3/22/2020 Message

Text: John 9

As Jesus walked along, he saw a man who was blind from birth. Jesus’ disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned so that he was born blind, this man or his parents?”

Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents. This happened so that God’s mighty works might be displayed in him. While it’s daytime, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” After he said this, he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and smeared the mud on the man’s eyes. Jesus said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (this word means sent). So the man went away and washed. When he returned, he could see.

The man’s neighbors and those who used to see him when he was a beggar said, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?”

Some said, “It is,” and others said, “No, it’s someone who looks like him.”

But the man said, “Yes, it’s me!”

So they asked him, “How are you now able to see?”

He answered, “The man they call Jesus made mud, smeared it on my eyes, and said, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

They asked, “Where is this man?”

He replied, “I don’t know.”

Then they led the man who had been born blind to the Pharisees. Now Jesus made the mud and smeared it on the man’s eyes on a Sabbath day. So Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see.

The man told them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and now I see.”

Some Pharisees said, “This man isn’t from God, because he breaks the Sabbath law.” Others said, “How can a sinner do miraculous signs like these?” So they were divided. Some of the Pharisees questioned the man who had been born blind again: “What do you have to say about him, since he healed your eyes?”

He replied, “He’s a prophet.”

The Jewish leaders didn’t believe the man had been blind and received his sight until they called for his parents. The Jewish leaders asked them, “Is this your son? Are you saying he was born blind? How can he now see?”

His parents answered, “We know he is our son. We know he was born blind. But we don’t know how he now sees, and we don’t know who healed his eyes. Ask him. He’s old enough to speak for himself.” His parents said this because they feared the Jewish authorities. This is because the Jewish authorities had already decided that whoever confessed Jesus to be the Christ would be expelled from the synagogue. That’s why his parents said, “He’s old enough. Ask him.”

Therefore, they called a second time for the man who had been born blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know this man is a sinner.”

The man answered, “I don’t know whether he’s a sinner. Here’s what I do know: I was blind and now I see.”

They questioned him: “What did he do to you? How did he heal your eyes?”

He replied, “I already told you, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”

They insulted him: “You are his disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses, but we don’t know where this man is from.”

The man answered, “This is incredible! You don’t know where he is from, yet he healed my eyes! We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners. God listens to anyone who is devout and does God’s will. No one has ever heard of a healing of the eyes of someone born blind. If this man wasn’t from God, he couldn’t do this.”

They responded, “You were born completely in sin! How is it that you dare to teach us?” Then they expelled him.

Jesus heard they had expelled the man born blind. Finding him, Jesus said, “Do you believe in the Human One?”

He answered, “Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him.”

Jesus said, “You have seen him. In fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

The man said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshipped Jesus.

Jesus said, “I have come into the world to exercise judgment so that those who don’t see can see and those who see will become blind.”

Some Pharisees who were with him heard what he said and asked, “Surely we aren’t blind, are we?”

Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you wouldn’t have any sin, but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

Introduction

Here’s a commentary on this passage given by Brian Zahnd in Unvarnished Jesus…

“The sixth sign of the healing of the man born blind takes up an entire chapter and is filled with drama as the man who was healed bests the Pharisees in theological debate and is expelled from the synagogue for it. The story opens with the disciples observing the man born blind and raising a theological question of who is to blame for it. But Jesus dismisses this line of questioning. Jesus is saying that when we observe suffering, the question isn’t who is to blame, but how can we help. We’ve all seen Christian leaders assign blame upon the victims of epidemics, earthquakes, and tsunamis. But blame is what the satan does. Followers of Jesus are called to co-suffering love, not theological stone throwing. So Jesus instructs his disciples that when we observe suffering, it’s not an opportunity to assign blame, but an opportunity to do the works of God by helping to heal, restore, and alleviate suffering. Blame is the devil’s game—love is the high calling of the Christian. As Hans Urs von Balthasar said, “Love alone is credible; nothing else can be believed, and nothing else ought to be believed.”

