(John 9:1-41)
What do we
do with the Gospel of John? It’s a challenging book with many bold stories that
sound more like fairy tales than history.
There are times when Jesus seems completely unbelievable to modern
minds.
Some preacher
remarked recently that scripture is supposed to be uncomfortable, complicated
and even frustrating. We’re supposed to
wrestle with it and ponder it in our hearts.
Each time we read or hear scriptures, we are bringing our new
experiences and understanding to it. Yes
it’s confusing but when we wrestle with its message, we hear what God is saying
to us today.
One of my
profs had a favorite analogy that is very helpful. He said that we can learn about the bible
like we learn about cats.
How do you
learn what a cat is? You dissect it of course.
You find out what muscles are attached to which bones, where the
internal organs are and make sure to measure everything. Once you have described and drawn everything
down, you will know what a cat is. And
that’s exactly how bible study was taught for many years.
My prof
continued to say that while dissecting a cat is one way to get to know what it
is, we really don’t know it. We have only
gotten to know a dead cat. If we really
want to know what a cat is, we should take a few kittens home, play with them,
feed them and find out where they like to be scratched. Discover what its like to have a purring cat
on our laps. Discover that no two cats
look or act the same. That’s how we’ll
learn what a cat is.
Having said
that, when our cats are sick, we want to find someone who has dissected a cat
to help us figure out what is wrong.
Preferably one who knows what it’s like to have a purring cat on their
lap so they have an understanding that our cat is not to be dissected but to be
healed.
The bible
has some similarities to a cat. I have studied
how to dissect it. There was a lot going
on in John’s world when he wrote his gospel.
He recorded Jesus not as a new Moses for Jews or an amazing Greek Hero
for the Gentiles. He saw Jesus as an
intrinsic part of God, the great “I am”.
“I am” first came from Moses talking to a burning bush about the Hebrew
people living like slaves in Egypt. “Who
shall I say sent me, oh fiery bush?” he asks and the voice replies, “Say ‘I AM’
has sent you.” I am is often translated
as Yahweh or Jehovah.
So John is
full of Jesus saying 'I am'. I am the
vine, I am living waters, I am the bread of life. John loved his metaphors and examples. Jesus is the light of the world, he wrote,
and here’s an example. Once he healed a
blind man this way...
So we have
dissected the cat a little but we want to make sure it stays alive. We want it to sit on our lap and purr. So we ask ourselves what part is annoying? Who do we relate to the most? Are we like the blind man, minding our own
business, complacent and accepting of our life limitations?
Are we like
the Pharisees, wanting to dissect and dismiss the evidence of their own
eyes? Do we want to dismiss Jesus as he
disrupts assumptions, disregards rules and runs roughshod over our
understanding of who God is? Do we
forcibly reject anyone or anything we don’t understand?
Are we the
townsfolk and parents, confused and bewildered at the dramatic changes they’ve
seen in this man they know so well?
Wanting a simple explanation that will take away their fear that the
world might be more complicated that they thought? That they were wrong in thinking that the
blind man and his parents were sinners who were being punished for doing
something God didn’t like?
And what
does this story tell us about God? God
brings healing not to someone who deserved it or even asked for it. The blind man did not repent or even accept
Jesus as his personal lord and savior into his heart! He didn’t ask to see! He got healed not because he was holy or
prayed hard, but to show the world how much God loves the world.
God loves
the whole world, even you and me when we’re the blindest, most knit-picky, most
rule-bound folks. God loves us even when
we are so blinded by our lives, our childhood, our anger, our fears, our pain
our culture that we cannot see past the end of our noses. God loves us so much that God brought us all
together this morning. God reminds us
that we are already healed. We are not
alone, we live in God’s World!
