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Pentecost 27
John 15:18 – 16:4

When I was 10 years old, at the start of Year five, a new boy moved to our school and was put in my class. I knew his name but had not met him or talked to him. The second week of school he confronted me on the playground. ‘I hate you,’ he said. ‘You are my enemy and you’d better watch your back.’

Well, to say the least I was taken aback and a little upset. And the strangest thing was that I’d never met him before or spoken with him. He knew nothing about me.

I went home and told my mum what had happened. She was certain that I must have insulted him somehow … said or did something. But there was nothing. ‘You have to ask him,’ she said. ‘Then you can apologise for whatever he thinks you did.’

‘So I asked him the next day if I had said or done something to make him upset.’

‘I just hate you,’ he said, ‘and I’m gonna get you.’ Then he walked off.

Apparently he was of the belief that he needed an enemy. Someone he could hate and blame all his problems on. And I was the one. There was no reason to it. And no way to convince him that I was not his enemy.

It was my first glimpse into real hatred. It is not rational and cannot be reasoned with.

Sadly, we have experienced all too many examples of hatred in recent months that many of us have found hard to fathom. In the recent US election campaign we found extreme elements on both sides convinced that the other was evil. My own family in the US is considering whether they should cancel Thanksgiving meal because of the animosity on both sides. And then there is the centuries old hatred spewing out of the Middle East in which both sides are convinced that there is one version of events, one version of history, and one side that is justified in hating the other. Many of those who have sought to mediate an end to hostilities have given up in frustration as neither side is willing to negotiate.

John in his Gospel, is much more interested in love than hatred. He talks of the love of the Father for the son, of the Son for the Father, and of the Father and the Son for those who believe in the Son. John speaks of the love that those who follow Jesus have for one another. And in the text immediately preceding today’s text we hear of the greatest love that anyone can have, for Jesus to lay down his life for others. And he tells his disciples that he has given them a new commandment, that they should love one another.

Jesus says all these things as part of his farewell speech to his disciples at the Last Supper. He said these things to prepare them and to comfort them.

But then the tone shifts dramatically. In today’s text we find a departure from this recurring theme of love in John’s Gospel. In today’s text we find Jesus warning his disciples that they will be hated, just as Jesus himself is hated. Jesus warns his disciples that a time is coming when people will hate them and seek to kill them. And they will do this simply because they bear the name of Jesus. ‘People hate me,’ Jesus said, ‘because they do not know the Father. And thus they also hate the Father, and will hate you.’

But why would Jesus be hated? After all, he proclaimed the love of God and the forgiveness of sins. He healed the sick. He stood up for the poor and oppressed. Why would anyone hate Jesus?

Jesus says that it was to fulfil the words of scripture, ‘They hated me without cause.’  He is referring to Psalm 69:4.

‘More in number than the hairs of my head

Are those who hate me without cause;

Many are those who would destroy me,

My enemies who accuse me falsely.

What I did not steal, must I now restore?’

And here we find a great truth about hatred. It is like the hatred I experienced from the boy in Year Five, or the hatred we often see behind those from different political camps or ethnic groups. In its truest and purest form, hate has no rational cause. We might seek some reason for it. We might be convinced that if only we could find the reason for the hatred we could bring it to an end. But true hate is beyond reason. That is the point of this Psalm of David that Jesus refers to. Hatred has no cause. It adheres to no reason.

We often use the word ‘hate’ loosely. We hate a certain movie or song. We hate days that are too cold or too hot. ‘I hate the weather,’ or ‘I hate it when the garbage collection is late’ we say casually. But when we encounter genuine hatred we find that it is something very different to dislike.

Those consumed by hatred have been so blinded by hate that they are willing to believe anything bad they hear about ‘the other’ and reject anything they hear that might seem positive.

That is the sad nature of hatred.

And no one experienced it more fully or unjustly than Jesus.

And on the eve of his arrest he reminds the disciples that as his followers they can expect the same hatred.

But it is not them. It is nothing personal. And it defies all reason. It is simply because they bear the name of Jesus, who also was hated without reason.

But why does Jesus tell his disciples this?

Again, just as was the case in his preceding words, when he talked about the coming of the Holy Spirit and about love, Jesus tells his disciples these things to bring them comfort.

Not exactly the words of comfort anyone would like to hear. People will hate you for no good reason and will seek to kill you. How does that bring comfort, we might wonder?

Jesus tells his disciples, and all of us who bear his name, that there will be those who will hate us simply for being followers of Jesus. But when this happens we are to remember that Jesus was hated too. We are to remember that that following Jesus will cost something.

And most importantly, we are to remember that we are not alone. Jesus has sent his Spirit to be with us. When we feel completely alone, hated for no reason, The Spirit is with us and will give us the strength and words to speak.

Jesus calls all who follow him to love each other, just as he has loved us. But he does not promise that everyone will love us. He goes out of his way, in fact, to warn us that we will at times experience quite the opposite, just for because we follow him.

But Jesus wants us to know that when this happens, it is a reminder that we are his. If we were not his and he did not love us, then we would not be hated for following him. And he wants us also to know that we are not alone. That he has sent his Spirit to stand with us and guide us and comfort us in such times.

But still, we ask, there must be some reason for such hatred. There must be some cause that can be addressed.

In fact, even though Jesus tells us that he (and by extension we) are hated without cause, he does provide an explanation. ‘They hate me,’ he says, ‘and they hate you because they do not know the Father. They do not know the one who sent me’ (verses 15:21 and 16:3).

