There but for the
Grace of God
(Jan 2, 2012)
John 9:1-7 As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his
parents, that he was born blind?’ 3Jesus answered,
‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works
might be revealed in him. 4Wemust work the
works of him who sent me while it
is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5As long as I am in
the world, I am the light of the world.’ 6When he had said
this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on
the man’s eyes,7saying to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means
Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.
You know, there is just not that much difference between
people in the first century and people in the 21st century.
In the first century, people commonly believed that
your sins would be visited on you and on your children and their children for
generations. They believed that if something ill befell you, it
was a sign of your sin. They even had certain sins assigned to certain
illnesses, impure thoughts might manifest themselves as
insanity, gossip resulted in throat cancer, anger might emerge as bile in the gut. Envy is commonly associated with blindness.
And so in this text, our 1st Century
characters see a blind man and wonder what he did to deserve to be blind.
To our 21st Century ears, that sounds
inhumane, completely lacking in empathy, unthinkable.
Or does it? How often do we hear of the misfortune of others
and immediately look for a way to distinguish ourselves from them. Our first instinct is to erect a wall between what
happened to them and what is possible for us. “I don’t live where there are tidal waves” “We never go to Brown’s Chicken” “We never leave candles burning.”
The implication is that there is something about me
or my circumstances that will keep that misfortune from happening to me.The implication is that there is something about her
or her circumstances, that resulted in his misfortune.
You see, people in the 1st Century and
in the 21st Century are not that different at all.
But that misses the whole point of this Scripture
and indeed of the teaching of Jesus in the Gospels as a whole. In our Gospel today, Jesus is not concerned with
the reason that the blind man is blind. Jesus is concerned with the opportunity it offers
him, the opportunity it offers all of us, to be the vehicle for transformation in the lives
of those less fortunate than ourselves.
The Scripture says:
“he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day;…. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’
·
Bad things do happen to good people. Accidents, illness, misfortune, they are
indiscriminate. No one deserves to have their entire community
swept away by a tornado. Nobody deserves to be blind. But the answer is not to make a distinction; The answer is not to define an “us” and a “them.” The answer is never a wall between people.
(Here’s a tip: when you are wondering if your
actions are following in the footsteps of Christ… if you’re building a wall
between people, they’re not.)
The Good News in this Gospel is that Jesus takes
people where he finds them. No looking back with regret, no “what if.” Jesus teaches us to start where we are and move
forward. There is an opportunity for God’s grace here, the
potential for the presence of the Lord.
“he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day;…. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’
In this
Scripture we are called to work the works of mercy and kindness…to be the
light when there appears to be only darkness. We are
called to be the instruments of consolation, the conduits of God’s healing
love.
And how
are we expected to achieve such an awesome task?Th ese are
scenes of tragedy and trauma and suffering, how can we possibly be expected to
make the love of God present in situations such as these?
Well,
Jesus spit on the ground.
He spit
and made a mud ball and smeared it on the poor blind man’s face...
This is
one of those cases where it helps to know the context. Galilee is a pretty arid
place. The soil is fertile, but it takes some work to grow things. What
Jesus does, then, is take dry, arid dirt and add water to make it fertile. And not
just any water, water from his own mouth. His own
essence is part of what makes the dirt into soil and releases its potential for
growth. Jesus’ saliva
represents something essential to him, something unique and priceless.
He took a
little bit of himself, some of his DNA and added that to the soil to make the
poultice.
And that
is what this text calls us to do. When we are confronted with tragedy, with
suffering and with misfortune… we are called to be instruments of God’s grace. And not
just with some soil and some water from our water bottle.
Now, you
may be thinking, “Oh no. I have no more time in my day to cook for the soup
kitchen. I work full time, I cannot train with the Red Cross.” Don’t
worry, I’m not going to ask you to. There are
times when all we can do and in fact the best thing we can do, is write a
check.
In that
case, by all means write that check.
But when
you do, add a little of your own essence to it. Enclose a
note to the relief worker – there are places on the Episcopal Relief website to
do that. Or just
stop before you press send and say a little prayer over your gift.
Join your
energy with God’s to transform the lives of the less fortunate.
That is all
this Scripture is asking us to do…
to add a little of ourselves,
become invested,
draw on our own resources,
So that
the healing and the mitigation and the resolution are part of us and we are
part of them.
No longer
is the suffering person “other” or distinct from us,
now we are blended,
blind man and healer,
sufferer and comforter,
friend and friend.
That is all we are asked to do. To give of ourselves, as
we are able, and with the grace of guidance of God, to heal what is broken in
Creation.
In the
first Century and in the 21st Century, When we witness human tragedy,
we are tempted to have the same initial response of fear. We whisper,
“There, but for the grace of God go, I”
But we
are called by this Scripture to respond differently. We are
called to say, not in a whisper but in a loud and very clear voice,
“Here, by the grace of God, are we…all in it together.”
Amen.
