The Reverend John E. McGinn, Rector

Saint John’s Episcopal Church

Sandwich,  Massachusetts  02563

 

March 3, 2008                                                                                                                                                             4 Lent

 

Today’s sermon is taken from the Gospel of John, chapter 9, verses 1-40.

 

I’m really reaching back into my childhood memories this morning as I think back to over fifty years ago when I was preparing for Halloween.  At the time I was a Cub Scout, I was eight years old; and my Cub Scout leader, Mrs. Litwin, said that she would be willing to take the members of her troop around trick-or-treating in her neighborhood.  So, as I began to get ready for that, my friend Eddie, who was the son of Mrs. Litwin, and also my friend Billy Wall who lived not far from Eddie…we would be the first to gather.

 

My friend Eddie was dressed as a baseball player (he happened to be a Yankee fan. I still do like him though, he’s a good fellow). I was dressed as a pirate, and as we got to Billy Wall’s house….now Billy was quite the guy…he was very intelligent, but he was really, should we say, hyperactive.  He might have one of those disorders today.  But Billy was ready - he was a ghost - and he had this white sheet on him, and as soon as his mother saw us coming, she said, “Billy, they are here.”  As soon as he opened the front door of his house, he came running out and ran directly into the maple tree!  Billy, being very wiry, got up again and ran a little farther, and he ran into an oak tree and fell down.  Eddie and I ran over to him and as I looked over at Billy, I said, “Billy, are you alright?”  When I reached Billy and looked down, I realized that the eyes of his ghost costume are not lined up with Billy’s eyes and are not even close…they are completely around.  Billy can’t see a thing!  I reached down and I adjusted the ghost costume so that Billy’s eyes lined up with the holes in the costume.  And by now, Billy is completely alert and ready to go; and I’m surprised.  He opens his eyes and says, “I didn’t know I was supposed to be able to see.” 

 

Here’s one of the problems of following Jesus.  You are supposed to be able to see.  Not physically perhaps.  Many outstanding saints have not had physical sight, but you are supposed to be able to see spiritually.  Spiritual vision is an important characteristic of living in God’s kingdom. 

 

So, I want to give you this morning an eye test - a spiritual eye test.  Here’s the first question on the test:  How do you see other people?  Jesus came upon a man blind from birth.  Probably hundreds of people passed by this man each day.  They probably didn’t even notice him, or maybe they even avoided him.  After all, he was different.  He was blind.  Many people avoid people who are different from them, whatever the difference might be.  But not Jesus.

 

How about you?  What is your reaction when you encounter someone with a disability?  Do you shy away from them, patronize them, or do you treat them simply as you would another human being.  Some people with physical disabilities are truly inspiring.  People with disabilities can do amazing things.  But, you know, somehow we want to put people in a box: 

handicapped, African American, Latino, elderly, female, gay, retired.  The list goes on and one.  And let’s try this list:  human being, child of God, person for whom Jesus died.

 

And that’s the first question on our eye exam this morning.  How do you see other people?  I read an article that physical blindness can present many challenges and obstacles.  The challenges, however, are not the ones about which people first think.  If you speak to a person who has been blind for many years, he or she will note that it is not the steps, the throw rugs or the canned goods in the kitchen that are a problem.  Steps and rugs are landmarks felt by the feet.  Canned goods can be labeled with Braille or other markings.  A person blind for many years will rather find that it is the demeaning, belittling and patronizing attitudes and opinions of people with sight that present the greatest difficulties to them.  Insensitive people are the biggest obstacle.

 

So how do we see other people?  And here’s the second question for this morning:  How do you see God?  At this point in their association with Jesus, these disciples of Jesus saw God primarily as a dispenser of justice.  His disciples asked Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  If you worship a God who is primarily a dispenser of justice, this is a logical question.  We might ask when we are frustrated:  What did I do to deserve this?  And honestly, there are some heartaches in life that are derived from cause and effect.  Drive too fast, have an accident, or at least a speeding ticket.  Eat too much, perhaps diabetes or even a heart attack.  Don’t try sowing wild oats and praying for a crop failure.  Some things in life are cause and effect, but God is not a dispenser of justice.  Not  in this world at least.  And the idea that God would punish a child for the sins of his parents is repulsive indeed.  “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus.  “But this happened so that the work of God could be displayed in his life.”

 

Now this is important.  God is not interested in punishing us for our past.  God’s focus, I think, is on our future.  God wants to take away our hurt and bring healing so that we might glorify God.  God wants to wash away our past so that we will be free to serve God.

 

It’s interesting what Jesus does next.  He spits on the ground, makes some mud with the saliva and puts it on the man’s eyes.  That sounds kind of yucky, but it works as we shall see.  “Go,” he tells the man, “wash in the pool of Siloam.”  And this is an unusual use for mud and saliva - curing blindness.  But who knows?