And here is not only a clue as to the nature and cause of this hatred, but also an indication of how we might address it.

Hatred originates not in any reason or logic, but our of lack of knowledge. The first persecutors of the early followers of Jesus were the Jewish authorities. They thought they were doing a righteous service to God (16:20). But in fact, they do not know God.

One of these, you may recall, was a young hothead named Saul, from Tarsus. He stopped persecuting the followers of Jesus only when he himself met Jesus – when he learned to know who God truly was. In fact, he not only stopped persecuting Christians, but he changed his name to Paul and became one of the greatest advocates for the cause of Jesus.

So we will indeed encounter people who hate Jesus and hate those of us who follow him for no clear reason. They might see us as their enemy, even. But that does not make them our enemy. It does not mean that we, in turn, should hate them.

Because knowledge can bring an end to hatred. And a knowledge of Jesus, that is, knowing not just who Jesus is, but knowing Jesus a friend, dissolves all hatred.

So it when confronted by senseless hatred. Especially when it is directed at us simply for following Jesus, pray for that person or those people. Speak the words that the Spirit gives us to tell them who Jesus is. That is what Jesus asks us to do in this text.

They may not listen. But then again, neither did Saul of Tarsus, and neither did most of us – until we did. Until we ourselves came to know Jesus and his love, we too were caught up in a world of unreasoned hate.

But in Jesus, we have become bound up in his world of transforming love that overcomes all hatreds.

Amen.

Pastor Mark Worthing.
Port Macquarie.

Pentecost 26
John 3:22-36  

In the first half of this chapter we had the story of Nicodemus visiting Jesus at night. That account comes to its highpoint with the famous words in verse 16, ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.’ This verse has been adopted by the American evangelical movement as their theme verse and it is hard to go to a view a sporting event in the US in the past several decades without seeing a few placards saying ‘John 3:16’, not to mention the bumper stickers. I am not sure how many people who see these placards go to their phones and look up John 3:16, but I did read some years ago that this verse in now the most famous and best known in the Bible.

But what does it mean? We often take it is isolation from its context. After this verse John gives us a small commentary on the meaning of this passage in verses 17-21 in which he talks about the Son coming into the world not to bring condemnation but salvation, and to be the light of the world. Most people looking to understand this key passage stop reading there. But the remainder of the chapter belongs with the first and they are meant to be read together. It provides a parallel story to that of Nicodemus, but this time the character who appears alongside of Jesus is John the Baptist.

Many might argue that verses 22-36 are an entirely different theme to the first half of the chapter. Indeed, in the Gospels a change of geographical location generally indicates a change of theme. But not in this case. There are too many deliberate links to the themes of verse 1-16 to believe anything other than that John saw the account of John the Baptist as a continuation of several key themes from the first half of the chapter. We do not have time to go into these verses in depth, but some of the ‘echoes’ from verses 1-16 should be noted.
The themes of baptism, water (v. 23) and Spirit (v. 34) continue. The concept of ‘from above’ is found in the ‘from heaven’ of verse 27 and the ‘from above’ of verse 31. (same word, άνωθεν, as in v. 3). In verse 32 he testifies to what he has seen personally but no one hears his testimony. This parallels v. 11 – as well as the earthly and heavenly things. Verses 28-30 pickup strongly the Messianic theme of the first half of the chapter. V. 36 concludes the section with a contrast again between the two ways or destinies of eternal life versus wrath. The second half of the chapter, therefore, ends on the very same note as the first.
The contrast with John the Baptist further clarifies who Jesus is. Verse 35, which also speaks of agape-love, provides an interesting parallel with 3:16. The ‘all things’ parallels the ‘world’ of v. 16. John uses the two terms as synonyms in much the same way that the Psalms do this. And the ‘whoever believes’ of verse 36 clearly parallels the second part of verse 16. The intriguing difference is now that Father loves the Son and gives him all things (the world). But this can only occur in light of verse 16 where learn that the world is the object of God’s love, and the Son is given for the world.
So the two stories, laid out side by side, would look something like this (see bulletin insert):

1-10 Nicodemus speaks with Jesus ↔ 22-30 John Bapt speaks about
Jesus
5,6 Water and Spirit ↔ 22-33 Water and Spirit

11 Testifies of what he has seen in ↔ 32 testifies of what he has seen
heaven but no one believes him in heaven but not one
believes him
12 earthly/heavenly things contrasted ↔ 31 earthly and heavenly things
contrasted
13 Son comes from above ↔ 31 Son comes from above

John 3:16 ↔ John 3:35,36
God loves world → gives Son The Father loves Son → gives him all
Whoever believes has eternal life ↔ Whoever believes has eternal life

In the ancient Semitic world repetition, including concentric and chiastic structures, were frequently used to emphasise or stress certain key points. Occasionally several key phrases or ideas recur in a parallel passage (similar to the kind of parallelisms found in Hebrew poetry like the Psalms). These draw the reader’s attention. Then there often occurs a key verse which parallels a previous key passage but turns around some key concept to particularly emphasise a point. The modern reader often misses these literary and interpretative cues. John, a Jew writing in Greek, would have been quite familiar with this style. If one views John 17-21 as a commentary or interlude by the Evangelist that highlights the importance and meaning of verse 16, then there are some important parallels between verse 1-16 and verse 22-36 that cannot simply be dismissed as coincidence.

