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March 19, 2023

Promised Treasures - Light

Preacher: Rev. Jack Meehan Series: Lent 2023: Promised Treasures Category: Biblical Scripture: John 9:1-7, 13-17–34-39

The Fourth Sunday in Lent

March 19, 2023

John 9:1-7, 13-17, 34-39

 “Promised Treasures – Light”

The story of Helen Keller (1880-1968) is widely known: how at just nineteen months she lost sight and hearing resulting from an undiagnosed illness. Because of this, she was locked in a world of darkness and silence. Although she did use home signs, or kitchen signs, and learned to distinguish people by the floor vibration of their steps, she was chained in mind and spirit, wild with rage and despair. At age seven, a person came along who would change her life: 21-year-old Annie Sullivan. Annie was herself blind in childhood and illiterate until she was a teenager, having grown up in a state poorhouse. In 1887, she became Helen Keller’s teacher with the monumental task of opening up the mind of a child who is deaf and blind. In the play, “The Miracle Worker,” we see how Helen’s mind, locked in darkness, is suddenly flooded with light when she makes the connection that the cold, wet force shooting onto her hand is water. The whole world was now opened up to her. One of the most touching scenes in the play comes after the excitement has died down and Helen comes to sit by Annie, her teacher. Annie takes Helen’s hand and spells into it, “I love Helen.” Helen Keller became the first blind-deaf person to graduate from Radcliffe College of Harvard University, and for more than forty years worked for the American Foundation for the Blind. She traveled around the globe advocating for those with vision loss, in addition to being a prolific writer. Her resting place is nearby in the Washington National Cathedral (Helen Keller - Wikipedia). Though she remained blind and deaf for the rest of her life, she saw and understood far more than most people. In today’s Gospel lesson, the promised treasure of light is given to a man blind from birth. Our Lenten series, “Promised Treasures,” continues today as we focus on light. May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

For those who see, we take light for granted. Our vision is something that we probably don’t really think about, until there is a problem. But this unnamed man in today’s Gospel lesson was blind from birth. He had no visual reference point for anything. He didn’t know what the faces of his own family looked like, let alone anything else in the world around him. Can we even imagine? There were no resources for blind people in the ancient world, although God’s covenant with Israel provided protections for them. No stumbling block was to be placed in their way (Leviticus 19:14), and anyone who misled a blind person was cursed (Deuteronomy 21:18). Frequently, the blind had to resort to begging, relying on the good will of others. What do we make of the question that the disciples asked Jesus: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2). That’s not just a long ago, far away question. It’s a question we still ask today. When tragedy or disaster strikes, or when there is an illness for which there is no cure, or when sudden death happens, we ask similar questions. “Why did God allow this to happen? Am I being punished because of my sins? Is God angry with me?” I have heard many people ask such questions over the years. Like the disciples, we want to know why and we want to know who. Why did this terrible thing happen and who is responsible? Jesus’ response reframes the question altogether. “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3). Jesus turns this whole conversation upside-down, and shifts everything from “why” and “who” to “how.” How will the works of God be displayed in this situation? How will the works of God be revealed in this person? That is an important truth for us to hold onto in life. How will the precious treasure of the light of Jesus Christ be revealed through all of this?

We see two types of blindness in today’s Gospel reading: the physical blindness of the man whose eyes Jesus opened so that he could see, and the spiritual blindness as revealed in the religious leaders who refused to accept the truth that Jesus is the promised Messiah, at whose coming the eyes of the blind shall be opened,  and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy” (Isaiah 35:5-6; see also Isaiah 29:18). The works of Jesus revealed that he is this very One. Though we may not be physically blind, we are – all of us – by nature spiritually blind, dead, and enemies of God. We are born without sight of who God is, and must be reborn by water and the Spirit, and in order to enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5). After putting mud on the blind man’s eyes, Jesus instructed him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam, and having done so, his eyes were opened. When we are washed in the waters of holy Baptism, our eyes are also opened. This is why Jesus came into the world: to open blind eyes so that the light and love of God made known in Jesus might be poured into our lives. But that gift can be refused. We have the terrible power to reject the precious treasure of God’s light and love made known in Jesus. This is what the religious leaders did: they rejected not just the blind man who now saw, but they also rejected Jesus. They refused the gift that was right in front of them. Let us not do the same. In substance abuse recovery, or any 12-step recovery program, the very first step is for the individual to admit that he or she has a problem; that they are powerless over alcohol or drugs or whatever it may be, and that their lives had become unmanageable. Until that happens, there can be no recovery; there can be no healing. That is also true in the realm of faith. Jesus sees our true condition and our great need; he sees it and knows it better than we do ourselves. He wants nothing more than to open our eyes so that we may see his great love for us, and receive this gift of light, forgiveness and new life in him. But unless we admit our great need – that we are blind and helpless – we remain locked in darkness. The closing words of Jesus in today’s Gospel are a sober reminder of this: “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind” (John 9:39).

The message of this Lenten season is that Jesus did indeed come into the world for judgment. The cross stands before us as a silent witness to remind us of all that Jesus came to do for us and for our salvation. The rejection, the betrayal, the unimaginable suffering on the cross where he gave his life – through all of this Jesus came to bear God’s righteous judgment against our sin and rebellion in himself; to take upon himself the judgment that should have been ours. This is both mercy and grace. Though we often seem to use those words interchangeably, there is a difference between the two. God’s mercy is not getting what we do deserve – that is, punishment and condemnation because of our sin. God’s grace is getting what we do not deserve – that is, forgiveness, life and salvation through faith in Jesus and what he has done for us.

The mercy and grace of God in Jesus Christ open our eyes to see the light and goodness of the Lord. And so the words of Jesus come to be fulfilled in the lives of all who trust in him: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

In this Lenten season and in every season of life, let us walk in the light and love of the Lord. Amen.