“I was blind, now I see.”  We hear these words in today’s Gospel.  Much the same wording is in a favorite hymn we will sing as our closing today: “I once was lost, but now am found: was blind, but now I see.”

            Today’s Gospel can be especially appreciated by those of us who have been around for awhile.  We have lived long enough to become aware of some of our blind spots.  We have seen enough of life to know that we don’t have all the answers by ourselves, that God often sees with eyes that are different from our own, to take a line from today’s Old Testament reading.  There’s always more to learn humbly about God’s ways.  “I was blind, now I see.”

            In today’s Gospel Jesus heals a blind man, a Jew.  It is no simple story.  It takes up the whole of John’s chapter 9 – 41 verses!  We could ask, “Why can’t it be like Mark’s story of Jesus restoring sight to a blind man?”  That takes only 5 verses in chapter 8.  Well, John is different.   There’s lots going on in his multi-layered account.  It’s worth a close look.  There’s some of our current world in this ancient story.  There’s some of us in these 41 verses.

            As the chapter opens, Jesus and his disciples are walking along.  This is scene 1 of 6 in our story.  Walking along, Jesus and his disciples see a man blind from birth.  The disciples’ question reveals the thinking of the day: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

            Today we find such a question totally ignorant.  But in ancient times it was believed blind people’s hearts were full of “darkness,” an actual stuff.  This stuff emanated from their blind eyes.  Separation from God put this dark stuff into the person.  Light – a different kind of stuff from a pure heart – emerged from the eyes in the seeing process.  I found it fascinating to learn that light was thought to be fire in a healthy person.  We have a quote from Aristotle saying “Vision is fire.”  Light was also associated with life in ancient times.  When Jesus says he is the “light of the world,” not only is he saying he enables us to see truth clearly, but also he is saying we have authentic life through him. 

            Back to our story.  Jesus doesn’t want to get into a discussion with his disciples about the causes of blindness.  Instead, he sees opportunity for the works of God to be revealed.  Likewise, we can say today that Jesus isn’t dwelling on the causes of the world’s refugee crisis, or the causes of our housing crisis, or the why of the wars in the world.  Jesus sees opportunity for the works of God to be revealed. 

            Jesus’ healing technique is typical of ancient folk healers.  Saliva was thought to have healing powers.  Jesus makes a mud with his own saliva, kneading it into dust from the ground.  He then puts the mixture on the blind man’s eyes, telling him to wash in the pool of Siloam.  Then Jesus disappears.  End of scene 1.

            At the opening of scene 2 the healed man who can now see is back in his old neighborhood, but sadly there is no celebrating, no joy, only quarreling.  The change in the man’s capacity is upsetting, disturbing to others.  How can it be?  Is he really the same man?  If so, where is this Jesus who did the healing?

            How easy it is to be afraid of change, even change for the good.  We like to think we are in control.  If things go in a way we are not expecting, even go in a good way, we so many times feel threatened.  Something like . . . Low Cost housing coming into our neighbourhood?  How is this possible?  That will surely lower property values.  Or . . .  Indigenous land claims finally to be settled?  If they get more, that’s got to mean less for us. 

            The healed man, who did not ask Jesus for the gift of sight, has been put in an uncomfortable situation.  He has become the source of conflict and division.  Even so, he remains steadfast in his conviction that the now absent Jesus healed him.  He is courageous.  He keeps telling the truth and will not be silenced by intimidation.  Such tenacity is an asset in our own age of fake news intent on bending our thoughts and loyalties. 

            The conflict and division continue into scene 3 of our Gospel reading.  The religious authorities are now brought into the dispute.  Since the healing work took place on the Sabbath, the Pharisees should be able to settle the matter, what really took place.  Some of the Pharisees take the position that Jesus cannot be of God because he clearly does not observe the Sabbath.  Other Pharisees maintain that Jesus cannot be a sinner if he can perform such a sign of God with the healing.  We can think of different denominations of the Church, or even different communities within the same denomination, disagreeing over truths and falsehoods, rules and procedures. 

            Scene 4 of our healing story has some members of this entirely Jewish community going to the healed man’s parents to establish his true identity.  “Is this your son, who you say was born blind?  How then does he now see?”  They answer, “Ask him; he is of age.”

            We know now that most if not all of the St. John’s community from which the Gospel of John comes were Jewish.  Those believing Jesus to be the Messiah were expelled from their synagogue.  They grieved the loss of synagogue community and worship.  In our Gospel reading the healed man’s parents don’t want to get involved because they don’t want to lose their synagogue connection. 

            Scene 5 takes us again to the authorities interrogating the healed man, but this time they do it with more anger.  “Give glory to God!”  In other words, tell the truth.  “We know that this Jesus is a sinner.”  The healed man holds firm, answering, “I do not know whether he is a sinner.  One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 

            If the situation weren’t so sad, it would be comical.  Here are adults unable to appreciate and celebrate the miracle of sight coming to a man born blind.  The healing is so contrary to their blinding frame of reference that they resort to bullying the man with more questions to get the response they want.  Good news has enemies in our world. 

            My notes from when I last preached on this passage mention an exhibit at the Vancouver Maritime Museum that was opening that very day.  It was called “The Lost Fleet.”  This exhibit told the story of the Japanese Canadian fishing vessels seized after the bombing of Pearl Harbour.  Japanese Canadian fishers loyal to Canada had been contributing to the Canadian fishing industry since the late 1800’s.  But elected Canadian leaders of the day couldn’t see all the good.  They were blinded by racism.  

            In scene 6, the last scene of our Gospel story, Jesus returns to the man he had healed, just as Jesus comes to all of us in our time of need.  The healed man recognizes the one who gave him sight, and he worships Jesus.  The short dialogue that ends the story reveals how Jesus’ coming into the world makes distinctions clear.  Those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing are exposed as blind.  

            Through the centuries there have been many wise thinkers reminding us how blind human beings can be.  The Jewish Talmud says, “We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are.”  Another quote attributed to too many to name: “There’s none so blind as those who will not see.”  And from Marcel Proust: “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”  God give us the grace to be open to new ways of seeing in our remaining days.  Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

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