The parallel ending to each of these two stories cannot be missed. John 3:35,36 is a deliberate parallel to 3:16. These two passages explain one another. Only the God who loves his Son can give him for the world, and only the God who loves the world can give all things (the world) to his Son. Both the Son and the world are loved by God the Father, and both are given to/for the other. Belief, or faith, on this foundation, is the way to eternal life.

Not only does the Father give the Son to the world, but he gives the world to the Son. God’s love for the world is his motivation for giving his Son, and his love for the Son is his motivation for giving him the world. These verses taken together form a literary device called a chiasm, in which the two main points are inverted to explain and interpret one another.
It is called a chaism because of the Greek letter Chi, which looks like an ‘X’. If you wrote out the first half of John 3:16, the underneath it wrote out John 3:35 and then drew a line connecting Son in each verse, and world (or all things) in each verse, the two intersecting lines would form an ‘X’ or a Greek letter Chi.

God loves world → gives it his Son (John 3:16)

 

God loves Son → gives him the world (John 3:35)

So we have here a literary device (a chiasm) inside a literary device, the telling of parallel stories. And all this serves to highlight the key point. It is a point that culminated in verse 35 and 36, not verse 16.

But we tend to stop with John 3:16, getting only half of the point. The full story is only seen when we take John 3:35 and 36 into account. God loves both the Son and the world. And God gives them to one another.

Imagine a Jewish wedding ceremony in the which the Rabbi takes the bride and groom’s hands and joins them together. That is what is happening here. And it is not hard to imagine such a scene when just such an image has been brought up a few lines earlier in verse 29. So the image of a wedding ceremony has already been planted in the reader’s mind. Now we have this mutual giving in love of the Son to the world and the world to the Son. It would be a strange and incomplete ceremony in which only the bride was given to the groom, or only the groom to the bride.

So that most famous of all Bible verses, John 3:16, has a sequel: John 35 and 36. And this second occurrence of the teaching, in the complex literary structure that John employs here, is meant to be the culmination of these two stories. Yet it continues to be overlooked by readers who stop at John 3:16 thinking we have heard all we need to hear. And John 3:16 is indeed a very powerful passage. It is hard not to stop when we have read it an meditate on its meaning. God loved the world (that is to say, us) so much that he gave his Son that we might have life everlasting.

But this isn’t the end of the story. It not the end of the message of this text. For the next, parallel story, as we have seen, ends with almost the exact same words. Only this time, God so loved his Son that he gives him the world. The Son is ours. He is God’s gift to us. We learn that from John 3:16. But we are also his. We belong to Jesus because the Father has given us to him in love. That is what we learn in John 3:35.

The end result of being given to and for one another, that is, Son to the world and world to the Son, is the same. Both verses conclude with eh promise of eternal life for all who believe.

It is unlikely that signs saying ‘John 3:35’ will begin popping up at US sporting events. But next time you see someone pointing to John 3:16, remember that it conveys only one half of this wonderful message. For the second half we must keep reading. God so loved the world that he gave his Son that all who believe will have eternal life. This is most certainly true.

But there is more.

It is equally true that ‘God so loved the Son that he gave him everything (that is, the world), that all who believe in him may have eternal life.’

We have Jesus and Jesus has us. Both are held together by the bonds of God’s love. And that, indeed, is good news.

Amen.

Pastor Mark Worthing.
Port Macquarie.

Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.

The verses we will focus on today is from John 12:44-46 – And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. ⁴⁵And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.⁴⁶ I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

Have you ever noticed that politicians seem to repeat themselves?  They say the same thing over and over again. One well-known line is “let’s make it great again.” Whatever ‘it’ might be.  There is a perception that to form a good habit you need to repeat it for 21 days.[1] 21 days on that new diet, giving up alcohol or even coffee. Unfortunately, a recent study by the University of Chicago found that there is no magic number.[2] That 21 days of repetition is now much longer.

I don’t know about you, but when I read the gospel reading from John today, I shook my head.  I thought, haven’t we heard all this before?  What’s with all the repetition? Why is John going over the same stuff thing again and again? Isn’t there something new, fresh and exciting he could be telling us? However, what might seem unusual on first read is quite purposeful.  John is reminding us of God’s grace and mercy on repeat. Maybe he knows about the study from the University of Chicago.

The reading today opens with Jesus departing to an unknown location.  This doesn’t make sense until we look at the prior chapter (see verses 35-36) where Jesus tells the crowd that he will be here for a little while longer. In the last two verses of the previous chapter, Jesus uses “light” and “darkness” 8 times. Jesus is telling the crowd about his impending death which ultimately leads to God’s grace and mercy on repeat for us. When he will turn “darkness” into “light.”

Commentators divide today’s reading into two main areas.

• Verses 37-43, with focus on “blind unbelief,” and the question of “Who has believed?”[3],[4]
• And verses 44-50, which is about the “divine sending” with an “inescapable judgement.” [5],[6]

One commentator calls this chapter the “Epilogue of Jesus’ Ministry.”[7] It’s interesting to look at the meaning of the word “epilogue” which is the end that serves as the conclusion to what has happened.[8]  Appropriate really, given this is the last time Jesus speaks publicly before he hides himself away, before his persecution and death.

You may recall last week Pastor Mark focused on the blind man receiving sight (see John 9:1-12).  Where Jesus calls out:

• the “night is coming, when no one can work” (John 9:4). The forecast of darkness.
• And we hear an “I am” statement of Jesus being the “light of the world” (John 9:5).

