Sermons of Rev. Timothy J. Kennedy

					Laying Blame
Fourth Sunday in Lent
John 9:1-41

Sunday, March 02, 2008
				

1As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, 7saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. 8The 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?” 9Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11He 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.” 12They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” 13They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15Then 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.” 16Some 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. 17So 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.” 18The 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 19and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21but 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.” 22His 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. 23Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” 24So 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.” 25He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27He 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?” 28Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out. 35Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” 37Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” 38He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. 39Jesus 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.” 40Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”

A long Gospel lesson this morning. It didn't have to be. The story of the man's cure, fixing the problem, takes two verses. The controversy over fixing the blame takes a full thirty-nine verses. It's odd that sometimes we tend to spend so much time fixing blame when we could make more creative use of our time by trying to fix the problem. "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" The disciples were seeking to point fingers ... to fix blame. Adam did it. When God asked Adam about the Tree of the Knowledge of God and Evil, Adam never hesitated, "Eve made me eat that fruit." Eve wasn't, as it were, born yesterday; she blamed the snake. I once heard it explained this way, "Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the snake, and the snake didn't have a leg to stand on!" This is the Bible's way of describing our instinct to dodge guilt by laying blame. "Dad, Johnny hit me." "I did not. And, besides, she hit me first." Sometimes we point fingers to dodge responsibility, but sometimes we point fingers to explain what we do not understand.

"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" That was the world view at the time of Jesus, and even a blind man could see it. There is no such thing as bad luck. If you were born blind there had to be a cause. Somewhere, somehow, someone, is a culprit. Bad things don't happen to good people. We're a little more sophisticated today. Sometimes, in the face of accident or disaster when we have far more questions than answers, we're allowed to acknowledge we don't have all the answers, we just don't know. On the Long Island Expressway some years ago, I passed a diaper truck with the bumper sticker, "Doo-doo happens." And so it does. Doo-doo does happen. No need to try to fix the blame.

I was less than five years old when I first realized that one day I would die. The moment of that insight remains a vivid memory for me. Some of you may have been a bit younger or maybe a bit older when you first realized this is not a perfect world. Ever since, we have been trying to make rhyme and reason of suffering; especially suffering which seems random and undeserved!

A story is told of a young soldier facing battle who was almost immobilized by fear. A veteran sergeant who had seen it all before sought to reassure the young man. "Don't worry, son. If there's a bullet out there with your name on it, you'll catch it no matter what you do. And if there's no bullet out there with your name on it, you're home free." And the young soldier replied: "I don't care anything about bullets with names on them; what worries me are the bullets labeled: 'to whom it may concern.'"

The random bad things life tosses our way might really shake us to the core of our existence. The bad news that comes our way, labeled "occupant," or "to whom it may concern!" The all-too-casual acts of random violence lead some people to do some fancy foot work with the notion of a loving God. People of faith proclaim, "Even a sparrow does not fall from the sky without our God taking notice." But others are quick to add, "That may be true, but the sparrow still falls."

In many ways, it is easier to have a world view that says "if misfortune befalls us, we must have brought it upon ourselves." With that kind of an outlook, we feel we can control our destiny by keeping our noses clean, obeying all the rules (for example: "beware of the dog," or "be aware of the Surgeon General") doing those things and also, staying on the right side of God. But we know in our heart of hearts that in the end, no matter how many precautions we take, it is foolish to think we can keep harm at arm's length. Sparrows fall. Bad things can and do happen to even good people - and that makes us feel naked and vulnerable.

"Who sinned, Lord? The man or his parents?" "Neither," Jesus answers. "This man's blindness is the fault of no one. Don't look to put blame on his parents; don't come up with some sort of a theology that says this man must have sinned in the womb. Don't talk about poor prenatal care, or a bad gene pool, or maternal vitamin deficiencies. His blindness is just one of those random tragedies that are part-and-parcel with being human. Fixing the blame may be emotionally satisfying, but it seldom fixes the problem."

And this is where Jesus seems to be in our text. Not so much concerned with the cause of the man's blindness, as he was concerned with the man himself. It is not the time for a theological debate - a man is in need and Jesus quickly responds. When the Emergency Medical Technicians arrive at the scene of an accident, and there are injured people all around, they don't try to ascertain whose fault it was ... first they tend to those in pain. Same with Jesus.

In the beginning, so Genesis tells us, God created Adam ... with a handful of clay. And now, Jesus creates a miracle, using the same materials at hand. Clay in his hands and then mud in his eye: "Go to the pool of Siloam on the south side of Jerusalem, and wash that clay right out of your eyes." The fingers of Jesus tenderly touch the sightless eyes with the touch of God's compassion. And we know the result of the Lord's Braille system: behold the blind man beheld! A chance encounter with the man from Nazareth (dare we call it "blind luck?), and the man is healed!

Suffering is part-and-parcel with being human. I'll be the first to admit that's not a very satisfactory answer as to why bad things happen to good people. Suffering is part-and-parcel with being human. But if we are truly blessed, in the midst of our suffering we gain the insight to realize our God is with us and our God will see us through.

This is the essence of our faith, the ongoing reminder that God so loved the world, that God sent Jesus: "to whom it may concern." How important is that? As for my life, I can only paraphrase the man in our text. "One thing I do know, I once was lost and now am found, was blind but now I see." Sin is our illness; the Savior our cure. In terms of both here and eternity, Jesus is far more concerned with fixing our problem than with fixing the blame. In other words, in the midst of our questions - Jesus does not give answers. Jesus gives himself.