O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
After the baptism of his baby brother in church one Sunday, little Johnny sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car. His father asked him three times what was wrong.
Finally, the boy replied, "That priest said he wanted us brought up in a Christian home, and I want to stay with you guys!"
Father got the message and they began to go to church regularly...
Needless to say the family had a bit of catching up to do. One day the Sunday School Teacher asked Johnny, "Now, Johnny, tell me - do you say prayers before eating?"
"No madam," little Johnny replies, "I don't have to. My Mom is a very good cook."
As Jesus went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.
Thus began this morning's Gospel Reading.
The entire passage that Lok Man read today deals with blindness - but strangely enough it is not the blindness of the man who was born blind that is central to the passage - despite how this man is mentioned throughout it, rather it is the blindness of those around him and most especially the blindness of the religious teachers and authorities that is central to the passage - their blindness and their sins.
And this is so much so that the closing words of the story about the Man Born Blind - which come after the man born blind has been questioned, his parents questioned, and he has been questioned again and then thrown out of the synagogue by the priests and teachers of the law and has then been found by Jesus and has professed his faith in him and worshipped him are these: "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."
And then we hear that some Pharisees who were with Jesus heard him say this and asked,
"What? Are we blind too?"
And Jesus replies
"If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
What are we to make of the story of the man born blind? Well, it is a very rich passage - and today I have time only to touch on a couple of things.
The first thing I would like you to grasp is this - while all people sin and fall short of the glory of God, not all afflictions, perhaps not even most afflictions, can be blamed on the sin of the person who must bear that affliction, or - as in the case of a genetic defect or a birth accident like that the man born blind must have had - upon the sin of the parents.
God doesn't work that way.
While some afflictions obviously are the result of one kind of sin or another - for example someone driving drunk may have an accident in which they are crippled for life or in which they cripple someone else for life - for the most part many other afflictions can't be blamed on someone, nor should we try to blame them on someone.
Rather we should try to bring healing to those who are afflicted.
Which is the second point I want to make.
Jesus answers the question about who sinned that the man was born blind by saying: "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. "
And he healed him with mud and spit and the touch of his own precious hand.
This is how God operates. This is what Jesus is about. He has come to give us relief from those things afflict us - to give sight to the blind and to heal the lame - and to set free those who oppressed and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord to those who are poor.
Indeed - even if - and this is a big if - even if the particular affliction or tribulation that rests upon a person is the result of a direct sin, for example, that drunken driver who has wounded himself or some one else - even if this is the case - Jesus still wants them to be whole. He still wants to make the work of God manifest in their lives.
That is what the cross is ultimately all about - bringing forgiveness and salvation to sinners, and showing the love of God to those who, by any other standard, are unlovable.
But some will not accept this. They did not in the past, and they do not now.
As with some of the Pharisees and Scribes of old, they will persist in denying that there is anything good that could come out of Nazareth. They will deny the good that they see done around them is being done by a servant of God. And they, despite their love for God, will attempt to stop the one doing good from doing good.
They are many modern day self-righteous ones, both in the church and outside of it. They don't want the boat to be rocked - they don't want to have to change their comfortable accommodation with the status quo, they don't want to change the way they see the world.
And like some of the Pharisees and Scribes of old they will continue to seek to blame the condition of the poor upon the poor; and of the sick upon the sick; and the oppression of the oppressed upon the oppressed.
It is safer that way isn't it?
It means that they - or is it we - don't have to do anything - we don't have to change.
We can charge the rich low tax rates while we will do give those on welfare a decent living allowance, which is enough to live on. We can ignore the hunger in the third world while spend massive amounts on ski trips and vacations. Or we can call those who seek to help the street people and defend the abused women in our society unrealistic idealists who don't fully understand that those people are responsible for their own condition - and cheer as the welfare funds are reduced and funding for on government organisations and for counselling programs cut.
There is none so blind as those who will not see.
There is none so blind as those who will not accept the call of our Lord - the call to allow the work of God to be displayed in their lives - the call of God to bring healing and salvation to those around us who really need it - regardless of what sin those who need healing may have or may not have committed.
I don't know if you noticed, but all the hymns this morning except "Give To Us Laughter" and the "23rd Psalm were written by the same person.
"All the Way My Saviour Leads Me", "Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross", "Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine" and "Pass Me Not Gentle Saviour" were written by a lady by the name of Fanny Crosby.
I chose hymns by her today because Fanny Crosby could not see.
When Fanny was six weeks old, she had an eye infection. Her regular doctor was out of town, and a man posing as a doctor gave her the wrong treatment. Within a few days, she was totally blind.
If that happened to some people, I am afraid they would be very bitter and would probably spend a lifetime feeling sorry for themselves. Fanny was never bitter and she never felt sorry for herself. When she was only eight years old, she wrote this poem:
Oh, what a happy child I am,
Although I can not see.
I am resolved that in this world,
Contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy
That other people don't.
To weep and sigh
Because I'm blind,
I cannot and I won't!
Instead of being bitter and feeling sorry for herself, instead of blaming the doctor for his "sin" against her and dwelling in darkness all her days, Fanny used the gifts that God had given her to write over 8,000 hymns and poems to praise and glorify God.
We might know who caused her blindness - but to Fanny knowing who caused her blindness didn't matter. Nor did it matter to her that she was blind - because in her mind - and in mine - she could see.
As a Australian preacher by the name of Bruce Prewer put it this way in a discussion of the story of the Man Born Blind:
"Some people have excellent eyesight but do not see further than their noses. Some have good vision yet choose to see only a little of the way, the truth and the life. And some have no physical sight yet who see brilliantly along the path of Christ".
Christ didn't heal the physical blindness of Fanny Crosby as he healed the sight of the man born blind, but like that man at the end of today's Gospel reading - when he knelt at Jesus' feet and worshipped him, she saw more than we can imagine - she saw more - and felt more blessed - than millions about her with eyes to see, but no will to look past themselves and their own vision of what is and what should be.
The next time we you someone who is afflicted - in body, mind, or spirit - remember what Jesus said about the man born blind - remember how Jesus said that his affliction happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life and then healed him.
And the next time you see someone else engaged in disputes about who is doing the right thing and who is doing what is wrong - quietly remember what Jesus said to those who were confident of their rightness and all to ready to judge him and most others as less worthy of God's love than themselves.
Remember how Jesus said "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." And remember too how he added when they asked him if they were blind too, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains."
Remember too - all of you are blessed - you are blessed to be a blessing.
Amen.
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