Untying the Knots
4) What Happened?

1 Samuel 16:1-13; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41

March 2, 2008, Fourth Sunday in Lent

There was a man who arrived at the gates of hell shortly after he died. A devil met him and offered to show him three rooms – it would be his choice as to where he would spend his eternity in hell.

The first room stretched as far as the eye could see. Thousands upon thousands of people were standing on their heads on a wooden floor.

Thinking he could do better, the man asked to see the second room: another very large room with thousands upon thousands of people standing on their heads on a cement floor.

This was obviously worse. The man thought he had nothing to lose, so he asked to see the third room. In this room, as large as the others, thousands upon thousands of people were standing knee-deep in manure, drinking coffee.

Well, the man reasoned, he likes coffee, and he could get used to the smell. So he was given a cup of coffee by the devil, and waded out into the sea of manure.

A few minutes later, the same devil appeared, and announced, “All right! Coffee break’s over! Back on your heads!”

A humorous look at how our eyes don’t always see the truth. In fact we often depend on our senses to determine the truth, but they are not always accurate. Today, as I continue my series on untying the knots of our humanity that get in the way of our being the people God wants us to be, I want to look at our dependency on our senses, especially that of our sight.

We begin with the passage from John. When the disciples see a blind man they ask the question “Who sinned that this man was born blind?” The man was blind, therefore someone must have done something wrong. Now we have to realize that we are reading a story that takes place in a time where people believed in the positive and negative power of the supernatural, or of God. One’s predicament in life was because of how one had pleased or angered the gods, or God. Before we laugh at the disciples we need to realize that we do it in our own way as well. We don’t necessarily believe in good or bad in one’s life being divinely ordained, but if we see someone who is asking for a handout, it is very easy for us to assume that they spent their money on drugs or alcohol. If we see a big black guy with a do-rag on his head and wearing a t-shirt coming towards us we have to fight the urge to keep from crossing the street to the other sidewalk. If we see a blind person, or a paraplegic it is easy for us to assume that they cannot do much.

Think of Samuel looking at all of Jesse’s sons to determine which one will be the next king of Israel. If we were Samuel would we not have chosen the son who looked strong and appeared to have the wisdom of some years? Would we have chosen David the youngest, who was out tending sheep and playing his harp? Probably not.

What happened? Things are not always what they seem. We cannot always depend on our own senses or even our own wisdom. The disciples assume that something must have happened in order for the man to be born blind. But listen to Jesus’ response to them: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” Let’s look at Jesus’ response at a level different then that of God’s works being shown in the healing miracle Jesus performs. What about the works of God being shown through what the blind man does after he receives his sight? He does not just receive his physical sight, but he receives his spiritual sight as well.

The man is hauled before the priests because of the miracle of his sight. The priests know about Jesus and they are trying to discredit him. They first try with the healed man, then they try with his parents who say that since he is of age to ask him directly. So the priests bring the man back before them. Listen to his words:

“Give glory to God! We know that this man (Jesus) 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.”

The man witnesses before the priests full of faith. Paul says in our passage from Ephesians today: “For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light.” It is easy to deny God’s work through others because they have become locked into a certain pattern in our minds because of how they appear to us.

Flo Wheatly held her son, Leonard, as he was vomiting and near collapse. Returning from the hospital and his daily cancer treatments, they were a block away from the subway station in New York City. It began to rain. Commuters rushed past them. Flo heard a voice say: “You need help, lady,” and she looked up to see a homeless man, wearing jeans, sneakers and a cutoff army jacket. She felt a little fear and declined his help saying: “No, we’re okay.” But the homeless man said again: “You need help, lady.” He picked up her suitcase and walked toward the subway. Flo and Leonard followed him and the three of them boarded the train. They got off at Flo’s station and the homeless man hailed a taxi for her.

“I pressed a $5 bill into the man’s hand before the cab pulled away,” Flo said, “and I heard him say, softly: ‘Don’t abandon me.’” Flo has never forgotten his words. Later Flo began a mission project of making homemade sleeping bags and giving them to the homeless in NYC.

“Don’t abandon me.” Flo did not, but I think he was also saying “God can work through me too. Don’t abandon me to uselessness.” Jesus did not abandon the blind man, and the blind man allowed God to work through him.

When we follow our first perceptions, we can easily end up standing on our own heads, as we see God’s work being done by people we and society have deemed to be useless. Today let us untie the knot of our human pre-conceived notions and give everyone the freedom and the opportunity to be a conduit of God’s amazing love and power.

Amen

© 2008 Rev. Dr. Thomas T. Peters