A Nurturing Community

SCRIPTURE: John 9: 1-41, Rev. Billie Watts

As you might expect, after having four children and three grandchildren, we have read a lot of children’s books in our home. One of my favorite books was Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See. You may recall that the question to brown bear is “What do you see?” I see a red bird looking at me, who in turn sees a yellow duck…and on it goes until the goldfish sees a mother looking at me - who, when asked, “Teacher, teachers what do you see?” answers, “I see children looking at me.” We will be asking all our characters in the story today – and through them asking ourselves, “What do you see?”

 

Let’s begin with Jesus. The context is that Jesus has just left the Temple, where some of the Jews there became so angry with him that they want to stone him. As he leaves, he comes to a pool near the Temple, the pool of Siloam, which means “sent.” Never miss the symbolism in the Gospel according to John. Jesus, has been sent out of love for the world, not to condemn the world but to save, rescue it. He is with his disciples, although we don’t know how many.

 

“Jesus, Jesus, what do you see?” “I see a blind man NOT looking at me.” The man, we are told, was born blind. Jesus, who in the gospel of John knows everything, possibly sees this as an opportunity – for disciples to question, to correct, to grow, to learn, and to witness a revelation of who Jesus really is and his purposes for the world.

 

“Blind man, blind man, what do you see?” Nothing…and everything. He is allocated to a life of barely getting by – a beggar, totally dependent on the alms of others. He is stationed at the pool of Siloam, a perfect place to receive alms as people go to and from the Temple. It’s the Sabbath after all – a busy day with lots of foot traffic.

 

“Disciples, disciples, what do you see?” “I see a sinner looking at me.” Conventional wisdom at that time was that if anyone suffered from any kind of “condition,” it was caused by sin. It was a belief of cause and effect. If not his sin, then it must be his parents’. Somebody has done something. If it’s not his parents’ sin, then it is God’s doing. It is God’s will that he be blind or God’s punishment for sin. They hold that God always has a reason for what God does. It could seem that our text supports such a notion.

 

The NRSV, and most translations, read like this: “He was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” We think we know better, but this way of thinking still creeps in. What is the first question that usually comes to a parent’s mind if something goes wrong with a pregnancy or there is a birth complication? “What did I do that might have caused this?”  If there is an accident and someone dies, we might say, “God took them from us” If someone dies in surgery – or if someone survives surgery, we say, “It was God’s will.” God’s will surely seems arbitrary. Frankly, I don’t think I can trust such a God. I believe it is blasphemous to lay at the feet of God what is not from God.

I often read the sermons of William Sloane Coffin, the former senior pastor at Riverside Church in New York City for ten years till 1987. In 1983, his son, Alex, died in a tragic car accident during a terrible storm– and attempting to comfort him, one of his parishioners said, “I just don’t understand the will of God.” Listen to his reply:

            Instantly, I was up and in hot pursuit, swarming all over her. “I’ll say you don’t, lady!” (I knew the anger would do me good, and the instruction to her was long overdue.) I continued, “Do you think it was the will of God that Alex never fixed that lousy windshield wiper of his, that he was probably driving too fast in such a storm, that he probably had a couple of ‘frosties’ too many? Do you think it is God’s will that there are no streetlights along that stretch of road, and no guard rail separating the road and Boston Harbor?

            For some reason, nothing so infuriates me as the incapacity of seemingly intelligent people to get it through their heads that God doesn’t go around this world with God’s finger on triggers, God’s fist around knives, God’s hands on steering wheels. God is dead set against all unnatural deaths. And Christ spent an inordinate amount of time delivering people from paralysis, insanity, leprosy, and muteness…To understand deaths such as the one Alex died is a piece of cake. As his younger brother put it simply, standing at the head of the casket at the Boston funeral, ‘You blew it, buddy. You blew it.’ The one thing that should never be said when someone dies is, ‘It is the will of God. Never do we know enough to say that. My own consolation lies in knowing that it was NOT the will of God that Alex die; that when the waves closed over the sinking car, God’s heart was the first of all our hearts to break.”[1]

 

Like Coffin, I take issue with the notion of God inflicting pain and suffering. However, we cannot ignore this text, so I want to dig deeper. Scholars teach us that in the original Greek text, the phrase, “The man was born blind,” is not present. However, for now, let’s leave it in, as out reading today does. We also know from scholars that in the original Greek, there was no punctuation. So, we are going to move the period. Now it reads, “The man was born blind” – period. So that God’s works might be revealed in him, we must work the works of him who sent me while it is still day.” The man was born blind. What has happened has happened. Now, it’s time to respond in ways that give a correct estimate of who God – and that is, so that God’s works might be revealed in him, WE must work the works of him who sent us while it is still day. Now this is a God I can trust, which is the point of the entire gospel of John – to lead us to trust.[2]

 

“Jesus, Jesus, what will you do?” He takes the things of earth, mud and his spit, and applies it to his eyes, telling him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. What does he do? He acts – and heals. He does not inflict suffering. This blind man is not a theological debate –an issue to be discussed. He is a child of God.

