The Fourth Sunday in Lent Year A
A sermon based on John 9:1-41
In the name of Jesus; amen.
“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked…” (Genesis 3:6-7a)
And so sin enters into our world with the eating of a simple piece of fruit and with it comes a wide eyed knowledge of nakedness. Sin opened our eyes and ever since we have been trying to cover up and deflect our guilt and as my husband likes to call it… our nakedidity.
As Jesus was walking along he saw a man blind from birth and his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
It wasn’t a dumb or cruel question. People believed that illness, deformity, poverty, and handicap were punishment for sin. If the man was blind it was somebody’s fault. The disciples were asking a theological question about God based upon what they knew to be common belief. They wanted to know if God would punish a man for his parents’ sins or if God would punish a man from birth for sins he hadn’t even had a chance to commit.
Jesus could have easily said that it was his parents, after all Adam and Eve were the father and mother of all humanity. It was their fault that sin entered into our world; their fault that we don’t all live in paradise. Instead, Jesus tells them that the man was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him; not his parents’ fault, not his fault, not Adam and Eve’s fault.
It’s clever; really… that God would choose blindness and sight to reveal the natures of sin and grace. The eyes of Adam and Eve were opened to their own nakedness through sin, but they became closed to seeing God. This man, born blind, never having seen anything in his whole life, has his blindness blamed on sin and then has them opened to the wonder of God’s grace.
The people don’t see it that way though.
Jesus sees the blindness of the man and makes mud with dirt and spit and puts it on his eyes and tells him to wash it away in a pool called, “Sent.” As the mud comes off so does the man’s blindness, but those who see him can’t seem to believe their own eyes and they begin to question:
“Is this the same guy?”
“Who did this?”
“Were you really blind?”
“Who is this man, Jesus?”
“And what does he think he is doing healing on the Sabbath?”
The Sabbath day was the day that God rested after creating the world and because of that God commanded that people should labor for 6 days, but rest on the seventh. No work was allowed on that day and technically speaking Jesus had broken the commandment according to those who had been put in charge of making sure people followed the rules.
But the Sabbath wasn’t just about taking a break from work. It was meant to be a day when one prayed and devoted their time to resting with God. It wasn’t a day off, but a day for God.
It was on God’s day that Jesus made mud and smeared it on the blind man’s eyes and told him to wash in the pool called “Sent.” It was on God’s day that Jesus opened the man’s eyes so that he could see.
It was on God’s day that the man saw God and rested in God’s grace.
Sin opens our eyes and blinds us; a paradox, I know, but it is the nature of sin to make us think we see so clearly while all the while we totally miss seeing God. Jesus didn’t just open the man’s eyes so that he could see the sunset or the colors of the rainbow, but he opened the man’s eyes to see the grace of God.
While the Pharisees only saw sin, Jesus saw an opportunity and in the process a man’s eyes were opened to believe in the wonderful love of God.
We have been given this same love, love that is meant to clear our sight and see God through the person of Jesus Christ. And while Adam and Eve clothed their nakedness with fig leaves to cover up their sin, we have been clothed with new life so that sin does not leave us exposed to death and hell.
We have been shown love, made witnesses to it, and washed in waters that are meant to send us out to witness to that love.
Amen.
“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked…” (Genesis 3:6-7a)
And so sin enters into our world with the eating of a simple piece of fruit and with it comes a wide eyed knowledge of nakedness. Sin opened our eyes and ever since we have been trying to cover up and deflect our guilt and as my husband likes to call it… our nakedidity.
As Jesus was walking along he saw a man blind from birth and his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
It wasn’t a dumb or cruel question. People believed that illness, deformity, poverty, and handicap were punishment for sin. If the man was blind it was somebody’s fault. The disciples were asking a theological question about God based upon what they knew to be common belief. They wanted to know if God would punish a man for his parents’ sins or if God would punish a man from birth for sins he hadn’t even had a chance to commit.
Jesus could have easily said that it was his parents, after all Adam and Eve were the father and mother of all humanity. It was their fault that sin entered into our world; their fault that we don’t all live in paradise. Instead, Jesus tells them that the man was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him; not his parents’ fault, not his fault, not Adam and Eve’s fault.
It’s clever; really… that God would choose blindness and sight to reveal the natures of sin and grace. The eyes of Adam and Eve were opened to their own nakedness through sin, but they became closed to seeing God. This man, born blind, never having seen anything in his whole life, has his blindness blamed on sin and then has them opened to the wonder of God’s grace.
The people don’t see it that way though.
Jesus sees the blindness of the man and makes mud with dirt and spit and puts it on his eyes and tells him to wash it away in a pool called, “Sent.” As the mud comes off so does the man’s blindness, but those who see him can’t seem to believe their own eyes and they begin to question:
“Is this the same guy?”
“Who did this?”
“Were you really blind?”
“Who is this man, Jesus?”
“And what does he think he is doing healing on the Sabbath?”
The Sabbath day was the day that God rested after creating the world and because of that God commanded that people should labor for 6 days, but rest on the seventh. No work was allowed on that day and technically speaking Jesus had broken the commandment according to those who had been put in charge of making sure people followed the rules.
But the Sabbath wasn’t just about taking a break from work. It was meant to be a day when one prayed and devoted their time to resting with God. It wasn’t a day off, but a day for God.
It was on God’s day that Jesus made mud and smeared it on the blind man’s eyes and told him to wash in the pool called “Sent.” It was on God’s day that Jesus opened the man’s eyes so that he could see.
It was on God’s day that the man saw God and rested in God’s grace.
Sin opens our eyes and blinds us; a paradox, I know, but it is the nature of sin to make us think we see so clearly while all the while we totally miss seeing God. Jesus didn’t just open the man’s eyes so that he could see the sunset or the colors of the rainbow, but he opened the man’s eyes to see the grace of God.
While the Pharisees only saw sin, Jesus saw an opportunity and in the process a man’s eyes were opened to believe in the wonderful love of God.
We have been given this same love, love that is meant to clear our sight and see God through the person of Jesus Christ. And while Adam and Eve clothed their nakedness with fig leaves to cover up their sin, we have been clothed with new life so that sin does not leave us exposed to death and hell.
We have been shown love, made witnesses to it, and washed in waters that are meant to send us out to witness to that love.
Amen.
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