From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts–
Our Gospel for this Sunday, John 9:1-41, “The man born blind,” is much longer than the average reading, too long to jam into even the most generously described “note” whether from the pastor or not! It is also magnificent—read all of it on your own this week and give it some thought. For now, let us concentrate on a few verses. Jesus and his disciples encounter a man blind from birth. Jesus gives him his sight without even a request that he do so. Using clay (as God did in Genesis) to smear on his sightless sockets, Jesus told him to go wash them in the pool of Siloam. Afterwards the man could see, but keep in mind: he did not know who had healed him. After all, he had never set eyes on Jesus….
From that point, the man newly able to see begins to grow in his understanding of who had given him this life-altering healing. First, neighbors and onlookers asked him about the difference in him—are you, the man who now sees, the same as the eyeless man we knew? How did this change in you come about? The fellow simply identifies his benefactor straightforwardly as “the man called Jesus.” (v.11)
Sometime after this, he is brought before the Pharisees, who are skeptical about his blindness and skeptical about a healing done on the Sabbath. They challenge him, and this reveals he has been considering the question himself. They ask, “‘What do you have to say about him, since he opened your eyes?’ He said, ‘He is a prophet.’” (v.17) Now “prophet” is used in various ways throughout Israelite history, and can refer to titanic speakers and writers such as Isaiah, or to bands of ecstatic prayers, or even to paid “advisors” to kings, so this description is only generally applicable. The man-who-can-now-see identifies Jesus as someone sent by God. And so, “a special man” perhaps like Elisha who healed various people.
This leaves the Pharisees grinding their teeth. They call him back later and argue that Jesus, doing a healing on the Sabbath, must be a bad man. Our man, however, is beginning to comprehend more clearly and deeply, and responds: “It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything.” The only way he can now adequately convey who Jesus is, is to identify him as “this man…from God.” Not just “sent by God,” but a more open-ended designation—somehow, “a man from God.”
We realize that with his new sight he is gaining insight. He has been mulling all this over and edging closer and closer to the truth. The Pharisees throw him out. (v. 34) At that point Jesus finds him again and asks him if he believes what he is coming to realize. The man born blind, for the first time, sees Jesus for himself, and finally commits, publicly: “‘I believe, Lord,’ and he worshiped him.” (v. 38) Previously isolated in his blindness, he now sees clearly: Christ is the Savior, the one who rescued him out of darkness and gave him sight, in fact, has given him a new life.
What is here for us? One thing is this: if we are among those who have already said to Jesus “I believe you are the Savior” and worship him, then we should be willing to allow those who do not know Christ to encounter him (in some way, perhaps through us) and be given time to grow into full acceptance and acknowledgement of our Savior. We should be patient evangelizers.
In the de-Christianizing world we live in today, our field of work is wide. How many friends, neighbors, or co-workers do we have who have been spiritually blind from birth? The call to us is: “be the encounter with Christ for them.” Do good to them. Plant seeds. Answer questions, but briefly, without overwhelming them. Give them space to grow into full acceptance. God has been immensely patient with every one of us; let us imitate him in that way, too.
For further reflection:
“Faith” involves our mind, but it is not simply a mental item, such as a memorized answer to a problem. It is a response of the whole person to the call, the attractiveness of God. He appeals to the whole person: body, soul, mind, and heart, and it is the whole person who must respond, body, spirit, mind, inmost self. (Belief is not enough–the demons believe–and tremble. For they do not act in concert with what they know to be true.) The response to God’s appeal is words, yes, with acts. Faith means “keeping faith” in our relationship with our heavenly Father. As with all our relationships, it must grow over time if it is alive.