We are Blind!

Yesterday we got another wonderfully rich story from the gospel of John (the entire ninth chapter). In this Lenten lectionary series we have heard stories of Jesus interacting with people and their faith growth. This story was of the man born blind.  


Enjoy the sermon!

We are all blind to something.  And often it is not until someone else opens our eyes that we realize that we were ever blind to begin with. 

In today’s gospel the Pharisees are the ones who are blind.  They are so wrapped up in their own religious authority and what they expect and the ways things are done and should be done that they weren’t able to see that the messiah was right in front of them. 

They aren’t really upset that Jesus healed the man or even that Jesus broke the rules about healing and working on the Sabbath.  They are upset because things had changed.  Oh change that horrible word, that word that makes people cringe in fear because it means getting out of a comfort zone and getting away from “the way we have always done things” or “the way things used to be.”  Change is great if you are the one implementing it; but if it happens to you, change is bad. 

The Pharisees are upset because Jesus changed things.  The man who was always blind is no longer blind and Jesus healed on the Sabbath, something they had never done before.  And with this change in the ways things have always been done, they could see only the bad things it would mean for them.  They were blind to all the good this change would mean for them. 

To them this change meant that their power would erode, that they would not longer be the religious authorities.  They could not see that Jesus would be able to also heal them, to make them whole, to forgive their sins; that Jesus came to be the light of the whole world, including the light to the Pharisees. 

They were blind and they were unwilling to allow Jesus to open their eyes to see what God was doing right in front of them.

And sometimes we too are blind.  We want things to stay the same, we want things to be the way they always have been and we are unable to see what God is doing right in front of us.  We are blind to the gifts that God has given us.  The gifts to do God’s ministry in this world, the gifts for this small congregation to be a healthy thriving congregation that preaches God’s grace to this world that sometimes so desperately needs it. 

We have made ourselves blind to the fact that we are the Pharisees, we are the religious authorities, who want to keep things the way that they are because we are comfortable with how things are.  We have made ourselves blind to the fact that we are the Pharisees, we are the religious authorities, who want to obey the rules that were written for generations ago and not realize that the world has changed and so to have the rules.  We have made ourselves blind to the fact that we are the Pharisees, we are the religious authorities, who want to live in the past, the way things were and therefore unable to see God’s grace and miracles that happen right in front of us. 

But Jesus has opened our eyes!  Jesus has changed us.  We have become new creatures because of God’s amazing grace.  We have become people gifted with amazing talents, sometimes which are kept hidden from even ourselves, that are able to do amazing things in this world. 

And when Jesus is the one who changes us, we change for the better.  When we let God take some of the control in our lives, the change that is brought to us is only good. 

Yes we might want to focus on the things that seem bad, that we have less control, less power, but it is because there are more people sharing in the leadership of doing God’s ministry.  Or we might want to focus on that fact that worship or the congregation is different now that it was 50, 10 or even 2 years ago, and we fail to realize that we are able to worship God in many and various ways and through this change we see God not just in here, in worship, but out there in our daily lives. 

When God is the one who changes us it is only good for it allows us to see in areas that we were once so blind.  

When God is the one who changes us it is only good for we are able to grow in faith, love and grace.

When God is the one who changes us it is only good for we are able to see, hear and feel how the Holy Spirit is working in us

When God is the one who changes us it is only good for Jesus is the one who has opened our eyes.

How is God changing you?