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The Lord said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons." Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me." And the Lord said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, `I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.' Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you." Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, "Do you come peaceably?" He said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice." And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed is now before the Lord." But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, "Neither has the Lord chosen this one." Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, "Neither has the Lord chosen this one." Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, "The Lord has not chosen any of these." Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your sons here?" And he said, "There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here." He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, "Rise and anoint him; for this is the one." Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah

 

Ephesians 5:8-14

Once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light-- for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

"Sleeper, awake!
Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."

Gospel

John 9:1-41

As he walked 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?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man's eyes, saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, "Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?" Some were saying, "It is he." Others were saying, "No, but it is someone like him." He kept saying, "I am the man." But they kept asking him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" He answered, "The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, `Go to Siloam and wash.' Then I went and washed and received my sight." They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, "He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see." Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?" And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, "What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened." He said, "He is a prophet."

The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself." His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."

So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, "Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner." He answered, "I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" He 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?" Then they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from." The man answered, "Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?" And they drove him out.

Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" He answered, "And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him." Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he." He said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped him. Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind." Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, "Surely we are not blind, are we?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, `We see,' your sin remains."

Sermon

Sermon
The Rev. Susan Norris

"What an astonishing thing!  You do not know where he comes from,

 and yet he opened my eyes."

“It takes a lifetime of awareness to realize that what is standing before you is GOD.”

 

In nomine:

In today’s gospel according to John the

idea of sin is wrapped about with the idea of darkness,

of not seeing, of blindness,

Sin and evil are thought of, so to speak, as "the dark side of the force."

 a kind of blindness, of not seeing,

a lack of awareness of God’s presence.

 

Now one of the things I notice when we think about “Sin”

is that sin tends to come paired with the opposite notion of “Salvation” - of health,  or wholeness,  or goodness.

These twin notions, of sin/salvation,  bad/good,  trundle about together,

   not because they are polar opposites

but because they are, in fact intimately related.

In life they are Janus-faced, the two faces of the same passion,

rather like love and hate.

Paul told us a couple of weeks ago, that sin came into the world

ALONG WITH the law. 

Either reality/idea requires the other.

Today's gospel brings this co-dependence if you will,  this pairing,

into focus in a startlingly clear way.

 

Ted Peters, a Lutheran theologian warns us that to understand sin,

we must be able to see that SIN lies 

right in the very heart of our most moral endeavors.""

"When we draw a line between good and evil" Peter's says,

"and then place ourselves on the side of the "good"

bells should ring, alarms go off and lights should flash

That line we have drawn is not the way to overcome sin.

That line is the STRUCTURE, the BUILDING BLOCKS, 

THE SKELETON OF SIN.

That  line we have drawn between good (us) and evil (some other(s) )

is  how  sin  works."

(repeat paragraph)

 

Think of this, though seeing good intentions as “sin”

 may sound like an odd - even crazy idea,

and then listen  to the Blind Man's exclamation in today's gospel,

"What a marvel!  You do not know where this man comes from,

and yet he has opened my eyes."

then the man continues, saying,

 

"We know that God does not listen to sinners,

but does listen to anyone who worships and obeys God. 

Never since the world began has it been heard

that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.

If this man were not from God he could do nothing."

 *  *  *

"What a marvel!  You do not know where he comes from"

 

It is too pat, too easy, and too safe for us

to simply go (nah, nah, nah) and claim that the sin in this passage

 is the Pharisees' inability to discern that Jesus is the Christ

I call it "safe," because if the central sin in this story

is  the Pharisees' failure to recognize that Jesus may be the Messiah

then we, here in this church,

  who claim that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, the Human one, the Son of God

are letting ourselves off the hook and home free until next week's gospel!

After all,

we would scarcely be here today in church

 if we were not formally committed  at least

 to considering the idea that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ of God.

So if that's really the main point this week of this story's discussion of sin,

 we can relax

'cause  we're on the side of the angels . . .

