I want to begin today by sharing
something you probably don’t already know about me. Don’t worry – it’s not embarrassing. I have a prescription for eye-glasses. And no, I don’t wear contacts either. So obviously my eyes aren’t that bad.
But every once and a while you might
find me squinting to see something far away.
The medical term used for my eye-sight is called near-sightedness. I’ve been told that the problem isn’t simply
that I can’t see things at a distance well.
Rather, my eyes focus too much on what is right in front of me, and so I
have a hard time adjusting to see what is far away.
In the lessons we have been reading
during Lent, Jesus addresses our spiritual near-sightedness. Jesus reveals we are so focused on what is
right in front of us we can’t adjust our eyes to see the bigger picture, we are
so focused on temporal matters we can’t adjust to see spiritual matters.
Nicodemus initially understands “being born again” as somehow coming
out of our mother’s womb again. The
Samaritan Woman at the Well initially can’t see how Jesus can give her “living
water” when he doesn’t even have a bucket.
And in today’s lesson, the point of our spiritual near-sightedness is
driven home when the man who was born blind at birth is the only one who has
eyes to see the Messiah. The disciples,
Pharisees, and even the blind man’s parents are so focused on religious
traditions, on things that are most apparent they become blind to the miracle
that Jesus sets before them.
The scripture lesson tells us that this man’s blindness is an
opportunity for God to show forth his glory.
Scholars will tell you that we have lost something in today’s
translation. It isn’t so much that God
made the man blind so his glory could be revealed. Rather, because the man is blind God can use
him as a vehicle for grace.
But nonetheless, we as human beings have an insatiable desire to know
why. Immediately, the disciples want to
know why the man is blind. They assume,
based on their cultural sensibilities, that the man is born blind because his
parents sinned. But as my daughter is
reminded every day, there are only so many times we can ask “Why?” before we
hear, “because that’s just how it is.”
The simple truth is that we live in a world that is broken by sin and
death. Of course, theologically
speaking, we can point to Adam and Eve as the reason why we are broken by sin
and death. But the narrative of
scripture and the ministry of Jesus doesn’t so much focus on the question of
“Why” as much as the question “What is God doing about the destructive nature
of sin and death in us?”
Perhaps the world has always been like this, but I am growing more and
more aware of how mean we can be as human beings especially we religious people
who use our scriptures to point fingers at others instead of using the
scriptures to point to the God of all mercy and truth.
Ultimately, Jesus is telling his disciples that sharing the good news
is not about sorting who is guilty and who is not guilty. Rather, sharing the good news is about
accepting the reality of human sin makes us all guilty so that we can move
toward the truth of God’s salvation story revealed in Jesus Christ.
It is worth mentioning again – For God so loved the world that he sent
his only Son so that all who believe in him may have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to
condemn the world but so that the world might be saved through him.
I love John’s Gospel because truth statements like John 3:16-17 emerge
again and again in the teachings and signs of Jesus. Another truth statement that emerges again
today when Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.” Remember John 1:5? “The light shines in the darkness and the
darkness did not overcome it.” Jesus is
what makes our eyes to see truth in a world that is blind to truth.
Keeping with the metaphor about spiritual near-sightedness, the
ministry of Jesus is all about giving us new lenses in which to see the
world. As people who live in Jesus, as
people who participate in the Divine Life of God, God is helping us see the
world through God’s eyes, God is helping us see the world through a vision of
eternity, through a vision of hope – as opposed to death and despair.
Based on the various catastrophes and calamities that we have all faced
in our life, it would be easy for any of us to be seized by the narrative of
death and despair. It would be easy for our
spiritual near-sightedness to keep us stuck asking the question “Why?” It would be easy for us to be blind to the truth
that God is in the business of making all things new.
Why did God let cancer take the life of someone so young and so full of
promise? Why won’t God let me get
pregnant? Did I do something wrong? Why did I not know that my child was
depressed? Maybe I could have prevented
the suicide.
These questions are truly paralyzing and odds are we will never find an
answer that will satisfy us. God knows
this. God knows that you struggle to
come to grips with those terrible things that have happened in your life. As I read this week, God will silence all of
heaven just to hear your prayer.
God will wait and listen with you for as long as you need. God will patiently listen to you asking
“Why?” again and again. But God also
hopes that you can be still enough and quiet enough to hear God speak to you. And by the grace of God, you will be amazed
by what happens when God gives you eyes to see, you will be opened to a life of
mystery that calls you deeper and deeper into the knowledge and love of God.
And what you see will wildly surpass your expectations. Just imagine what it would be like to be born
blind and then suddenly see God’s beautiful creation for the first time! And so it goes for our life with God – our
eyes are opened to see what we could not see with eyes that are otherwise clouded
by human sin and death.
As someone said in Sunday School last week, because of Christ we no
longer look at the world with a posture of judgment. Rather, we see the world through the lens of grace
– through a lens that sees how God is making all things new.
I read a beautiful reflection by a mother who questioned whether or not
to take her young children to see Beauty and the Beast. She encouraged her children to look for God
instead of all that is scary or evil.
Upon reflection, what her kids saw was a life filled with mercy and
transformation and grace. For example, instead
of looking at the ugliness of the Beast as reason to cast judgment, the
children had compassion for the Beast and his struggle for redemption.
The mother ended the article saying, “I will simply say … when we look
for evil, we will find it – every time. It won’t be hard to find and we won’t
even have to look too deep…if humans are a part…sin will be present.
When we look for God – He can and will be found. Every time. Put that lens of
‘looking for Him’ on – it is amazing what He will allow you to see.”
In the end, God works not by destroying the reality of sin and evil and
death because, well, we would be destroyed in the process. And God loves us too much to destroy us. Human sin is a constant reality. But the good news says that God’s mercy and
grace is a constant reality and even a reality that outlives human sin and death.
God works by opening our eyes to see the world through a different
lens. Instead of looking for all that is
wrong in the world, God is helping us see how all that is wrong is made right
through the unconditional love of Christ in us; God is helping us see how all
that is dark and ugly is made bright and beautiful with a love that never ends.
As the line goes in the new movie Beauty and the Beast, “Love is
beauty, love is pure. Love pays no mind to desolation. It flows like a river
through the soul. Protects, proceeds, and perseveres and makes us whole.”
Beloved,
may you have the grace to see the world as God sees the world. May you have the grace to let Jesus point out
your near-sightedness and even blindness, so that your eyes may be opened to a
world where only the love and compassion of Jesus have the power to save. Amen
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