|
First
Reading
|
Psalm |
Epistle |
Gospel |
| I Samuel 16:1–13 |
Psalm
23 |
Ephesians 5:8–14 |
John 9:1–41
|
The story of the healing of the man born blind consists of just a few succinct verses on the circumstances of the actual healing and then, in much fuller detail, relates all the challenges the man has to face afterwards. This lesson might be more appropriately entitled the story of the struggle of a man who received new sight from Jesus, and then was subsequently punished for it. As he sought Jesus and the source of his new life, he faced a skeptical family, unbelieving neighbors, and hostile authorities.
Many of you can remember the Holiday Inn ad on TV showing a family around the breakfast table and the mother saying, "Son, now that you are thirty-seven years old, don't you think you should help chip in for things around here?" The son looks surprised and says, "But grandmother here doesn't chip in." "Son," the mother says, "but grandmother is ninety-three years old." "See," says the son, "and I'm only thirty-seven. Anyway look at Spot, he doesn't chip in." "But spot is a dog," sighs the exasperated mother. "Well." says the son, Spot is a dog and I'm a kid." Someone at the table breaks in, "what do you think this is, a Holiday Inn?" and everyone chuckles. Then the big green sign flashes on, and an announcer says, "At Holiday Inn, kids always stay free and now eat free, too"
Yes, it may be true that "at the Holiday Inn, kids stay free!" The church is indeed called to be a family, where people, young and old have a place at the table, but the church is not one big Holiday Inn where anyone stays for free. The church is not a cocoon where we may stay free from challenges, free from cares, or free from the pressures of the world. In baptism, you don't stay soaking in a warm bathtub, with yellow rubber duckies of God's grace floating around in the bubbles between your toes, as others line up waiting to get into the bath. You are baptized, presented to the community, and then sent into the world. Inherent in our baptism is an offer to be converted, and a commitment to be willing to change, and to become something other and more than we were, more than we ever thought we could become.
There are many situations in which we are apt to feel uncomfortable at being identified as practicing and witnessing Christians. For we are all likely from time to time to be put on the spot and have all sorts of unflattering stuff and misperceptions projected on us. I suspect especially those in middle school, high school, and even college may feel keenly the pain of being regarded with distain, if not suspicion. Therefore the man born blind is someone we can certainly sympathize with. Jesus came into his life, turned it all around, and then seemed to leave with the poor guy having to fend for himself. Yet the man born blind learned he could handle the challenge of discipleship. Even in a very difficult position surrounded by an unfriendly audience, he was able to retort to his disparagers ,”Do you want to hear my story again? Do you want to hear it so you may become disciples also?” He should be remembered for getting off some of the best one-liners of the whole New Testament. He was even feisty enough to fit right here in Ithaca.
Nor did Jesus really leave the man high and dry as much as Jesus got out of the way so to let him go for it. The man never would have been an effective witness if Jesus had been right by his side and done all the speaking. Yet the man did not whine in despair. He persisted and found Jesus available and welcoming.
I have not yet adjusted to the realization that Holy Week is two weeks away. The Sunday after next we will be reading the account of Jesus’ passion. Perhaps the special gift of this Gospel episode is its reminder that discipleship is never the easiest road, that even when we are strengthened and nourished by the Good News, there will be some difficult times. A changed life is like riding a rollercoaster. As we get going, we feel exhilarated, and then there is that unexpected turn and a sudden dip, we get an awful ache in our stomach, and we wonder why we ever chose to get on the thing. It's nothing new: all the saints, all those who ever sat in these very pews as we do and worshipped, prayed, and witnessed to the Gospel, have been through moments of perplexity and adversity. They understand our discomfort for they have been there, too. What they have learned is that God trusts us to make our own decisions of discipleship, to make the important choices regarding the mission handed over to us. That is why God gives this parish to our care in our time to further God’s mission of reconciliation and new life.
And I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.