But the Pharisees and the people closest to the blind man didn’t see, nor did they believe. Jesus goes on to tell them that they remain blind, and in sin. The people remained bound by their lack of faith.  This is a similar message to the crowd in John’s gospel.  Despite Jesus performing not just a sign, not a few signs, but “so many signs, they did not believe in him” (v37).  They were stranded in their unbelief.

This makes me wonder, with so many signs repeated by Jesus, why didn’t they believe?  Why didn’t they get the message?  Well, John tells us.  It was to fulfil what the prophet Isaiah said. John retells Isaiah 53:1 by asking, “Who has believed our message…?” And the answer is, no one. Jesus is rejected by the crowd. A rejection that plays out over and over in John’s recount. And plays out in the world around us today.

Then John takes us to Isaiah 6:10, where we are reminded of people’s calloused hearts, dull ears and closed eyes. Where seeing and hearing, are linked with the act of believing and following God.[9]  This repetition is to remind the people that they have heard this before.  It is a familiar story.  It has been shared from generation to generation.  Repeated, over and over.  They should have remembered.  But they didn’t.

This is where John shifts things a little. After repeating a section of Isaiah 6:10, John shares that God “blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts …”(v40). What? God hardened their hearts, and they couldn’t hear the good news that Jesus was sharing. That seems harsh, doesn’t it? I thought the whole point of Jesus being there was to bring the message to them. And now they can’t hear it. This doesn’t sound like our God.

Moving to verse 42, we are told that “at the same time MANY even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees, they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue.” They did not believe because they were scared of what other people might think.  They valued the opinions of others and their position in the synagogue over professing their faith. They placed their value in human wealth over eternal glory.[10] Their nature of unbelief, sown by Adam and Eve, rooted deep within their hearts.[11] 

I don’t know about you, but this again seems familiar.  A repetition of what we’ve heard before in Exodus. We can recall Moses and Aaron begging Pharoah to let the Israelites go. We are reminded of how Pharoah hardened his heart. How God brought devastation. And we see it repeat, over and over until they are set free. Until God’s grace and mercy shines through.  We learn that placing value on worldly things, such as position, power, and image, as Pharoh did, ultimately leads to death.

So, is God in the business of hardening our hearts?  Of closing our ears so we won’t hear the good news of Jesus our saviour. The answer is a resounding no. As John reminds us in verse 43 “for [the crowd] loved human praise more than praise from God.” They loved earthly things which they freely chose over God. God allows and we freely choose. We succumb to the desires deep in our hearts. We desire the ‘more,’ which shines and makes us stand out. These things ultimately blacken our hearts and draw us away from God. Just like the people in today’s text, our free will condemns us to death.

And what is the response of God?  His response follows in verse 44-50.  Jesus was sent down to Earth as a divine sacrifice.[12] Jesus is sent as the sacrificial lamb and faces an “inescapable judgment.”[13] God places his mercy and grace on repeat.  Why? For you. For me. To set us free from the bondage of our sin. To shine a light on the path to eternal life.

Listen. You can hear Jesus cry out from today’s text:

• I have come for you.
• I have come to save you.
• I haven’t come to judge you.
• I have come to lead you to eternal life.
• I have come to be a lamp on your feet and a light on your path (see Psalm 119:105).

He cries out for us to see and hear. To listen to what he is saying. Yet we don’t listen, and we don’t see.

Today we have the benefit of knowing what happens in the story of Jesus Christ. John is foreshadowing what is to come. That the Messiah, the “suffering servant” is here. Taking our sinful nature upon himself and shouldering the pain of rejection to the cross. Where he nails it there.  Where it is no longer remembered and no longer a burden. It is in this moment we find hope in Jesus’ redemptive love.  Where God places his mercy and grace on repeat.

And how good is this hope?  That we know the truth. That amongst all the darkness in Gethsemane there is light. An eternal light. And everything points to God.

Yes, we repeatedly fail in life. Each week we come to church seeking forgiveness. Each week we are showered with the blood of Christ and washed clean. We say we won’t do it again.  Seconds later we walk out the door and mess it all up.  We head out into the world and fall to our sinful nature.  To the gossip, lies, or maybe something else. We try to justify it by saying ‘it was only a little white lie,’ or ‘no one was going use it.’ But we can’t justify it.  For in God’s sight, they are all equal.

Luther struggled with the same thing. Often, he spent hours confessing the smallest of sins. Some may say trivial, but not to Luther. He wanted to be sure that nothing separated him from God’s grace. On one occasion he received absolution and no sooner did he walk away and was overcome with the feeling of pride. He fell into sin. He failed.[14] And so Luther repeated the cry of forgiveness.  And God met him with grace and mercy, on repeat.

God knows how messy our lives are. He knows that we are broken, and we will fail. He knows we will reject him. And despite the rejection, ridicule and disbelief, he still reaches out the hand of grace to his creation. Our loving God is as close as our next breath. He has never left us. And when we turn away, he draws in closer. He says “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” (Revelation 3:20). God’s awesome grace and mercy, always on repeat.

 Amen.

Let us pray. Lord God, our heavenly Father. Thank you for your repetitive grace and mercy.  May we be encouraged to extend grace and mercy to those around us.  Amen.

References:

Barclay, William. The Gospel of John : Chapters 8-21. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975.

Beasley-Murray, George R. John, Volume 36. Zondervan Academic, 2018.

Clavin, Whitney. “No Magic Number for Time It Takes to Form Habits.” California Institute of Technology, 17 April 2023. https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/no-magic-number-for-time-it-takes-to-form-habits.

