Sermon from 3rd April, 2011

3rd April, 2011 John 9:1-41
Leonardo da Vinci saw things that other people could not see.
We are most familiar with his paintings,
such as the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper,
but he did many other things.
He was an architect.
He was a sculptor.
He designed weaponry.
He drew sketches of a flying machine that, 500 years later,
we recognize as a helicopter.
He practically invented the science of anatomy.
At one point Leonardo talked about vision.
He said that there are three classes of people:
• Those who see.
• Those who see when they are shown.
• Those who do not see.

Those who see.
Those who see when they are shown.
Those who do not see.
That is what our Gospel text is about today.
Jesus was walking with his disciples when they saw a blind man.
The disciples asked, "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
They assumed that it had to be one or the other.
If a person was blind or lame or a leper, they must have done something wrong. Their infirmity was a punishment for their sins.
Or it might be punishment for the sins of their parents.
But Jesus said, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him."
He went on to say, "I am the light of the world."
Then he healed the blind man.
That was amazing!
A man who had never seen anything could now see!
No eye surgeon was involved.
Jesus made mud by mixing his spit with a handful of dust.
He put the mud on the man's eyes, and told him to go wash in the Pool of Siloam.
When the man did so, he could see.

It must have been very confusing for his neighbours and friends.
There was no cure for blindness,
so his neighbours and friends thought
this man (who could see) could not be the blind man (who could not see).
He must have looked different now that he could see.
Now his eyes were open and full of light.
He was astonished and excited.
He no longer crouched along the road.
He no longer moved hesitantly through the crowd.
He was a different person to the one they knew.
It is no wonder that they failed to recognize him.
There was a contradiction or paradox operating here.
The blind man could see, but the sighted neighbors could not see!
The Jewish authorities couldn’t see either!
First of all they tried to deny that it was a miracle.
Then they tried to prove that this was not the blind man, but someone else.
When it became apparent that he really was the blind man,
the authorities tried to prove that,
because Jesus had healed the man on the sabbath,
Then he must be a lawbreaker.
And then they said that,
if Jesus was a lawbreaker,
he could not be from God.
But the blind man said,
"If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

The blind man could see, but the sighted authorities could not see!

Sometimes it is like that!
Sometimes our eyes are closed but our hearts are open,

• All too often we have eyes but do not see.
We have ears, but do not hear.
God is in our midst, but all too often we try to face life by ourselves –– never availing ourselves of God's presence –– God's power.
You know what I find so powerful in all this?
We have this very earthy account of an incident
Written years ago – but a very earthy, obviously real, honest account,
An account that has “the ring of truth” about it,
An account of this man who was born blind,
We hear of his circumstances,
We meet his parents.
He has this encounter with a man people claimed had come from God (Jesus)
And we can be as blind about this as were some of the people there (not all of them)
Because we don’t trust something written down so many years ago,
At least we have trouble believing it.
Why? We don’t express any doubt about Julius Caesar or the events of his life,
But we have trouble believing God in His Scriptures,
He gave us his written word so that we would all be on a level playing field,
We all have the same opportunity – to read and believe.

Christ has come into our world to open our eyes – to shed light,
More especially, Christ has come into our world to open our hearts,
To shed light into our hearts.
Only with open eyes and open hearts will we become aware of God in our lives,
Will we feel God's presence in our lives.

Christ healed the man born blind,
but he could not bring sight to those who would not see.
It requires some co-operation from us,
That is called FAITH.
Christ can heal our hearts and help them to see,
But He cannot/will not heal the hearts of those who stubbornly refuse to believe the truth that is in front of them.
Let us pray this week for the grace to receive Christ's healing touch
that he might open our eyes and our hearts to see and to receive God's blessings.
AMEN.