything like this?” We really can understand their anger and frustration. We are smart, rational folks who want to know how things work and why they work. But the now sighted man is of no help. “I’ve told you what happened and how. Why do you deep asking? Is it because you want to be his disciples too?” “Don’t get smart with us! We follow Moses. We know Moses, we don’t know Jesus.” “That must be it. You don’t know anything about Jesus, but I am a walking testimony to his powers. Only some one sent by God could do such a thing, so what do you think?” ”We think it is time for you to leave.” The man has been thrown out of the synagogue, but not
out of the hands of Jesus Christ who is present for the last brief scenes. First
comes Scene six, From Sight To Insight to Confession.
Jesus does not just come back, but he reveals himself as he did to the woman at
the well. He lets this man know that he is the Son of Man, the Messiah, the
Christ. And the man is led by this encounter with Jesus to a life-altering
confession. His testimony about Jesus has gotten clearer and bolder at every
step. He was a man called Jesus, then a prophet, then one sent by God, and
finally as he reveals himself to be God’s Christ, the man is led to say, “Lord,
I believe that you are who you say you are.” Peter will say, “I believe you
are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” This man has been touched to testify, and so are we. But when like some in this story, we are blinded by the need to blame, resistance to change, our own religious rigidity, fear, and anger we make it impossible for us to experience the grace and the miracles of God. The thing is that we need not have someone put saliva and mud on our eyes. All we have to do is open our eyes and bear witness that we have seen and heard for ourselves what a healing relationship with Jesus can do. It can provide us with new vision and renewed testimonies. When we open our eyes, we will find that a whole new way of being, and can say with our friend, “I was blind, but now I see.” I used to want to assign blame, but now I can look at circumstances and see what God is trying to show me. I used to resist change as too hard but now I trust that the world is ever changing, but God through Jesus Christ remains faithfully the same, and so change does not scare me so much now. I used to be locked into doing the same things in the same ways in my life and especially at church. But now, I know that God has promised to do some new things, in me, in you, in all of us, and I have paid attention to that voice that says to me, “be still and know that I am God”, and I did. I used to feel isolated and alone, but I know that since Jesus touched me I have never been totally alone, nor will I ever be. I used to be sure of myself and confident in my abilities, now I know that my confidence comes from the good news that I am a sinner, saved by grace by one called Jesus who led me to acknowledge him as Lord and Savior. That is my testimony. I pray that you can find and proclaim yours, because we have all been touched and we each have a story to tell. As we tell it, we each grow stronger and so does the church. Thank God for sight and insight, for the hands of Christ, and for the testimony of our souls and our lives. To God be the glory. Amen.
Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
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Broad
Street Christian Church
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