Crossway Bibles. ESV: Study Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Bibles, 2016.

Ford, David F. The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2021.

Solis-Moreira, Jocelyn. “How Long Does It Really Take to Form a Habit?” Scientific American, 24 January 2024. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-long-does-it-really-take-to-form-a-habit/.

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. “Lutheran Theology of the Reformation | Teaching the Faith.” Lutheran Reformation, 2024. https://lutheranreformation.org/theology/.

University, Cambridge. “Epilogue.” Dictionary.cambridge.org, 2024. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/epilogue.

 

Worthing, Mark. Martin Luther: A Wild Boar in the Lord’s Vineyard. Northcote, Vic: Morning Star Publishing, 2017.

[1] Jocelyn Solis-Moreira, “How Long Does It Really Take to Form a Habit?,” Scientific American, 24 January 2024, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-long-does-it-really-take-to-form-a-habit/.

[2] Whitney Clavin, “No Magic Number for Time It Takes to Form Habits,” California Institute of Technology, 17 April 2023, https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/no-magic-number-for-time-it-takes-to-form-habits.

[3] William Barclay, The Gospel of John: Chapters 8-21 (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975), 131-133.

[4] David F. Ford, The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2021), 246.

[5] Barclay, The Gospel of John, 134-136

[6] Ford, The Gospel of John, 248.

[7] George R Beasley-Murray, John, Volume 36 (Zondervan Academic, 2018), 215.

[8] Cambridge University, “Epilogue,” Dictionary.cambridge.org, 2024, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/epilogue.

[9]  Ford, The Gospel of John, 248-250.

[10] Ford, The Gospel of John, 248.

[11] Barclay, The Gospel of John, 133.

[12] Barclay, The Gospel of John, 134-136.

[13] Ford, The Gospel of John, 248.

[14]Mark Worthing, Martin Luther: A Wild Boar in the Lord’s Vineyard (Northcote, Vic: Morning Star Publishing, 2017), 27.

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 17^th 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.

The conversation between Jesus, the rich man, and the disciples regarding salvation or eternal life has a connection to the truth of Martin Luther’s words in his commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians

Therefore, whoever knows well how to distinguish the Gospel from the Law should give thanks to God and know that he is a real theologian (Luther LW Vol 26 p115.)

 What Luther is saying is that, one way or another we are all theologians, we all have views about ourselves, the world and God. These ideas come from various sources, including importantly the culture in which we live and our upbring, our parents or those closet to us. These form the basis of our deep assumptions about our relationship, or non-relationship, to whatever we identify as God. But what distinguishes true theology from fake theology is the knowledge it gives us of the difference between God’s Law and God’s Gospel. This ability consists in, what Luther calls, the right use of the Law and the Gospel.

God’s Law confronts us with God’s commands. It constantly reminded us just how far we are from knowing and loving God. It tells us that in fact we hate God, we would rather be free of God’s commands and be the judges of what is good and evil for ourselves, as is recorded in Chp 3 of the book of Genesis. How very post-modern is that!

The Gospel on the other hand is God’s Word of free forgiveness in Christ, the covering of our waywardness and hatred of God by God’s gift of Christ’s righteousness, whereby we are set free from being haters of God’s law to embracing his will for us; in this we express our thanks and love of God for His grace toward us in Christ by serving our neighbour. Our obedience to God expressing our thanks and love is our action toward our neighbour

In the scriptures from Genesis to the Gospel of St Mark read today, we see how the difference and unity between the Law and the Gospel has a very drastic effect if they are not understood or rejected.

In the garden of Eden man (Adam/Adamah means ‘earth’ from which God created man) Adam is put amid a flourishing garden planted with all manner of edible fruits which are there for his benefit and sustenance. There is however one important proviso or exception. He must not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God says, if you eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, on that day, “you will surely die”. So, the fruit of this tree has fatal consequences if it is eaten. Thus, God’s command to avoid the fruit of this tree is a prohibition to safeguard and protect the Adam’s life. God’s command is life giving and life preserving. In this command God’s protective hand is stretched out over Adam. God will is obviously to protect what God has created from death, as separation and abandonment by God. God’s command therefore, concerning this tree, is a powerful promise of life and health for Adam in the garden before God.

The threat posed by the fruit of the tree, which man is forbidden to eat, is that God knows that once eaten, humans will have their eyes opened and they will have the knowledge of good and evil. For Adam this is the fatal threat that this tree poses. It promises the knowledge of good and evil. Once man has this knowledge God cannot stop the fatal consequences flowing from the decision to eat this fruit. But once the fatal step is taken Adam will become himself like God. He will possess in the knowledge of good and evil that which distinguishes the Creator from the creature. God’s act of creation consists in the establishment of that which is not God within the limits of creaturely being, creaturely being is created being. As distinct from God this limitation of the creature as created is what being a creature means, being part of the good creation that the Lord God makes and loves. God knows the creation in its earthly reality as created, limited, it is not divine, it has boundaries set by God and which God declares to be ‘good’ indeed ‘very good’.

In transgressing the commandment that is meant to save and secure the creaturely life of the creature, Adam becomes the possessor of divine knowledge; Adam become as the Bible puts it “like God knowing good and evil”. Adam wills to reject this limitation. He thus condemns himself to death, to become separated from God, ceasing to be the creature God created and becoming like God knowing good and evil and thus forever burdened with the guilt of his disobedience. Being burdened with a conscience, knowledge he should not have but which we all have.