 

“Neighbors, neighbors, what do you see?” They don’t even recognize him. There is incongruence. It looks like him, but it can’t be. How did this happen? Who did it? Notice – there is no celebration…only debate as they try to figure it out. I want to shake them to not miss the celebration. This week, a man in our community received the greatest gift of good news. I saw him, and we celebrated – there were shouts of joy, hugs, gratitude – it was worship! We celebrate Jennifer and Gary’s new addition to the family. Why is there no celebration here when a man born blind suddenly sees? I want to know why.

 

“Parents, parents, what do you see?” “I see fear threatening me.” No one has suffered more than the blind man, but his parents are a close second. Their pain is our pain. When our children suffer, we suffer. When they struggle, we struggle. But their fear of being “out synagogued” is greater than their joy. Community is everything to the Jews. To be cut off from community has social and economic ramifications. They are not allowed to sell to other, buy, trade, or be given goods, they can’t participate in festivals or weddings, marriage contracts are broken, and they will not be able to sustain their lives. Their very lives are at stake because of this healing, a healing for which no one even asked. I want to be hard on them, but I’ve seen too many parents hiding in silence for fear of what their religious communities would do if they knew the sexual orientation of their child, that a family member was in jail, or addicted to drugs. They fear shame, blame, and judgment. This is NOT a nurturing community but one that isolates and increases the suffering of its members.

 

“Pharisees, Pharisees, what do you see?” Everything…and nothing. They see a sinner who was blind, standing before them claiming that Jesus healed him. And something doesn’t compute – for no one heals a person blind from birth except God, but Jesus has broken the Sabbath Laws – the very laws that bind them together as a community, so he is a sinner. He should be locked up at best for the “work” he did. Their version of the truth is so strong and unmoving that they question the evidence itself – the healed man – rather than their understanding. When the healed man doesn’t change his story and instead challenges them, they are enraged. How dare HE, a born sinner, question them! They do what people do when back up against the wall…they double down. They ekballo him, a word used to drive out demons. They demonize him, a strategy we know so well. Their refusal to trust what they see with their own eyes marks them as blind, as well as sinners, a word they have been bantering about since the get-go. There are none so blind as those who will not see. They self-protect and preserve their institution, denying the revelation of God standing before them. I want to be hard on them, but we end up asking ourselves the same question – “We are not blind, are we?” Are we?

 

The healed man is left on his own – thrown out. The community fails him, but Jesus finds him. For the first time, he sees Jesus face to face, for remember, he was blind and only knew his voice. This encounter leads to a full revelation of who Jesus is, his healer, who must be from God. Do you trust/believe the Son of Man? The healed man wants to know who that is, for he wants to trust/believe. “You are looking at him.” He hits the ground, falling out in sheer gratitude and awe, prostrating himself before the ONE who gave him new life. What a sight to behold!

 

I want to linger here, for I realized this morning that, to me, this is the lynch pin of the whole text God is at work here, and we are blind if we move too quickly past this. I want to experience this, watch what happens, see it with my own eyes. Suddenly, all the rest fades away. This is what it’s about! This is the key to being a nurturing community: Jesus FINDS HIM! This is the moment he is being made whole. His wholeness is not about his physical condition. It’s about his spiritual condition – his waking up! It is a healing of soul damage. Rather than celebrate myself, I almost moved us right past it, debating and discussing HOW to be a nurturing community, and risk missing what is right in front of us.

 

This man encountered Jesus. Jesus did not just give alms, he gave a damn. He saw, noticed, cared, and acted. All the others are just playing church. They are so caught up in doing things right, noting every jot and tittle, that they forget to do the right thing. God forbid!

Remember the old adage, “People don’t care what you know until they know that you care”? If we get that right, all the rest falls into place. If we miss that, we might as well go home, for we are then merely playing church.

 

I am not interested in playing church. Do you know why? There are too many people desperately crying out, “Jesus, Jesus, are you looking for me?” “Jesus, Jesus, what do you see?” Well, here’s looking at you, kid, for when we ask Jesus what he sees, he says, “I see a child of God looking at me.” We do not need to fear this judgment, for it leads to life…and we are held under the steady, compassionate, loving, forgiving, graceful gaze of God, which heals our deepest wounds and leads to our proclaiming, “We were lost, but now we are found.” Such a discovery guides us from “Child of God, Child of God, what do you see?” “I see Jesus looking at me” TO “Child of God, Child of God, what do you see?” “I see Jesus LIVING in me.”

 

May our lives bear witness in this community and beyond to the life and love of God as we walk in the way that leads to life.

 

Amen.