I. LOVE ALONE IS CREDIBLE…

A. OUR WESLEYAN HERITAGE – OUR THEOLOGICAL HOUSE FOUNDATION IS LOVE (1 JOHN 4) “Dear friends, let’s love each other, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. The person who doesn’t love does not know God, because God is love.”

IMAGINE WITH ME THAT OUR THEOLOGICAL IMAGINATION, THAT IS OUR DEFAULT UNDERSTANDING OF GOD AND GOD’S RELATIONSHIP TO HUMANS, IS LIKE A HOUSE WITH MANY ROOMS. ONE ROOM IS OUR UNDERSTANDING OF CHURCH, OUR ECCLESIOLOGY; ONE ROOM IS OUR THEOLOGY OF WORSHIP, WHAT WORSHIP IS AND WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT; ANOTHER ROOM IS OUR UNDERSTANDING OF SALVATION, OUR SOTERIOLOGY, HOW ONE IS SAVED, WHAT IT MEANS TO BE SAVED…ALL THESE ROOMS TOGETHER MAKE OUR THEOLGOICAL HOUSE. OUR HOUSE IS THEN VERYMUCH SHAPED BY THE FOUNDATION, WHICH IS OUR CORE CONVICTION OF THE ULTIMATE CHACTER OF GOD. FOR THE WESLEYAN, ALL OUR OTHER THEOLOGICAL PREMISES MUST BE SHAPED BY OUR UNDERSTANDING THAT THE CORE THEOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTE OF GOD IS HIS LOVE, SO IF WE ERROR ANYWHERE IN OUR THEOLOGY (WHICH WE DO, BECAUSE WHO CAN KNOW THE MIND OF GOD?), WE ERROR ON THE SIDE OF LOVE. HERE’S SOME OTHER HOUSES FOR COMPARISON:

– ROMAN CATHOLIC: GOD IS HOLY – LITURGY CAN SOMETIMES BE PERCIEVED AS DISTANT, INACCESSIBLE, BUT CERTAINLY BEAUTIFUL AND MAJECTIC – – IF IT ERRORS, IT ERRORS ON THE SIDE OF GOD’S HOLINESS, ALONG WITH ALL THEIR THEOLOGY!

– CALVINIST: GOD IS SOVERIGN – LEADS TO PREDESTINATION AND CLASSIC CALVINIST SERVICES ARE PULPIT HEAVY AND THE PREACHER WEARS A GENEVA GOWN, MUCH LIKE A JUDGE – ALL THEOLOGY AND LITURGY ERRORS ON THE SIDE OF GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY.

– LIEKWISE, IN TRUE WESLEYANISM, OUR THEOLOGY AND LITUGY SHOULD ERROR ON THE SIDE OF LOVE! BECAUSE LOVE ALONE IS CREDIBLE!

B. THIS LOVE THEN SHOULD SPUR US TO GOOD WORKS…NOT AS WORKS RIGHTEOUSNESS BUT RATHER AS AN EXPRESSION OF LOVE! THIS IS WHERE TUR HOLINESS COMES FROM!

– I WILL DISCIPLINE MYSELF FOR YOUR GOOD OUT OF MY LOVE FOR YOU AS IT IS SHAPED BY GOD’S LOVE FOR ME!

* I DISCIPLINE MY LUST AND ADULTERY, AS I SEE ALL PEOPLE AS CHILDREN OF GOD AND NOT OBJECTS FOR MY PLEASURE, AND LIKEWISE I VALUE COVENANT FAITHFULNESS AS AN EXPRESSION OF LOVE AND SEEK TO AVOID THE HARM THAT COMES FROM RUINING COVENANT TRUST.

* I DISCIPLINE MY GREED, AS I AM JUST AS CONCERNED WITH THE MATERIAL NEEDS OF OTHERS AS I AM WITH MY SELF, SO I REFUSE TO CONSUME MORE THAN I NEED.