But such knowledge, once attained, cannot become unknown. Man is burdened with it and it becomes the seed of his destruction as the creature God has made from the dust of the earth. For the creature makes the impossible attempt to be like God and therefore rejects the gracious life preserving truth of God’s command regarding the tree of knowledge. In seeking and achieving this knowledge Adam hates the limit of his creaturely being and life as the one whom God has created and wills to relate to in life preserving love. Adam insanely, instead seeks to be equal with God; man grasps the impossible possibility for a creature of being “like God”. Adam thus embraces his own death as a creature in his rejection of God’s good command to “not eat of the fruit tree of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. Instead of allowing God to be God and rejoicing in the promised goodness of God’s commandment towards him that wills to preserve life; Adam and all his subsequent generations hurtle headlong to destruction in hatred of God’s commandment. For Adam then, God’s command is at one and the same time life giving and death dealing. It is both Gospel and Law. In turning now to the New Testament, we come to see how Jesus’ action enlightens this dark mystery of human life before God after Adam; his rejection of God’s life-giving commandment.

In the holy gospel reading, St Mark 10, we are presented with the difference between those who are obedient and those who are disobedient to the Law as understood by Jesus, who in Himself, for our sake fulfils all the law of God not for His own sake but for ours. He assumes Adam’s flesh from Mary His mother and puts himself in the place of sinful Adam. In this conversation with the rich man, He answers once and for all of Adams descendants who is in and who is out of the kingdom of Christ. It has two main sections: one dealing negatively with the disobedience of the rich man and the other positively dealing with the nature of the disciple’s obedience.

We shall begin by trying to see the difference by looking at the second section first: meaning of obedience of the disciples. They ask Jesus, “Who can be saved”, for they are “astounded” and “amazed” at Jesus saying that it “is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than that rich man should enter the kingdom of God”. When the rich man seeking eternal life says he has kept the commandments turns away from Jesus when confronted with the meaning of God’s commandments.

Contrary to the rich man who departs and goes away from Jesus. The saying of Peter in v.28., is not contradicted Jesus. That they indeed, the disciples, have left all and followed Jesus. They have done in fact what the rich man could not do. But to their amazement Jesus does not then say that therefore they inherit eternal life, as opposed to the rich man. But surely, we may think, Jesus is over emphasising the situation of human beings before God. Haven’t the disciples done precisely what the rich man was unable to do and in so doing, leaving all and following Jesus, haven’t they by doing this shown that entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven is after all not a human impossibility.

But Jesus words in v.27 puts an end to this illusion. For Jesus says, that even they, the disciples, the seemingly obedient ones, should enter the Kingdom of Heaven is an impossibility: for men. So, Jesus’ answer to the disciples’ urgent question, “Who can be saved” is effectively – ‘No one’ can, ‘Nobody can be saved’. The disciples, standing as they do witness the disobedience of the rich man, they are forced by Jesus words to see themselves as standing on a par with the rich man when it comes to reckoning up “Who can be saved”. They are forced to see that their only hope, as it is also the hope of the rich man, that with God, “all things are possible”, and therefore even their salvation as well is possible. For this possibility of God is standing before both the disciples and the rich man in the person of Jesus, who as God’s Son is identified in his flesh with the godforsakenness of the human condition. He is God’s possibility which excludes both the rich man as well as disciples from salvation in terms of what they have done or not done: for He is in Himself not simply the divine possibility of salvation He is its actuality, the One the only One who fulfils the Law by obedience to death before God and at the same time by doing this demonstrates His unswerving love of God His Father and so fulfilling for our sake the judgement of God on all sinners and in His resurrection being justified for our sake. 

Even though it is true of the rich man that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of as needle than that he should enter the Kingdom of Heaven, this is also true of the disciples: those who have done what the rich man seemingly could and would not do. From the point of view of their own ability the disciples too lack precisely the same thing as the rich man. This is the discovery they are forced to make when, according to the text, they exclaim, “Who then can be saved!” The judgment of Jesus on the rich man, the affirmation by Jesus of the one thing necessary applies no less to the disciples.

These words of Jesus compel the disciples to see the disobedient in an entirely new light. Jesus’ harsh words directed at the rich man and indirectly to them as well, who have left all and followed Him, that they indeed are included in Jesus saying, “With men it is impossible”. With these words Jesus binds the disciples in complete solidarity with the disobedient rich man. In Jesus encounter with the rich man and in the consequent discussion the disciples are confronted with the yawning abyss of their own disobedience, the impossibility of their salvation apart from the actuality God’s grace present for them in Jesus. The presence of God’s grace in Jesus at one and the same time excludes, judges, both the rich man AND the disciples in order that those who enter the kingdom, enter only because of the gift of grace present in Jesus. Who can be saved? Nobody can be saved, the affirmation of the one thing necessary for the rich man applies no less to the disciples.

What is it then that distinguishes the disciples of Jesus from the rich man, the disobedient. The difference does not consist in their obedience, what they have done in following Jesus as opposed to the rich man’s disobedience. What distinguishes the disciples from the rich man is not who and what they are but who and what Jesus will to be for them in His call of them. In their following Jesus, their being with Him, they testify to the possibility of grace, the fact that with God, “all things are possible” and that this includes their obedience as they remain attached to Jesus who is their righteousness by grace alone, by His call of them to be with Him. They remain disciples only in so far as they continue to acknowledge this mystery to be the basis of their existence. For the conversation between Jesus and the disciples ends with the cryptic saying, “many that are first shall be last, and the last first”.

