I was in a play once in high
school where fifteen minutes before we were supposed to go on stage for the
first performance, our director called us together for a brief meeting that we
thought was going to be a pep talk. The play we were performing was a tough one
with lots of characters and complicated entrances and exits. Instead of giving
us a pep talk, though, he reassigned everyone’s roles, just like that. We had
been practicing for weeks, struggling even to learn our own lines and stage
directions, much less anyone else’s. Without any forewarning, he read off a list
of the new cast breakdown. Everyone, except for the main character, was going
to be playing a completely different role than they had originally thought. The
people who had been in supporting roles had been promoted to key players. Those
who had memorized the biggest parts of the dialogue were suddenly on the
sidelines. There we all stood, in full costume and makeup, our jaws on the
floor. He looked at us, unmoved by our protests, and said, “You’ve got fifteen
minutes to change your clothes.”
That poor audience! It goes
without saying that our first performance was much shorter than it was supposed
to be and probably left all those who watched it even more confused than we
were.
Something very similar is
going on in this story about the healing of the man born blind and his cast of
supporting actors. Jesus is the director, switching up roles and confusing
characters all over the place. By the end, those who are supposed to be blind end
up being able to see, but those who once could see are now blind. The ones who
are supposed to be marked by sin are the ones who actually show God’s glory, and
the ones who should be able to testify to God’s might end up as sinful. God
bless the person or congregation who understands what they’re hearing! One
often doesn’t know what to make of Jesus and of the change he brings about in
people’s lives, the change he brings about in the great drama of life. If this morning’s
story doesn’t illustrate that for us, I don’t know what will.
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| Healing of the Man Born Blind (El Greco, 1570) |
When the story begins, we
meet a man who is born blind, and right off the bat we get a glimpse into how
people of Jesus’ day viewed illnesses and handicaps. They were evidence of
retribution. As far as the disciples and the other by-standers were concerned, his
blindness was a result of some kind of moral or religious failing—maybe even on
the part of his parents’. Jesus’ quick answer, however, redirects our focus, especially
when it comes to physical or mental limitations. The point is not why this man is blind; the point is,
rather, how might he show forth God’s light. The important thing about this man is not what
happened in his past that got him to his current state but how God may bring
about a new future for him. The question is not how did this man get this way, but
how might God’s works be shown in him anyway?
That is the important question
about any of us, isn’t it, really? How are God’s works being revealed in you, even
though those areas of your life you would declare terribly broken? The understanding
of our lives should be less focused on why we are the way we are and more on how
can God’s works be revealed in us, even in those areas of our lives we know
aren’t perfect. This does not mean that we do not take into consideration a
person’s disabilities or struggles with life, but it does mean we are careful
about how our approaches to their situation might label or limit them. In this
story, Jesus sees the blind man not as a case for debating cause and effect, but
instead views him as someone who can lead others to greater understanding of
God. When Jesus is the director, our lives can cast greater vision than we can
we can ever imagine.
As miraculous as this man’s
healing is, however, Jesus is more intent on bringing about a deeper miracle.
Which miracle? The miracle of faith, the wonder of trusting in God. The man’s
new vision, we understand, is only a part of the equation, the narrative hook
that gets us and everyone else interested in the plot that follows. The person
who started out as a focus of pity or shame is now the hero, the one with the
chance to see what no one else apparently can: that Jesus is the light of the
world.
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| Icon of the healing of the man born blind |
None of us needs to be a
scholar in Greek to begin to figure out that seeing has something to do with
knowing and understanding. As we hear the story we begin to grasp what the
people of Jesus’ time thought about the sense of sight: that is, that that the
eye was a window to the mind. In fact, the verb “to see” is the same word in
Greek as “to perceive,” “to regard,” or “to discover.” Think of which form of
communication you’d rather use to connect with a loved one: the telephone, or
Facetime? Texting or Skype? There is something about being able to seeing
someone that helps us know a little more about them.
So, as the man’s eyes are
opened, his mind also begins to understand and discover just who Jesus is, and
that is the more important transformation of the two. On the other hand, the
religious officials end up truly blind, not because they can’t see, but because
they can’t understand who this Jesus really is or what really has happened.
Looking at the transformation
of the blind man, we notice something very interesting: while the blind man’s
physical eyes are opened rapidly, the opening of his spiritual sight is a
little more gradual. At first the man born blind refers to his healer simply as
“the man called Jesus.” A little later he claims Jesus is a prophet. Still
later, he admits that Jesus is “from God,” and only toward the end of the
story, when Jesus is speaking directly with him, does the man confess belief in
Jesus as the Son of God.
There are some folks for whom
belief in Jesus is sudden and miraculous, like someone has thrown the switch and
the light comes on in a flash, the night of doubt dissipating almost immediately.
For many, however, the journey to faith is more similar to this man born blind:
the light of knowing and understanding is gradual and incremental, more like a
dimmer switch that can fluctuate back and forth. Regardless of which situation
applies to you, the miracle is that in this world of darkness we can see at all
and come to know that the one who has created us has also sent someone to love
and redeem us, to bring light into a world dimmed by human sin. The miracle is
that in spite of our selfishness, in spite of our timeworn ability to use what
little vision we do have to stare only at our own reflections and our own
needs, God still can bring about faith that opens us up to others. At some
point, by God’s grace, we look up and find our creator and redeemer has been
speaking with us the entire time.
Jesus himself explains that
he came into the world in order to bring judgment, to re-assign those roles in
the drama of human life. Those who think they can see human destiny so clearly without
any influence from Jesus’ love are the ones who continue to live blind, while
those who are aware of their need for God’s grace are actually the ones who get
to play the big part of visionary. The good news is that God can always break
into that blindness and transform even the gloomiest night. Ultimately Jesus is
the light that no darkness can overcome.
The last thing that the man
born blind does in the story is worship Jesus, and there we see the endpoint,
the conclusion, the final act of this story. His faith in a God who can
transform the world leads him finally to live for God’s glory, to point his
life in the direction of heaven. It makes me think of a quote by writer Annie
Dillard in her book Pilgrim at Tinker
Creek. She says, “The question from agnosticism is, Who turned on the
lights? The question from faith is, Whatever for?”
Whatever for has this God
created us?
Whatever for…do blind people
see?
Whatever for…do we see the
darkest soul come to display the most brilliant light?
It is for…his glory that this
loving God’s works may be revealed among us. So, whatever role we you were
assigned at the beginning of this life or at the beginning of this day, whatever
character you think you’re supposed to play, or whatever costume and mask you’re
wearing now, may God grant you the faith to know you live for him, that even your
life can display his glory, and that you live to worship and follow him.
No worry about learning any new
lines, or even changing clothes with someone else. God will take care of the
change…from the inside out.
Thanks be to God!
The Reverend Phillip W. Martin, Jr.
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