4^th Sabbath in Lent

One Great Hour of Sharing/Holy Communion

February 29/March 2, 2008

Victor H. Nixon

WALKING ALONG: RECEIVING SIGHT

John 9:1-17

Today we continue our Lenten journey of faith with Jesus in Jerusalem where he encountered a person blind from birth.

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I learned that my eyesight needed correction in my early twenties. My parents and I were returning one evening from Fayetteville via Alma by way of Highway 71, in the days before the modern interstate through the Boston Mountains of northwest Arkansas. Some of you may remember that old highway is very "scenic," a euphemism for "crooked and dangerous." I was at the wheel of the family car. My speed through one curve was a bit excessive. The car lurched and tires squealed. My Dad said uneasily, "Son, you took that last one a bit too fast."

I apologized. Dad was now totally focused on the road ahead. "That sign ahead says 35 M.P.H. on the next curve."

Incredulous, I asked, "You can read that?"

"Can’t you?" he gasped.

We tested my vision on the next few signs and discovered that it wasn’t very good. Dad drove the rest of the way home.

I made an appointment with an optometrist and discovered that I was myopic, near-sighted. I have no difficulty seeing up close. My problem is distance. Happily, my vision is easily corrected with lenses. Some folks in John’s story had a very similar problem that had nothing to do with their eyesight.

Jesus decided not to attend a festival in Jerusalem commemorating the Hebrews wandering in the wilderness for forty years and advised his disciples to go without him (7:1-10). Later, John says, Jesus changed his mind for some reason and slipped into the city undetected. He was soon recognized, however, so his secret was out. Our text for today begins not with people seeing Jesus but with Jesus seeing someone.

As he walked along the street, Jesus saw a person who had been blind from birth.(9:1) He stopped. This fellow was begging for alms from the festival crowd. No doubt, most didn’t even see him and passed by without dropping a coin into his cup. Strange how myopic we become in the face of human need!

Let’s stop with Jesus for a minute and consider those who are visually impaired or blind. According to World Health Organization website figures, more than 160 million people are visually impaired, of whom 124 million have low vision and more than 37 million are blind, including 1.4 million children with vitamin A deficiency. More than 90% of those with visual impairment live in developing countries. Three quarters of all blindness can be prevented or treated.

Our Savior cared about people who live without sight—and so should we, beginning with attitudinal change. Vision impaired people can become productive human beings with great insight, intelligence and creativity. Hellen Keller, Ray Charles, Fanny Crosby and Stevie Wonder are but a few examples.

We can make sure that our church facilities and ministries, homes and businesses, are accessible to visually impaired persons. I checked our church: rooms, office and restrooms now include Braille. One elevator has Braille; the other does not. Look around. There may be other needed improvements.

Through agencies like United Methodist Committee on Relief we can provide medical and financial resources to solve problems of poverty, sanitation and hygiene—root causes of vision loss. Trachoma can be prevented with a tube of antibiotic ointment costing a few cents. Like Jesus, we too can bring the light of healing to those who walk in darkness.

This story from John isn’t just about physical blindness. Jesus’ disciples asked: "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that caused this blindness?" Sin, they reasoned, caused the disability—a common assumption in that culture as well as our own. The disciples had sight, but lacked insight. The issue for them was not helping the blind to see, but determining guilt—the man, his parents, God?

Of course, children don’t sin before they are born! That notion is so outrageous it doesn’t even deserve commentary. Children are innocent gifts and blessings from God. Furthermore, the best parents can give birth to children with disabilities. They don’t need disciples adding guilt to their grief; they need compassion and support!

Sometimes children do suffer because of the sin of their parents. Sadly, children are born addicted to cocaine, infected with HIV, suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome, or emotional scars due to parental abuse. Professional insight and treatment are indicated, including support, therapy, and compassion.

Whether the blind man sinned or his parents sinned is irrelevant. The man needed sight, not censure. Jesus was interested in giving him sight, but also discovered his disciples needed to have their minds opened as well. Jesus said to forget establishing fault. Instead, see suffering as an opportunity to help God bring light into someone’s darkness.

Jesus, God’s ophthalmologist, spat on the ground, made a poultice of mud, anointed the man’s eyes with it, and told him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. He came back seeing. All were astonished and had difficulty believing it was the same man who had sat on the streets and begged. Even his parents were astounded. Such is the positive power of God in human life that can transform those who do not see into those who can, those who do not understand into those who see the light, those blinded by ignorance and faultfinding into those who are bringing about healing and grace. Christ is the light in our darkness.

There is a third kind of blindness in this story evidenced by religious leaders. Religious blindness often refuses to see new truth. Blinded by years of religious tradition and doctrine, as well as their own need for authority, religious leaders saw that the man born blind had been healed but refused to believe that Jesus was behind it all. Instead, they tried to discredit him for healing on the Sabbath and questioned his credibility. Not only that, they kicked the man out of the church! You know, people with fresh eyes, new vision, looking around the church might want to change things.

My first pastoral appointment was a circuit of three churches in the Palestine District of the Texas Conference while in seminary: Eustace, Payne Springs and Pickens Spur. Pickens Spur UMC had about 20 members, all above 75 years of age. It was located on a gravel road about a mile off the main highway. I knew the church was not long for this world unless they could attract new members. Brilliant visionary leader that I am, I suggested we put a sign on the highway with directions to the church. One of the members responded: "But, Rev. Nixon, we all know where the church is!" As Rev. Carolyn Staley, reflecting on this text aptly put it at the Friday Lenten Service: "We all have our blind spots." What are your blind spots?

When the man born blind, now healed, was driven out of the church, Jesus heard about it and went looking for him. During their conversation the man also received new insight, namely, that the One who had given him sight was the Messiah.

The prescription for church blindness is God’s vision. This month I celebrate 16 years of ministry here at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church, growing in Christ with you. They have been very good years, not always easy, certainly challenging, sometimes struggling, but what growing faith does not experience those things? We’ve been at our best, I believe, when we’ve caught a glimpse of God’s vision for us.

During this period, we created two new worship services, organized Men Alive!, Adventures in the Arts, and a labyrinth ministry, improved and expanded weekday children, youth, adult and communication ministries, increased Bible studies and small group ministries, and new Sunday school classes. We reached out to the community with Food Pantry, Helping Hands Respite Care, and Easter Sunrise Service. We reached out to the world in Russia, Guatemala and beyond. We trained Stephen Ministers and started Cancer Friends. We’ve seen our facilities improved and expanded, formed PHUMC Foundation to strengthen funding for ministries, while paying 100% of our apportionments, and a hundred other things—because we want people to see and experience Jesus. While growing in faith and in number we’ve also grown younger. Amazing things happen!

I believe our best years are ahead of us, if we are open to God’s vision. Maybe completing our facilities and elimination of our debt, beginning a new worship service, giving birth to a new congregation, developing a Hispanic ministry, celebrating our 100^th year with a new church history, making history by helping others and ourselves see Jesus more clearly.

The good news is that Christ is on this journey with us through life with its mountains, valleys, and curves. Sometimes it is scenic, sometimes dangerous. God is with you to heal your blindness, correct your myopia, and give you a vision of what you can become. With open eyes, heart and mind, you can make the journey of faith from darkness to light, following the One who is the light of the world. You can sing with John Newton:

"Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now . . . !"

Thanks be to God! Amen.

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