 

Clay has long been used in fashionable spas for its reputed cleansing properties.  Recently, researchers at Arizona State University reported that clay may have antibacterial properties as well.  In France, two types of  clay have been used to treat a disease known as Buruli ulcer, a flesh-eating bacteria disease that the World Health Organization has declared an emerging public health threat. 

 

Clay has also been used as a folk remedy to sooth nausea and stomach ailments.  A mineral found in some clays, kaolinite, is the major ingredient of Kaopectate.

 

People today are interested in natural cures, and I think that there is a lot of nature that we don’t understand yet.  If the antimicrobial activity of the clays can be isolated, the result would be a new form of treatment that exceeds the abilities of today’s antibiotics; and they could be produced and distributed cheaply.

 

Wouldn’t it be interesting if scientists found that Jesus knew something that they didn’t - that there are healing properties in common, everyday life.  And probably Jesus used clay here just for effect; but then again, who really knows?  The same thing was probably true of having the man wash in the pool of Siloam.  It was God who did the healing - not the clay, not the ceremonial cleansing.  The point is that the man went and washed, and suddenly he could see.  He experienced first hand the touch of God upon his life, and he gave God the glory.  His neighbors and those who formerly had seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?”  And some claimed that he was, and others said, no, he only looks like him. 

But he himself insisted:  “I am the man.”  And how then were your eyes opened?” they demanded. He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes.  He told me to go to Siloam and wash.  So I went and washed, and then I could see.” 

 

And the rest of the story has this formerly blind man testifying to the religious authorities about what Jesus has done for him. 

 

And this bring me to the third question on this morning’s spiritual eye exam.  Now, if you remember the first question:  How do you see others?  And the second, how do you see God?  Here’s the third:  How do you see the good things that happen in your life?  Do you see them as accidental?  Do you see them as something you deserve because of your hard work, or do you see them as a gift from God?

 

Eight years ago they found a tumor in my thyroid.  The doctors thought that the only thing that could happen is I would really need to have my whole thyroid surgically removed.  I decided, because of the doctor’s advice, that I would go to Massachusetts General and the surgeon there, Dr. Randall Gaz, was one of the experts in the United States, or actually around the world, in doing tyroidectomies.  I went there, and one of the things that I was concerned about, and he was concerned about, was the possibility - there’s always a possibility of something going wrong - but the possibility of maybe nicking my vocal cords or something happening so that I could not use my voice; and of course, that’s one of the most important parts of my ministry.  I need to be able to speak.

 

So, after six hours of surgery at Mass General, I remember waking up, and I was pretty well out of it, but I can remember waking up and then it was about two in the morning - I woke up about eight o’clock in the evening  - and it was about two or three in the morning; and there I was - it happened.  No warning, no preparation.  It happened to me.  Alone in that dark room at Massachusetts General Hospital, my spirit was possessed by gratitude.  It came on me like a seizure, a fit of frenzy, or of pure, unadulterated joy.  I think I became an instant Pentecostal.  I waved my arms and shook my hands in a delirium of gratitude.  The nurse came in and thought something was radically wrong. 

 

If you have ever been through such an experience, you understand.  You come through a crisis alright, and suddenly you are filled with gratitude.  And having said that, however, here is the test of spiritual vision:  Can you thank God for the humdrum affairs of life.  Of course, you are thankful about a crisis, but what about everyday life.

 

I was the leader during seminary of a youth group in Topsfield, Massachusetts, for  two years.  One of the things I wanted young people to experience were different denominations and how they worshiped.  I took the youth group one Sunday to visit a more informal Pentecostal type church.  The youths were taken aback by the many testimonies given during the prayer time.  Testimonies that began something like this:  “I want to thank Jesus for getting me through this night and waking me up this morning and bringing me here to worship.”  Now that struck these young people as odd; first, that they would be thankful to be at worship; and secondly, that they would credit Jesus for having done it. What a marvelous attitude, I tried to tell them. What a powerful theology to see each day as a gift from God.  Not a challenge to be endured, but a gift to be received and treasured, shared and enjoyed.  And much of the difference is a matter of choice.

 

You and I have so many blessings in our lives, and what a difference it would make in our attitude if we started each day thanking God for these blessings.  The man blind from birth was thankful to Jesus for his sight.  If this man was thankful to receive his sight after a lifetime of darkness, should we not, that much more, thank God for a lifetime of seeing?  That is, if we do see.

 

How do you do on a spiritual vision exam?  A follower of Jesus ought to be able to see, not with physical eyes perhaps, but certainly with spiritual ones.  How do you see other people?  How do you see God?  How do you see the good things that happen in your life?  The choice is yours, but I promise you, it will make all the difference on how much joy you discover in your life.

 

Amen