Sunday, March 2, 2008
By pastor John Jorgenson
Jesus interacting with people in this world created a challenge to those who were responsible for growing the established religious and political institutions at the time. The ordinary people accepted Jesus while the Pharisees, the scribes and the Sadducees challenged Jesus ability to do what He did. This challenge still faces us as we hold to our past and use it to understand the future. Jesus taught us to be free and to listen to God as we respond to life issues including meeting the needs of others who are suffering.
In our lesson this morning we learn the dangers of limiting our understanding of God, our awareness of the importance of what Jesus taught for our lives today, and our growth in faith. We begin with Jesus dealing with a man, blind from birth. The people had the idea that when a person has a physical handicap of some kind, it is a sign that someone sinned and God was punishing them. So they asked Jesus what this man had done or what his parents had done. Their image of God was harsh and unforgiving. You goof and you pay for it or your children do to the third and fourth generation of those who disobey God. God is demanding and that is it. Period!
Jesus suggested something new. Things happen to people in this world so that God’s true nature may be experienced by the person and observed by all those who are around to see and to take part. This was and continues to be a very radical departure from the traditional teaching and belief relating to God and our on going life long relationship. Jesus explained to us, “We must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work.” That is still the case with what we see in our lives and in our world today. When we have an opportunity to share what God has given us that opportunity is right now, doing what we can do with the talents we have been given to meet a need we are aware of right now, not when we get around to it. It may be that this opportunity to share this joy with God will not be here tomorrow because, as Jesus said, “We must work the works of him who sent us while it is day; night is coming when on one can work.”
So we see the first lesson is that of the urgency of doing what God sees that needs to be done. Now a second lesson emerges as the person who people thought was blind returned to his community and was able to see. The people first thought he was someone else. They also thought that perhaps he never was blind in the first place. So to get an answer they could understand they went to the religious leaders, the Pharisees.
Well, the Pharisees came up with the idea that Jesus sinned by healing on the Sabbath. Jesus did not obey the rules the religious leaders had specified. They responded a kind of “We are Right! and You are Wrong!” to what God had done through Jesus in healing the blind man. So to prove the point they called the parents to involve them in the crime, so to speak.
The parents denied any responsibility. “He is of age, ask him,” they replied and the reason they denied any part of the situation is because they were afraid of the Pharisees who wanted Jesus out of the synagogue and the community because He was challenging their traditional role and benefits of being religious leaders.
They then ridiculed the man who was healed and asked him just exactly how Jesus had healed him. The man had courage enough to reply that he had told them and they would not listen. So why bother doing it again. With a bit of sarcasm he asked if they wanted to become disciples of Jesus. This really set them off and they puffed up their egos and responded that he was a follower of this man Jesus but that they were followers of Moses! I mean how much greater can you ever be? They were disciples of Moses, and Moses was a real man of God. After all read the Bible!
The man continues his challenge to the church leaders. “How come you do not know where this Jesus comes from? You are Pharisees, You are religious leaders! This Jesus healed my blindness and you do not know where he comes from. We all know that God listens to anyone who worships God and obeys God’s will. God does not listen to sinners, so how in the world could I have been given the ability to see after being blind for such a long time?”
This really set the Pharisees off and they asked him, “You are a sinful man and are you trying to teach us. We are Pharisees! We understand what God is all about. We follow Moses!” And they drove him out of the meeting.
The third lesson we learn is that Jesus went and found the man. I am sure he was rather upset because he in trying to be honest and truthful with the Pharisees had been dismissed and driven out of the religious community. Jesus simply asked him if he believed in what he did and what the implications of that healing included. His response was positive and that he accepted the change in his life.
Our final insight is in the final statement Jesus made. “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” Now that is a bit scary. I understand the statement about blind being able to see. The second statement is a bit scary. “Those who do see may become blind.” That suggests that when we tend to take God and our faith in God through what Jesus taught us, and our experience with the motivation of the Holy Spirit for granted and we lose the sense of urgency, we are in trouble. Seems to me it is very essential that we keep this sense of vulnerability and dependence on God for our lives and what we need for living and not fall victim to our own selfish oriented pride because of our own personal successful experiences that may lead us to no longer believe in or have need for God.
Finally, lets keep in mind that God is our best friend who sent Jesus to teach us about what life is all about and who provides us with a Holy Spirit to motivate and encourage us to do what God wants done and with God’s gifts that we will do.
Amen.