John 9:1-41
Hearing and Seeing
James Sledge March
26, 2017
John’s gospel is often misunderstood and misused by
modern Christians who do not realize that John writes to Jewish Christians. His
congregation is in conflict with synagogue leaders who threaten to throw them
out over their non-orthodox beliefs. When John speaks disparagingly of “the
Jews,” he does not use the term literally (true of many terms in John). It refers
only to those powers-that-be who are threatening his community.
As he walked along, (Jesus) saw a man
blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this
man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3Jesus answered,
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works
might be revealed in him. 4We must work the works of him who sent me
while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5As long as I
am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6When he had said
this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on
the man’s eyes, 7saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam”
(which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. 8The
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?” 9Some were saying, “It is he.”
Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the
man.” 10But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11He
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.” 12They
said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
“Why
is this man blind?” ask the disciples. “What caused this?” Of course they
already have assumptions about the causes. When they look at that blind man,
they see him in a certain light.
“Whose
fault is it that this man is blind?” It must be someone’s fault. There’s some
reason that the only way he can survive is to stand on a street corner begging,
like those people with their signs that I pass all the time in my car. Who’s
fault is it?
The
disciples look at the world and see it a certain way, and so they see a man who
deserves his fate in some way, at least indirectly. If he hadn’t caused the
problem himself, he was the product of bad family background.
Jesus
seems not to see the world the same way the disciples do, that I do. He shows
little interest in determining fault, but he does see an opportunity to show
God’s love moving in the world, to be light in the darkness while there is the
chance.
It’s
an odd interaction. There’s spit and mud and a command. “Go to Siloam and
wash.” The blind man hasn’t even asked Jesus for any help, but when Jesus
speaks to him, he does just as Jesus says. And then he can see. Regardless of
why he was born blind, regardless of why he’s there at Seven Corners with his
sign every day, this is a wonderful moment. He won’t have to beg any more.
Everyone that knows him will be celebrating.
But
many of his neighbors don’t seem to recognize him anymore. He looks vaguely
familiar, but he’s not a blind beggar. It must be someone else.
Way
back when I was in elementary school, a girl with some significant learning and
emotional challenges sat next to me. This was the 1960s, before there was much
sensitivity to such things. She had few friends and struggled to keep up in
class. It seemed likely she would have to repeat the grade.
One
day we had our weekly spelling test, and Cathy was excited because she had
spelled all ten words correctly. I knew better. I had seen her glancing at my
paper, and I told the teacher. The classmate behind me agreed, and the teacher
had her take the test again. She got them all correct again.
13They
brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14Now
it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15Then
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.” 16Some
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. 17So 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.”
18The 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 19and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say
was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20His parents answered,
“We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21but 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.” 22His 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.
23Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
Now
the authorities get involved. It turns out that Jesus has not followed proper
procedures. It’s a remarkable story, but clearly something is amiss. Jesus has
used unapproved methodology. Something funny is going on. False claims are
being made. An investigation is needed to get to the bottom of this.
Witnesses
are called to testify, even the man’s parents. How’d this happen? What’s going
on? No one seems to have an answer. “Yes, he’s our son and he was blind,” say
the parents, “but that’s all we know.”
You’d
think someone would be happy about this, would be celebrating this remarkable event,
at least his friends and family. But almost no one seems able to see what has
happened. No one sees the life that’s been changed. No one sees God at work.
24So 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.” 25He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One
thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26They said to
him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27He
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?” 28Then
they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
29We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do
not know where he comes from.” 30The man answered, “Here is an
astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my
eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does
listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32Never since the
world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born
blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34They
answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?”
And they drove him out.
The
investigative committee is getting frustrated. They have to prove that God
doesn’t work this way. God, of all people, doesn’t break the rules. God would
not upset our religious traditions. God is bound to robes and sanctuaries and
organ music. God does not undermine a well laid-out committee structure and
bylaws and the Book of Order. “What
do you mean God changed your life, gave you new life? Tell us what really
happened.”
A
curious thing happens as this investigation proceeds. The authorities become
more and more sure of their assumptions and certainties, more confirmed in
their blindness, while the former blind man sees better and better, comes to a
deeper understanding of what is happening. First he thought Jesus was a
prophet. Now it is clear to him that Jesus is from God.
The
investigation is at an impasse. The man is clearly deranged. He cannot have
encountered God in the manner that he said.
35Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when
he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36He
answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” 37Jesus
said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” 38He
said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. 39Jesus 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.” 40Some of the Pharisees near him heard
this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41Jesus
said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say,
‘We see,’ your sin remains.”
Jesus
heals blindness but his presence renders others blind. The light that shines in
the darkness is too much for some. They squint and shield their eyes. They
cannot see.
Jesus
continues speaking with the Pharisees well beyond our reading for today, and he makes two more of the “I AM” statements
that are a fixture of John’s gospel. We can’t hear it in English, but John’s first
readers would have heard echoes of the divine name. “I AM the gate for the sheep… I AM the good shepherd. I know my own and
my own know me… They will listen to my voice.”
Apparently
encountering God, encountering Jesus, is about hearing as well as sight. The
blind man did as Jesus commanded before he ever saw him, before he ever
realized who Jesus was. He heard, and then he was changed.
Dietrich
Bonhoeffer says this is what happens when Jesus calls people to follow him as
disciples. “If we would follow Jesus we must take certain definite steps. The
first step, which follows the call, cuts the disciple off from his previous
existence. The call to follow at once produces a new situation. To stay in the
old situation makes discipleship impossible.”[1]
That’s
exactly what happens to the blind man. He does as Jesus says, and he is
changed. That change makes him unrecognizable to many. Even his family is
ambivalent about this change. But the blind man sees and believes and worships
Jesus.
Most
church people that I know want to get close to God. That was probably true of
just about everyone is or scripture reading today. But many of us – and that
includes me on many, maybe most days – aren’t sure we can hear Jesus much less
see him. Like the Pharisees, the best we can do is read the Bible a little, get
some idea of what God wants, and then do the best we can on our own.
If
someone says to us that they have heard God speak, we are suspicious, as
perhaps we should be. But Jesus insists that through the Spirit, he will abide
in us. The Spirit will speak to us and guide us, a light leading us to abundant
life, to deeper relationship with God.
O
Christ, give us ears to hear. Touch our eyes so we are not blinded by your
light, but see you clearly and follow where you lead us.
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