OPPS ! !   WAIT A MOMENT !

Did  I just hear a line getting drawn on the floor of this beloved church ?

 

Maybe we should just ask WHY the Pharisees,

and the man's parents and his friends and relations

can't  or won't SEE that Jesus is the Messiah

To answer that, we could attribute their actions to a whole lot of evil

or  psychologize them to death

but maybe we would do better just to re-read the story . . .

 

Listen, for instance to the tag end of this tale:

"The Pharisees near Jesus said to him,

'Surely we are not blind, are we?'

Jesus said to them, " If you were blind, you would not be sinful.

But now that you say, 'we see.'  your sin remains.

 

Jesus says that because the Pharisees CLAIM they can see

 (that is, they understand what they are seeing in the situation )

they are committing sin,

Had they admitted to blindness, they would not be sinning by rejecting Jesus

but since they claim that they can see,

 (read they are convinced that they can discern/recognize God)

then they sin by not recognizing who Jesus is.

The blind man's comments are more forthright

"How can you not see where this person is from

given the good and wondrous  things this person has done,?

It's quite amazing!

Blind people cannot see, yet he has enabled me to see.

How can you NOT see the truth?

 

How can they not see?

HOW CAN WE NOT SEE -

We don't see because we have on blinders,

blinders which are the direct result of that line we draw

 between the good and the bad.

Blinders that, so to speak, the line creates.

How can we not see?

 

Well, we're a lot like the Pharisees at the end of the story,

we are also under the illusion that we can see.

We think we know where to look for God.

and unfortunately , in this story,  God doesn't happen to be in any of the

particular pigeonholes in which we might expect to find Her.

 

An example: "The Pharisees are concerned with hallowing the Sabbath

( so are we)  It's a VERY old tradition, 

dating back to the creation poem in Genesis

On the seventh day, God rested,

so we are all to rest on the Sabbath, the day of finishing of creation.

Now, of itself, this Sabbath rest is a good and holy thing

It is what I might call for the purposes of this conversation,

a "small faithfulness" 

a thing we ought to do ( though we do not always do it)

It points us toward God and builds prayer into our lives.

Just as we give over a certain amount of money and energy to God

so we must also give over a certain amount of time.

  a good an holy thing. . .  a small faithfulness

 

Many of us know people who have been in church

Sunday after Sunday, year after year, decade after decade

I think of Virginia McCullough, of her life in this parish

and her faithful work in the soup kitchen.

Of Ed Henman and his wood work which adorns our altar.

Such lives are a testimony to the virtue of the small faithfulness

 of keeping the Sabbath holy.

 

And yet, right here in today’s story there is an awful, terrible line, 

"This man is not from God for he does not observe the Sabbath."

  . . .So much for Jesus . . .

He sets aside a traditional small faithfulness for a greater act of caring -

and the Holy One of God is immediately invisible.

 

Then there are the man's parents who say,

'We know that this is our son, but we do not know how it is that now he sees,

nor do we know who opened his eyes. "

John explains, "His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews

 for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue."

 

This man's parents have a small faithfulness.

They believe in being part of the Synagogue fellowship --

equivalent to our fellowship of the Baptized, the Body of Christ.

And, according to John, they didn't answer for their son

 when they were asked how he was healed

because people who testified to Jesus' power

were "asynagogos,"  - thrown out of the synagogue, 

“excommunicated,” we would say,

and told that they no longer belonged to the People of Israel

 

Obviously again, this couple has a very important form of faithfulness -

a belonging which they, and we, cherish

as a central part of our relationship to God.

One cannot possibly be part of the People of God ALONE!

What believer would choose to be thrown out of the People of God?

The man’s parents need to remain blind to who Jesus is,

or be removed from God's people.

That line humans draw can be lethal.

 

This darkness, this “not seeing” doesn't just happen in today’s story.

It is precisely the thing we see happening in our own parishes,

in our own lives, in our own church.