But this gift of grace present in Jesus was there not only for the disciples it was there for the rich man as well. The gospel writer adds these critical words in the context of Jesus conversation with the rich man: “Jesus”, it says, “looked upon him and loved him”. When Jesus goes on to tell him what he lacks, the freedom from his riches, he does so in order that he, the rich man, may see that Jesus is there specifically for him. Jesus’ call of the rich man to follow him and forsake his riches shows us, as in Genesis, that the command of God is life preserving and grounded in God’s love. It is that rich man, may give up what he has chosen as giving his life meaning and value, his possessions and instead receive the gift of God’s grace as that which gives his life enduring meaning. Within the hard shell of the commandment that Jesus gives the rich man is the life preserving love of Christ which he chooses not to receive. Just as in the Garden in Genesis Adam rejected the life preserving loving commandment not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil by rejecting the creaturely limitation of his life and willing to be like God and be the judge of his own destiny.

But for who else is Jesus on the way to Gethsemane and Golgotha, none other than those who are enslaved by all that negates true human life. Jesus hard words to the rich man, the demand that he lays upon him and which causes him to turn away, this hard demand is in order that the rich man may be set free to allow himself to be loved by Jesus. This was and is purpose of the command of the law which the rich man could recite so well but did not know. The rich man can certainly reject what Jesus wills to be for him and he does so. But his actions cannot negate or overthrow the Kingdom of Christ, the fact, so poignantly stated by the gospel writer, that Jesus “looked upon him and loved him”, loved specifically him with his hard and rebellious heart.

For in Jesus God himself has taken to himself our godforsaken humanity as, condemned by the law, children of Adam, and has become the One, who as the risen crucified One promises to us the wonderful gift of His renewed transformed human life in His Word and Sacrament. Here by these means Jesus both accompanies and sustains us until our earthly journey ends in its fulfillment in Him: through death and resurrection.

Dr. Gordon Watson.
Port Macquarie.

19 Pentecost
John 9:1-12

In todays’ Gospel reading we have the beginning of the account of the healing of the man born blind. It is the sixth of the seven miracles, or signs, that John records in his Gospel. It is also the longest of any of the miracle stories in the Gospels. Here we find John at his best as storyteller. Many recognize seven distinct scenes in this story. But we can divide the story more simply into three parts.

First, there is the account of the miracle itself in verses 1-12. Second, in verses 13-34, there is the series of interrogations, first by the Pharisees, then of the man’s parents, and finally, of the man himself again by the Pharisees. In the third and final part of the story Jesus, who has not appeared in the story since verse 7, finds the man after he had been forced out of the temple and talks to him and some nearby Pharisees about spiritual blindness (verses 35-41)

Each part of this story is important. None of the parts make complete sense apart from the others.

Today, we will focus on the miracle itself.

First, we recall the previous five miracles of Jesus that John called signs. There was the turning of water to wine (2:1-11) in which Jesus performed a miracle of creation, which only God could do. Second was the healing of the official’s son (4:46-54) which was done at a distance. Something no other miracle worker in Israel had done. Third, there was healing of the lame man on the sabbath (5:1-18) which showed that Jesus was lord of the Sabbath. Fourth was the feeding of the multitude (6:1-15) in which Jesus showed that his power far exceeded that of the great miracle working prophets Elijah and Elisha. And fifth, Jesus walks on water (6:16-21) in which he shows that he is lord of the water and other elements.

The pattern is clear. Each of the miracles have shown in distinct ways who Jesus is: not only the promised Messiah, but God himself in human flesh.

So how does this sixth miracle, or sign, fit the pattern?

Importantly, the man is born blind. If he had developed blindness, then perhaps there could be some other explanation for his cure.

It was commonly held at the time that many types of miracles and healings were possible. But not healing of the blind. The man born blind attests to this believe himself when, during his interrogation by the Pharisees, he says ‘Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind’ (verse 32).

So this was no ordinary miracle. In fact, the Hebrew scriptures attest that only God would make the blind to see. For instance, Exodus 4:11 asks: ‘Who makes mortals mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?’ and Psalm 146:8 says, ‘The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.’

And Isaiah noted that the healing of the blind was a sign of the coming of the Messiah. For instance 29:18, ‘On that day the deaf shall hear … and the eyes of the blind shall see.’ 35:5, ‘The eyes of the blind shall be opened,’ and 42:7, ‘I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind.’   Jesus certainly intended to remind his disciples of this last passage when, just before he healed the man born blind, he repeated the statement made in chapter eight, ‘I am the light of the world.’

Like the other signs John records, the healing of the blind man is a very specific witness not only to the fact that Jesus is the awaited Messiah, but also that he is God come among his people. Once again, John included this particular miracle because it continues to build the case for who Jesus is.

In addition to the that fact that this miracle points to who Jesus is, there are three other aspects about the account of the miracle itself in verse 1-12 that draw out attention.

First, there is the opening of the story with the question about who sinned, the man born blind or his parents.

Second, the methods Jesus used to heal the blind man.

And third, the response of the blind man’s neighbours and friends after his healing.

First, why does this story begin with the disciples asking Jesus whether this man or his parents sinned in order to cause such a condition to fall upon him? And why would they even ask such a question?

