Vision

4 Lent – March 22, 2020

John 9:1-41

          So, wow! Lots of changes in our world right now and it may be, for many of us, a scary time. Especially if you are sick or are not able to earn an income right now. My own household is affected, because as many of you know, my husband owns Beaver Creek Tavern and had to temporarily close. This effects the employees’ income, as well as the tavern’s.  But as is usual with God’s Word, our scripture has much to say to us today.

One of the themes is vision, or sight. In our reading from 1 Samuel we heard “…for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”  And then of course, the main character in our gospel story is a man born blind.

If we’re blind, we cannot see with our eyes. You know we can’t see with our eyes in the darkness. We need light to illumine our way in the dark night.

Have you ever been on one of those tours of an underground cave or a mine and during the tour they turn off the lights for moment?  It is pitch black. You can’t see a thing, there aren’t even shadows. It’s an unsettling feeling.  And, in that brief moment, consider what happens to your perspective, your perception, your goals.

The first thing that happens is you orient to yourself.  Feeling or hearing your own heartbeat, perhaps you begin to feel clammy.  You can no longer see anyone else in your group. You are focused on your own safety. You, alone are important, there is no longer any larger picture. It’s all about you.

And then the lights come back on. Suddenly, you can see other people, community becomes possible, you comprehend the landscape, the larger picture. You feel more confident stepping into the unknown.

And that, my friends, is what happens when we can put our trust in the Lord, in the light that is Jesus. We can feel more confident stepping into this unknown world that we are all experiencing together, right now.

I love that Jesus uses mud and spit to put on the eyes of the man born blind. It’s the stuff of the earth, of our humanity. Jesus is taking what is dark – mud – and using it to heal, to bring sight – to bring light and perspective to this man’s world.  And he tells him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. John specifically tells us that Siloam means “sent”.  We are all being “sent”.  Sent somewhere we don’t necessarily want to go. We are sent beyond the boundaries of what we find acceptable or comfortable or convenient. And sometimes we are sent beyond the limits of our own vision…like perhaps, now? Whether or not we know where we are going, we are constantly in need of learning how to see, to see through the eyes of God.

Notice all of the questions that were asked about the blind man gaining his sight. We couldn’t see past what we thought we knew about this man. We couldn’t see something new and different in him. We kept trying to define him by who he was, not who he presently is and will be.

Jesus presented the man with his future. Jesus went after the man when he was driven out and when he found him, he asked him the question, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” Jesus looks to the future rather than the past, inviting this man to faith and encouraging him by not just taking his question seriously but by revealing himself to him – indeed, the play on “you have seen him” is simultaneously poignant and joyful. All of this leads the man who now sees to make the quintessential confession in John’s Gospel: “Lord, I believe.”

Have you ever heard it said that there is probably a good reason that the windshield of a car is so big and the rearview mirror relatively small: because while it’s good to be able to glance back once in a while, the key to getting where you need to go is looking forward.

It’s still the season of Lent.  And good time to take stock of your past – the good, the difficult, the encouraging, the challenging, and ask what you need to let go of to receive the open future that God has for you now. I feel as if our sinful activities as a whole have accidently hit a giant reset button and this is a rare opportunity to have the mud from our eyes washed clean and to ask for forgiveness and mercy and to look, to really see and pay attention to where God is active in our lives. To tap into the light within our own souls.  We will get through this and we will come out on the other side. Use this time to reflect, meditate on God’s Word, to pray for a new vision, a new perspective on our world.  Let us keep our eyes clean, continually going to the pool of Siloam. To see through the eyes of God.  To be the light in a dark world.

I’d like to share a blessing written by Jan Richardson, from her book  Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons. This is a blessing of Mud to get us started on our time of reflection, prayer and meditation:

Lest we think
the blessing
is not
in the dirt.

Lest we think
the blessing
is not
in the earth
beneath our feet.

Lest we think
the blessing
is not
in the dust,

like the dust
that God scooped up
at the beginning
and formed
with God’s
two hands
and breathed into
with God’s own
breath.

Lest we think
the blessing
is not
in the spit.

Lest we think
the blessing
is not
in the mud.

Lest we think
the blessing
is not
in the mire,
the grime,
the muck.

Lest we think
God cannot reach
deep into the things
of earth,
cannot bring forth
the blessing
that shimmers
within the sludge,
cannot anoint us
with a tender
and grimy grace.

My friends, God is with us, every step of the way, even in the darkness.  God loves us with an everlasting love.  May we join with the man receiving sight and be able to say along with him, “Lord, I believe”.   Amen.