2017A 4 Lent Jesus Heals a Blind Man John 9:1-41

The Rev. Nancy S. Streufert

26 March 2017 Christ Church

I do not know whether he is a sinner.

One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My friends and colleagues look at me a little strangely when I say that

the season of Lent is one of my favorite parts of the Church Year. For
one thing, we hear some of the most sublime and glorious sacred
music during Lent that doesnt work very well the rest of the year. More
important, though, is that Lent is when Christians all over the world
come together most visibly and most palpably as a community, as the
Body of Christ. We arent distracted with shopping and planning parties
and wrapping presents like we are during Advent and Christmas.

Instead, we enter into a time of more intentional discipleship and our

devotional practice is more focused. We set out to pray more regularly
or to give up something or take on something in solidarity with Jesus
suffering. Or at least we have good intentions! There are special
services and other gatherings, like Stations of the Cross on Fridays and
morning prayer and Lenten suppers. And the devotional life of the
Church, individually and as community, intensifies as we approach
Holy Week leading up to a glorious Easter celebration. Lent is a
season of penitence, during which we take stock of our lives. Ideally,
we become more focused on our relationship with Jesus and turn more
often toward God as we evaluate our own spiritual darkness and our
journey toward the light of Christ in our lives.

But Lent need not be dreary and we need not walk around with long
faces either.

In fact, we can walk through Lent with some humor and

lightheartedness. Take Lent Madness. Did any of you answer the call
from Sister Diana to participate in Lent Madness this year? I did and I
am for the first time. Lent Madness began in 2010 as a fun,
engaging way for people to learn about some of the men and women
of the Churchs Calendar of Saints. Its modeled after March Madness,
the NCAA college basketball tournament that happens every spring.

The format for Lent Madness is straightforward: 32 saints are placed

into a tournament-like single elimination bracket. Each pairing remains
open for a set period of time and people vote for their favorite saint. 16
saints make it to the Round of the Saintly Sixteen; eight advance to the
Round of the Elate Eight; four make it to the Faithful Four; two to the
Championship; and the winner is awarded the coveted Golden Halo.

Last week, I had a very difficult choice to make. Georg Frideric Handel
was pitted against Fanny Crosby for the last spot in the Saintly Sixteen.
What a choice! The composer of Messiah or the author of Blessed

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 2017A 4 Lent Jesus Heals a Blind Man John 9:1-41
The Rev. Nancy S. Streufert
26 March 2017 Christ Church

Assurance? It was close, but Fanny edged out George 53% to 47%
with 7655 votes cast.

Fanny Crosby wrote more than eight thousand sacred texts in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including Blessed
Assurance, which Merry tells me you all sang for the closing hymn last
week. Born in 1820 in New York, Fanny caught a cold as an infant and
developed inflammation in her eyes, which resulted in full-scale
blindness. She would later remark, It seemed intended by the blessed
providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for
the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow, I
would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God
if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about
me.

Gospel: Jesus Heals a Blind Man

So with that introduction about a blind woman who was inspired by

God to write hymn texts, I turn now to the gospel reading from John
about the blind man that Jesus heals.

In those days, it was thought that illness or misfortune was a direct

result of sin. A child born blind was either being punished for the sins
of his parents or the sins he himself had committed in his mothers
womb. When his disciples ask Jesus, who sinned, the man or his
parents?, his answer turns on its head the common wisdom of the day.
Brushing aside the assumption that sin causes blindness, Jesus
declares that the man was born blind so that Gods works might be
revealed in him. What an odd thing to say, his disciples must have
thought!

Jesus was a healer but his purpose in healing was not to call attention
to himself or to prove to others his special powers. The healing miracle
itself here takes up only two verses: he put the mud on the mans
eyes, sent him to the pool to wash it off and then the man could see.
Thats it! No drama here. In fact, we have no evidence that the blind
man even asked to be healed.

The real energy in the story comes after the healing.

Notice how persistently the neighbors and the Pharisees seek to find
out exactly what happened. They had to be taking all this pretty
seriously. If they thought Jesus was a fraud or a flake, they would have
simply ignored him. Instead, they seem bent on discrediting the man,
in justifying their own entrenched beliefs: Jesus cannot be from God
because he heals on the sabbath, so he is a sinner. And yet and yet
others ask, How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?

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 2017A 4 Lent Jesus Heals a Blind Man John 9:1-41
The Rev. Nancy S. Streufert
26 March 2017 Christ Church

And they were divided.

The crux of the story for me is the blind mans witness to what
happened and his growing understanding who Jesus is under the
intense interrogation by the Pharisees. I dont know who he is, the
man simply says, all I know is that I now see.

Can there be a more perfect response than that? I was blind, and now
I see.

The darkness of his physical blindness is cured instantly. His spiritual

enlightenment of Jesus identity, however, comes more gradually:

At first, he is simply, The man called Jesus who made mud, spread it
on my eyes, I washed and received my sight.

Then: He is a prophet.

The second time the Pharisees ask him to explain what happened, the
man answers with impatience: Here is an astonishing thing! he
opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he
does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will.

Finally he sees the light when Jesus asks, Do you believe in the Son of
Man? I am he. Then the mans eyes of faith became opened: Lord, I
believe. And he worshiped him.

John the Evangelist is a master at weaving together story and

theological interpretation. It is Gods incarnation in Jesus, the Word
made flesh, that is central to Johns theological worldview. Sin is not
defined by what one does, but by ones relationship to Jesus, and more
specifically, by whether one believes that God is present in Jesus.

According to John, The worlds sin is its refusal to believe in Jesus.

The Pharisees had seen Jesus works and still refused to receive Gods
revelation in Jesus, so they remained in darkness, in sin, for what
really is sin? It is separation from God. It is darkness rather than light.

This notion may take some thinking through, because we are used to
viewing sin in terms of moral actions. And when we think we can spot
immorality in others, we feel justified in judging them.

There is another perhaps more famous hymn text writer than Fanny
Crosby whose story seems a perfect illustration for this gospel lesson.
John Newton was an 18th century British slave ship captain. Unlike
Crosby, who was physically blind, but whose spiritual sight seems to
have been intact, Newton had physical sight but was morally and

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 2017A 4 Lent Jesus Heals a Blind Man John 9:1-41
The Rev. Nancy S. Streufert
26 March 2017 Christ Church

spiritually blind until his dramatic conversion during a severe storm

during which his ship almost sank off the coast of Ireland. He later
became an Anglican priest and wrote many hymn texts including the
famous words to Amazing Grace. The first stanza alludes to his
deliverance from the blindness that prevented him from seeing the
evils of slave trading at a time when it was considered a respectable
profession.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I
once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.

So we have examples today of three people who each escaped the sin
of spiritual blindness by seeing God in Jesus through the eyes of faith.

What is your story of moving from spiritual darkness into the light of
Christ? How is your relationship with Jesus this Lent?