In that day it was a common belief that if some terrible calamity or condition fell upon someone, it was their fault. Surely such a person was being punished for some sin. People wanted some explanation for evil and suffering in the world. Blaming the sufferer seemed to be a convenient way to do this. So the disciples are reflecting a common belief. But this man’s situation is complicated by the fact that he was born blind. So did God anticipate some sin of his, or more likely, was he being punished for some sin of his parents (which was also a widely held belief at the time, based upon Deuteronomy 5:9 ‘I am a jealous God, punishing children to the third and fourth generation for the iniquity of parents who reject me.’)  So the question the disciples ask seems to be a theological one.

But Jesus does not buy into the either/or argument. He says that neither is the case. Note that he is not saying that sinful actions will never result in bad things. Jesus is not making a blanket statement. He is pointing out to his disciples that things are not so simple as they might like to make them. In the particular case of this blind man, he tells them that his condition exists so that, ‘God’s works might be revealed in him.’ The man’s healing is about to become yet another sign of the coming of the Messiah.

But again, this is also not meant as a blanket explanation for the problem of evil and suffering. Jesus avoids any simplistic or one answer fits all explanation for evil and suffering. We do not find here an explanation for human suffering from Jesus. What we find is a caution not to jump to conclusions or to try to force an explanation onto every situation.

The next point of this story that will strike us as odd are the methods employed by Jesus to heal the man born blind. When Jesus healed the official’s son he did so at a distance. When he healed the lame man he simply told him to get up and walk. But now he spits on the ground, makes mud, then rubs it onto the man’s eyes. Then he asks him to go to the pool of Siloam, which is near the Temple. There is a considerable amount of ritual and action and work involved in this miracle. But we know from previous miracles John has recorded that none of this is necessary. Jesus could have simply said, ‘Open your eyes.’ So why does he do all of this?

Rubbing saliva on injured eyes was a recognised treatment of eye conditions at the time. So this is made to look, perhaps, like a physician going about his work. And making mud, even with one’s spittle, was technically considered work according to the interpretation of the law. And so was walking more than a certain distance, or causing someone else to do so.

We learn in verse 14 that this healing occurred on the Sabbath. And Jesus has done at least three things that are clear violations of Sabbath law. And none of them were strictly necessary. So we are left with the conclusion that Jesus is bating the Pharisees, the guardians of the Sabbath law. He is deliberately provoking a confrontation and creating a dilemma for them. For the first time in history they are going to see a man born blind who has been healed. But the healing itself, a clear sign of the coming of the Messiah, is done in fragrant violation of Jewish Sabbath law. This sets up the lengthy interrogation of the man who was blind as well as his parents in the coming section. So that is likely the explanation for why Jesus went through the elaborate ritual.

Finally, there is the reaction of those who knew the man when he returns from the pool of Siloam with his sight. It is one of disbelief. And this is a natural reaction. Afterall, as the man himself later testifies, never since the world began has such a thing occurred.

The neighours of the man, which might mean his literal neighbours, or perhaps his fellow beggars who sat near him, are desperately seeking an explanation for the impossible. And they soon come upon one. This man simply looks and sounds like their friend. But it is clearly not him, because their friend is blind, and this man can see. Problem solved. Except that the man who was born blind now begins to insert himself into the story. And he will become the central focus of the story until Jesus reappears in verse 35. The man insists that he really is their blind friend.

So they ask him how this is possible. He tells them that a man called Jesus (who by this stage they would all have heard about) opened his eyes. And he tells them what actions Jesus did to accomplish this.

Finally, the Gospel reading for today ends with a question. The man’s friends ask him concerning Jesus: ‘Where is he?’ The man replies that he does not know.

Perhaps they want to see Jesus themselves. Perhaps they want to ask him just what happened. Perhaps they want to seek healing themselves, which would make sense if these ‘neighbours’ were those who sat beside him begging.

But whatever their reasons, it was the wrong question. In the preceding two chapters, which related the discussion between Jesus and the religious leaders in the Temple, the focus was on the question of who Jesus is. And that is again the focus of this account.

The question the man’s friends should have been asking is this: ‘Just who is this Jesus?’ But they instead want to know where Jesus is. The man doesn’t know, and he doesn’t seem bothered by this. As the story unfolds we see that he himself is much more interested in the question of who Jesus is. In fact, his journey throughout the story is not just one of gaining physical sight, but spiritual sight. As the story progresses his understanding of who Jesus is grows.

In this first section of the story the man refers to him simply as ‘a man called Jeus.’ When he is interrogated the first time by the Pharisees in the temple and is pressed about who Jesus is he says, ‘He is a prophet.’ This is a significant step up in recognition. In his second interview with the Pharisees, he argues that Jesus is ‘from God.’ This represents a further progression in faith. And at the conclusion of the story, when Jesus seeks out the man after the Pharisees have driven him from the temple, he accepts Jesus’ revelation as the ‘Son of Man,’ a Messianic title. The man accepts this, but takes his faith a step further by calling him ‘Lord,’ confessing belief, and worshipping him – which is something reserved for God alone.

Jesus is progressively revealed, through the words of the man who had been born blind, as a man, a prophet, someone from God, the Messiah, and finally God himself.

And here is the real miracle. The man truly has had his eyes opened. He sees Jesus for who he really is.

And that is a miracle that each one of us can experience. We do not need to receive physical sight or some dramatic healing to experience the power of God in our lives. Like the man born blind, we simply need to open our eyes and see who Jesus really is.

And we, too, like the man born blind, will be transformed by the Light of the world.

Amen.