John 9:1-41...
The Gospel reading for this coming Sunday is actually so
long, I’ve decided to summarize it rather than cut/paste the entire text here.
This is the story of the man born blind—encountered by Jesus & the
disciples. They ask Jesus “who sinned, this man or his parents, that he
should’ve been born blind.” Jesus responds “neither,” and then takes the
opportunity to illustrate something that is a common theme in John’s Gospel:
LIGHT vs DARKNESS. Way back in chapter 1 we read these words about the coming
of Jesus into the world: “4 in him was life, and the life was the LIGHT of
all people. 5 The LIGHT shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not
overcome it.” What follows throughout the Gospel of John, then, are the
detailed stories and preserved sayings of Jesus that show and prove just how it
is that the LIGHT is shining in the DARKNESS.
But there’s a problem, according to John. The true LIGHT has
come, but DARKNESS likes being dark. In Jn chapter 3, the same chapter in which
we hear that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,
we also hear in vs 19: This is the verdict: LIGHT has come into the world,
but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
And so we come to this Sunday’s passage, the story of the
man BORN BLIND....BORN in darkness. He is a real person, but his situation is
used by John as a spiritual metaphor for all of humanity. All of humanity is
BORN BLIND, BORN IN DARKNESS, not because of personal sin or parental sin, but
rather because of original sin. Original sin does NOT MEAN that every person
born has the capacity to be a Hitler, or a Stalin. The same human race that has
produced mass murderers and other workers of great evil has also produced great
philanthropists and humanitarians. “BLINDNESS” is not a metaphor for evil; it’s
a metaphor for spiritual darkness. It’s a metaphor for not being able to see
God truly and worship Him above all. Yet, while all humanity is BORN BLIND, in
darkness, John informs us again & again that LIGHT is here; LIGHT that
is capable of ENLIGHTENING. And so, from vs 5 of Sunday’s text: [Jesus said]
While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." And with that he
spit in the clay and made mud...
One of the many fascinating nuances of this story is that
the whole miracle begins with a conversation between the disciples &
Jesus. The man himself is just sitting there. He asks for nothing, and is
completely passive as Jesus puts the spit/dirt/mud gunk on the guy’s eyes. This
initial passivity is heavily weighted in theological terms. Theologians call
this “divine monergism,” meaning, the work of salvation is accomplished solely
by God. But it should be noted that while this miracle is accomplished solely
by Jesus, he uses **stuff** in accomplishing it. When I teach on sacramental
theology, John 9 is a prime proof-text. The early church saw BIG-TIME baptismal
themes at work in this passage which is how/why it appears on the lectionary in
late Lent (looking forward as all Lenten passages do to Easter’s baptismal
themes). But **part of one’s baptismal catechesis (education) is the
acknowledgement that this is HOW God’s hand reaches out to us. He does so using
**stuff**....ordinary things like dirt......water.......bread/wine...etc. It is
essential that this truth be emphasized because the most popular expressions of
the Christian religion that we encounter (radio/tv) are radically
anti-sacramental. WHY, they ask, would God **need to work through the waters of
baptism? WHY, they ask, would God **need to work through bread & wine?
To which the Gospel of John responds: WHY would Jesus **need to use spit
& dirt to heal the man born blind? Why not just say the word? ANSWER: Because
he didn’t want to simply just say the word; he **wanted to use stuff. And
so, in the miracle, spit and dirt were combined with Jesus’ command and
promise—with only one possible result: the man was cured.
Obviously there is no “sacrament of anointing with
spit/dirt,” as the Lord never commanded his church to perpetuate this action.
However, it goes a long way in illustrating the theology of sacraments. It goes
a long way toward explaining Matthew 28:19: therefore go and make disciples
by BAPTIZING THEM...
Of course there’s so much more that could be said about the
text. The man, for instance, though he did not ask to be healed, though he was
entirely passive during the whole spit/dirt thing, was nonetheless an obedient
respondent. Jesus told him to go & wash in a specific pool, and he did.
He could’ve gone away and just wiped his eyes; he could’ve done a LOT of other
things—all of which, I assume, would’ve invalidated the offer of grace in the
miracle. This, too, has baptismal overtones. The grace that is conferred in
baptism NEEDS TO BE NURTURED with continued obedience within the life of faith.
A very thin line separates the SACRAMENTAL understanding of baptism from that
of a MAGICAL understanding. Sadly, these days I think I encounter more of the
latter. If baptism were “magic,” then every baby/person baptized would receive
the saving grace of God and would never need to be attached to the life of
faith whatsoever. And, in spite of my best attempts at teaching, I know that I
have performed baptisms on people who have never attached themselves to the
life of faith. Baptism is not MAGIC. It’s a sacrament. It endows the recipient
with NEW LIFE, the LIFE OF CHRIST, but that life must be **nurtured. This, by
the way, is also where the general Lutheran dialectic of “Law/Gospel” breaks
down [Law= the bad news of what’s required that we fail fully to comply with,
Gospel = the good news of what God has done for us in Christ in spite of our
sins]. As, surely nurturing the life of faith (hearing the word proclaimed,
partaking in the sacramental life of the church) is all Gospel, but the fact
that it MUST be done is Law. Lutherans call such dilemma’s “Gospel
Imperatives”....which is another way of saying “Gospel Laws.”
No doubt, part of the **original understanding of this
passage was the hard line that was drawn between the Messianic community that
worshiped Jesus vs the current synagogue establishment. This comes to a head in
vss 28-34 Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this
fellow's disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to
Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from." 30
The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes
from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He
listens to the godly person who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of
opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he
could do nothing." 34 To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at
birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw him out. The Pharisees
draw the false distinction that THEY are the current spokespersons for Moses,
when in fact, the entire story of the New Testament (specifically, passages
like the Transfiguration account, etc.) point out that Jesus is the true latter
day spokesperson and “prophet like Moses.” Notwithstanding, confessing one’s
allegiance to Jesus, all of the Gospels warn us, will not lead to accolades,
but rather, to rejection. So we are not surprised that those who love darkness
rather than light cast out this newest “enlightened” person from their midst.
The passage ends very starkly: 35 Jesus heard that they
had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the
Son of Man?" 36 "Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me
so that I may believe in him." 37 Jesus said, "You have now seen him;
in fact, he is the one speaking with you." 38 Then the man said,
"Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, "For
judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who
see will become blind." 40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say
this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?" 41 Jesus said, "If you
were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see,
your guilt remains. On one side of Jesus, you have the man born blind, but
now healed, KNEELING/WORSHIPING Jesus, and on the other side you have a group
STANDING/DEFYING Jesus. In the world view of the Gospel of John EVERYONE falls
into one or the other category. The Gospel is that the TRUE LIGHT has come into
the world...but take note: there is NO GOSPEL behind door #2. There is no
“alternative light.” Kneel in worship of him, or stand in defiance of him.
Cheers,
T.M.
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