Pentecost 21
John 9:13-41
When I was in my final year of undergraduate studies at university I
volunteered to read books onto audio cassettes for the blind. Because I was a religious studies student, I was assigned an unusual reading partner. A large African American man in his early thirties named Keith, though everyone called him ‘Bear’. Bear had a passion for reading the theological works of the 17th century English Puritans. For some odd reason, almost none of these were on audio for the blind. So I would read from the treatises and commentaries of John Owen, Richard Baxter, Thomas Brooks and others that most people had never heard of. I would record hours or reading onto audio cassettes and then drop them off to Bear. He would listen to them, then arrange to meet up afterward to discuss them.
For a man born blind, Bear got around remarkably well. He would often take a taxi to our apartment, then find his own way up. Sometimes we would meet there. Other times we would head out to a nearby café.
Bear was very good at being blind. He was expert at pretending not to see and notice things. When a waitress at a café once asked him what it was like being a black man in largely white town he acted puzzled. ‘What is black?’ he asked, explaining that he could not see so had no conception of colour. He made the poor girl explain the entire concept of race to him, asking one question after another, curious to find out what this concept of ‘black’ meant and why it was important. In the end, the girl admitted that it probably really didn’t matter. He let the girl get back to her work. ‘I think she learned some things today,’ Bear observed. ‘I think that conversation could be a turning point for her. She is seeing things differently now.’
And so I learned that just because a person is blind, does not mean they cannot see. It does not mean they have little insight or understanding of what is going on around them. In fact, quite the opposite is often the case. Those who are blind or deaf often have very heightened senses in other areas and are able to pick up on many things that most of us simply do not notice.
The blind man in today’s story was like that. When I read of him, I think of my old friend Bear. Because the man was blind and sat most days collecting alms so he could survive, people underestimated him. The Pharisees certainly did. They soon found out just how much this man had been seeing and observing during his life of blindness.
In fact, the first thing we notice about the man born blind is that he trusts Jesus, even though he knows little about him apart from what he might have heard from the conversations of those passing by. When Jesus takes the rather unusual step of spitting on the ground and rubbing the mud and spittle into the man’s eyes, he does not protest. When Jesus asks him to make his way to the pool of Siloam and wash his eyes, he again does not protest, but obediently makes his way to the pool. Was that faith? Trust? Was it something in Jesus’ voice, or what he had heard about Jesus?
Whatever the reason, the man did what Jesus asked, without any explicit promise from Jesus that he would be healed if he did this. But healed he was. The blind man washed his eyes, and for the first time in his life, he saw. Things he had only ever imagined, colours and shapes, things in the distance – and people. He could see them all. In great excitement he returned to his friends.
He could hardly wait to show them that he could not see. But they are in disbelief. They think it is merely someone who looks like him, and he has to convince them it is him.
Then he is taken to the temple and the Pharisees, as was the custom when a miracle is being claimed. It needed to be officially verified.
The man patiently explained exactly what Jesus did. He would have been very much aware that the treatment with spittle, the making of clay and the ordering of him to walk more than he was allowed on the Sabbath were all serious Sabbath violations in the eyes of the Pharisees. But he explains it all as if there is no problem. Afterall, the main point is that he was blind and now he can see.
The Pharisees then want to know what the man has to say about the one who healed him. His answer is careful. ‘He is a prophet,’ he says.
The Pharisees were hoping the man would condemn Jesus as a sinner for working on the Sabbath. Frustrated, they try another tack. They bring in the man’s parents hoping to find he is not their son or that was not born blind. This would solve their problem. If the parents, perhaps out of fear, fail to clearly identify their son, or fail to affirm that he was born blind, then there is no miracle.
But the parents affirm that the man is their son and was born blind. Then they pass the matter back over to their son. He is of age, they insist. Ask him what happened.
The Pharisees call the man back in. He continues to play dumb – which they quite happily accept.
‘Why do you want to know all this again?’ he asks innocently. ‘Do you want to become Jesus’ disciples?’
They are offended and go off on a rant about the man and about them being the disciples of Moses. They point out that Moses they know, but they know nothing about this man Jesus.
They have said enough. The man stops pretending to be dumb as well as having been blind. He springs his trap and lets them have it.
‘Imagine that,’ he says, with sudden confidence. ‘The first person to open the eyes of a blind man in the history of the world, and you have no idea who is he or where he comes from.’
‘We know,’ they retort, ‘that God does not listen to sinners.’
‘But,’ says the man who was born blind, ‘if this man were not from God he could do nothing.’
And on this point he had them. This was their own theology thrown back at them. Only by the power of God could someone do such a deed. And they have just declared Jesus a sinner. So, completely out of arguments, and bested by a man born blind who they had not taken seriously, they did the only thing they could – they threw the man out of the temple.
And that’s when Jesus reappears in the story. For a miracle story about Jesus, the longest miracle story in the Gospels, Jesus has been missing since verse 7. Now, 28 verses later, after the man’s healing, his meeting with his friends, and his various interviews with the Pharisees in the temple, Jesus reappears in the story. But even though physically absent. Jesus has always been at the centre of this story. The debate with the Pharisess, like the previous chapters of John’s Gospel, have been all about the identity of Jesus.
Jesus heard that the Pharisees had thrown the man out to the temple and so he finds him.
And now Jesus brings out the real point of this story. Jesus asks the man if he believes in the Son of Man, which is a term used to refer the Messiah.
‘Tell me who he is,’ says the man, ‘and I will believe in him.’
Jesus says, ‘You have seen him and it is he who is speaking to you now.’
Jesus has chosen his words carefully. It is the first time the man has seen Jesus. Jesus was not present when he opened his eyes. But the man knew his voice. And now he has seen Jesus. And Jesus tells the man that it is the Messiah he has seen.
And here we see genuine spiritual sight. The man does not ask any questions. He does not require any further proof. He recognises Jesus not just as the Messiah but as God in flesh. He calls him Lord, confesses belief in him, and worships him.
Jesus commends the man for his spiritual sight, pointing out how much he truly sees even though he has been blind up until that day. Jesus contrasts this with those who claim to be able to see, but cannot see who Jesus is.
Some Pharisees, who likely followed the man who had been healed of blindness out of the temple, interrupt. ‘Surely,’ they ask Jesus, ‘You are not talking about us?’
And the fact that they ask this question indicated that they knew very well that Jesus was talking about them.
It would be better, Jesus told them, if you were indeed blind. But because you claim to be able to see, because you claim to know all about the Messiah from scripture, you have no excuse.
Genuine sight, the sight that matters, Jesus points out, is not about seeing shapes and colours and sunsets – as nice and beautiful as these are. It is about seeing God among us. It is spiritual sight that this story is ultimately about.
So the question for us is this: Do we see Jesus? Do we really see him? Do we see him for who he is? Do we God in flesh, who has come to live among us and to offer us light and life?
Amen.
Pastor Mark Worthing.
Port Macquarie.