This happens when “small faithfulness,” 

“small faithfulness” which are good and holy,

 to whose value many people’s lives testify,

get ambushed by sin on the way to the forum?

 

Jesus has, in this instance, violated the small faithfulness of keeping Sabbath

 by kneading dust and spittle to make mud for the man's eyes.

The man confesses that Jesus is a prophet from God

because of what Jesus has done for him,

Jesus is condemned.,

and the man is thrown out of the people of Israel.

WHY? ! ?

because THAT is what always happens

 when small faithfulnesses get "writ large" into big unbendable ideologies.

Those “rules” become enormous barriers to the presence of God

The Pharisees were concerned with Sabbath observance.

The parents concerned with remaining in Synagogue.  Ergo:

neither can see the Holy One of God standing before their very eyes.

Their concerns, which are small faithfulness on their own,

are also their blind spots, and

those small blind spots became

huge black holes sucking up all that is good and holy

the living presence of God in Christ standing before them.

 

This happens in our beloved church all the time.

We are convinced that all institutional incarnations of the church other than our very own congregation are less “good”  or “right” than we.

Alternately they may be just plain wrong or absolutely dangerous

which makes joint mission and ministry  difficult is not almost impossible,

All of us have heard the “mine is the only true faith" sentiment.

 

Our personal faithfulness to the sacramental marriages and families

which brought most of us into being

which enrich and bring  joy to our lives

have too easily becomes homophobia -

denying faithfulness and family to our lesbian and gay sisters and brothers.

 

Loyalty and faithfulness to the cultural traditions of our family and friends

becomes virulent anti-immigration sentiment

Then racism and persecution and ethnic and religious cleansing follow

and Iraq/Palestine/Kenya/ and S. Sudan become fields of blood.

 

Small faithfulness, medium sized faithfulnesses, even large faithfulnesses,

easily become barriers to God's presence

because sin and holiness exist together in the creation. (Another pair!)

Small faithfulnesses can become blinders to our seeing God in the world

They are rather like goggles which people put on to ride a muddy horse race

in a muddy field

Originally put on to keep the mud out of the eyes,

the goggles eventually collect it to the point where the rider cannot see

and

the aid to sight becomes a barrier

Come inside, out of the cold winter, and immediately

lean over a faucet pouring out a steaming stream of water.

Then try to see  through your glasses!

In either case, nothing short of washing them off in the nearest pool,

(whether or not it is Siloam,)

will return you to the point where you can see again.

 

What is there to do

when we fear that when our small faithfulnesses are betraying us,

and have become or are becoming enticements to sin?

First, remember that any human drawn line separating “us”  from “evil folk”

 is the skeleton, is the structure of sin.

 

We must never forget that the closer we get to believing

that we are doing an essential, good and holy thing,

the more likely we are to be making a really big muck of it.

When we humans insist on orderly, dependable God behavior.

inevitably  we will write those “orderly, dependable”

expectations into rules that say

"this is the only place (only way) you can find God."

Claiming to know the “real truth” frequently condemns us,

("Since you claim that you can see, you are in sin")

because "the wind, God's Spirit,  blows where it wills,"

the running water of God’s new life flows through our lives,

and God always did, always does, and always will, act out of any scenarios/script She chooses.

 

Second, remember about that line, the skeleton of evil,

and the way it blinds us to reality.

Resolve that every time you find yourself drawing a line

between the good guys and the bad guys

that you will listen for the alarm and watch for some flashing lights

warning you that you are at that moment in danger of NOT SEEING -

specifically of not seeing Jesus standing before you.

Finely, remember that,

if you find you have drawn that line between good and evil anyway.

The  place  you  should  put  yourself

Is  not  on  the  side  with  the  good  folk

but  on  the  side  with  the  ones  you  have  labeled  "bad"

because Lent tells us  that the “bad folks side”  

is  where  you  will  find  GOD

standing -  or hanging on a cross – before you.

in nomine