* I DISCIPLINE MY HATRED, AS I SEE THE SELF GIVING LOVE THAT CHRIST BESTOWS UPON ME, EVEN WHEN I AM IN REBELLION, SO DO I SHOW LOVE TO OTHERS, EVEN WHEN UNDER ATTACK.

* I DISCIPLINE MYSELF IN ALL SIN FOR YOUR GOOD JUST AS CHRIST DISCIPLINED HIMSELF TO THE CROSS FOR MY GOOD!

– CHRIST GOES TO THE CROSS FOR ME, I’LL BEAR MY CROSS FOR YOU! BECAUSE LOVE ALONE IS CREDIBLE!

C. SO WE BELIEVE AS GOOD WESLEYANS, AS HOLINESS WESLEYANS! (SO LIKE SUPER WESLEYANS), THE RESPONSE OF THE PHARISEES SHOULD HAVE READ MORE LIKE A GROUP OF CHURCH FOLK SEEKING OUT THE BLIND TO OFFER HEALING IN WHATEVER WAY THEY COULD, WHETHER ECONOMIC, SPIRITUAL, EMOTIONAL, OR EVEN PHYSICAL! 

– THE POOR GUY SHOULDN’T HAVE HAD TO BE LED TO THE SYNAGOGUE IN THE FIRST PLACE; THE PEOPLE OF GOD SHOULD HAVE FUNCTIONED LIKE JESUS AND FOUND THE BLIND MAN IN HIS NATURAL SETTING, AND THEN FREELY OFFERED RECONCILIATION! THEY SHOULD HAVE ACTED IN LOVE BECAUSE LOVE ALONE IS CREDIBLE!

– THIS IS PART OF THE GREAT TRADITION OF WESLEY! THAT HE DIDN’T WAIT AND HOPE FOR HIS NEIGHBORS TO STUMBLE INTO A CHURCH JUST TO LIKELY GET THROWN OUT ANYWAYS, BUT RATHER HE WENT AND EVEN PREACHED IN THE FIELDS TO BRING THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD’S LOVE TO THEM! WESLEY, LIKE JESUS, TRAVELLED TO THE BLIND MAN OF HIS DAY AND OFFERED HEALING AND RECONCILIATION OUT OF LOVE, BECAUSE LOVE ALONE IS CREDIBLE!

II. BUT THE UNFORTUNATE REALITY…

RETIRED GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT JESSE MIDDENDORF WRITES IN THE LENTEN DEVOTIONAL, LENTEN POSTCARDS, THESE WORDS,

“The New Testament Pharisees get a bad rap. They easily become the scapegoat for what we believe to be hypocritical and legalistic religiosity. But what was remarkable about the Pharisees was their genuine zeal to demonstrate the call to holiness for the people of God. They were not jealous of Jesus because he had great crowds following him. Their genuine fear was that Jesus appeared antagonistic toward the law of God as they understood it. The Pharisees loved the law. For them it was a demonstration of the holiness of God, a reflection of the perfect mind of God.

Pharisees were the Holiness tradition of Judaism. They longed to see a recovery of holiness in the everyday lives of the people. They wanted to make sure that they and those to whom they ministered were aware of what observance of the law required…

No list of description of requirements will ever be enough. Eventually the rules become the focus, the law becomes a deity, and life is bound in endless measurements of what is holy. But before we criticize the Pharisees who were resisting Jesus, perhaps we ought to look more closely at how easy it is for us to elevate external markers of holiness to the level of Scripture-like authority. We are tempted to measure the religious credibility of other people by a certain set of external markers that we have learned or adopted for ourselves. These markers, often intended to give guidance to the young or immature, can become an end in themselves…”

A. I HAVE MY OWN PERSONAL “TRADITION OF THE ELDERS” HANGUPS, MY OWN WAYS THAT I CAN CRTICIZE AND REJECT PEOPLE’S THEOLOGICAL HOUSES THAT ARE DIFFERENT THAN MY OWN…

B. YET THIS IS REFLECTIVE IN A WAY OF THE ATTITUDE OF THE NAZARENE “TRADITION OF THE ELDERS” HANGUPS THAT I GREW UP WITH, AND HOW WE AS NAZARENES TYPICALLY ARE MORE FAMILIAR WITH AND MORE KNOWN FOR OUR “SPECIAL RULES” SECTION THAN EVEN OUR ARTICLES OF FAITH OR OTHER FINER POINTS OF WESLEYAN THEOLOGY!

– WE’VE GONE OFF THE RAILS – WE’VE GONE FROM DISCIPLINING OURSELVES FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS TO DISCIPLINING OTHERS FOR THE SAKE OF OURSELVES!

– WE NO LONGER TRULY WANT THE BLIND MAN TO COME TO OUR CHURCH BECAUSE HIS SIN WILL DEFILE US AND DISCREDIT OUR WORK OF TRANSFORMATION!

– LIKEWISE, OUR IMAGINATIONS HAVE BECOME SHAPED BY FEARING ACTIONS THAT MAY (OR MAY NOT, BUT WHY CHANCE IT?) MAKE US BLIND OURSELVES! BUT PERFECT LOVE SHOULD DRIVE OUT THAT FEAR!

– WE SHOULD BE SIMPLY PAYING CLOSE ATTENTION TO OTHERS OUT OF LOVE AND DISCIPLINING OURSELVES ACCORDINGLY BY THE SPIRIT, LIKE ST. PAUL WHO IN 1 CORINTHIANS 9:19-23 WRITES,

“Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”

– BUT INSTEAD WE SYSTEMETIZE OUR DISCIPLINE WITH SPECIAL RULES AND THEN COME TO WORSHIP THE LAW ABOVE THE GIVER OF THE LAW, AND THEREBY FALL BACK INTO THE TRAP OF THE PHARISEES, REJECTING THE BLIND MAN RATHER THAN SEEKING HIM OUT.

C. ALL OF US, NO MATTER WHERE WE COME FROM, HAVE A “BLIND MAN” OUT THERE – SOMEONE WHO WE ARE CONVINCED IS THE WAY THEY ARE BECAUSE OF SOME SIN AND THEY ARE THEREFORE BEYOND HOPE OF COMING TO JESUS… REMEMBER, BLINDNESS IN THE TIME OF OUR STORY WAS A PERMANENT PUNISHMENT FOR SOMEONE’S SIN!

– BUT THE CRAZY REALITY IS THIS: WHEN WE HOLD THAT SORT OF RESENTMENT, WE’RE THE ONES WHO ARE BLIND, BECAUSE WE FAIL TO SEE WHERE JESUS IS ALREADY AT WORK IN THEIR HEALING AND RESTORATION BACK INTO HIS KINGDOM.

CONCLUSION

AND SO – WILL WE ALLOW OURSELVES THIS LENTEN SEASON TO BE CHALLENGED BY THE CROSS OF JESUS? WILL WE OPEN OUR HEARTS TO IDENTIFY THE PEOPLE THAT WE MAY SEE AS BLIND? WILL WE OPEN OUR EYES TO SEE THE WORK THAT GOD MAY ALREADY BE DOING IN THEIR LIVES? WILL WE OPEN OUR HANDS TO JOIN HIM? WILL WE ALLOW OURSELVES TO BE SHAPED FIRST AND FOREMOST BY LOVE? BECAUSE THE WAY FORWARD IN THE FAITH IS THE SAME AS THE WAY FORWARD IN A PANDEMIC – NOT BY THROWING STONES, BUT BY JOINING IN THE WORK OF HEALING, BY ACTING PURELY OUT OF LOVE. SO WHO IS YOUR BLIND PERSON? HOW FAR HAVE YOU TRAVELLED TO MEET THEM? AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO OFFER THEM HEALING? IN ALL WE DO, AS WESLEYANS, LET US ERROR ON THE SIDE OF LOVE, BECAUSE LOVE ALONE IS CREDIBLE. AMEN.