Lent 4 (A) How Blind Are We?
Lent 4 (A) How Blind Are We?
In today’s Gospel, Jesus heals a man who was born blind. Everyone was amazed because it was a healing miracle outside of human experience. The man who was healed concluded that the man who performed this miracle must be a prophet of God.
So, they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”
Not so fast, say the Pharisees, with their religious prejudices in high gear. THIS man that you say restored your sight can not be a prophet because he did what the law considers WORK on the Sabbath. He made a clay patch to put on the man’s eyes. He is no prophet. He is a sinner.
So, for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.”
Then the man born blind speaks up. I was taught to believe that God does not listen to sinners. This I know for sure; I was blind and now I see.
“I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet 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. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
To end the argument the Pharisees put out the old, “We’re smarter than you are dodge.”
They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.
Here is the point I believe Jesus is trying to make. The man born blind can see the Pharisees remain blinded by their own prejudices.
One of the greatest obstacles toward human progress is prejudice. We have all been “carefully taught” by the world around us. By our exposer to ideas that create conditions in our lives to make it easy to cling to tribal groups. To see others as “not us.” There is a famous line in a song from the musical “The South Pacific” that applies here;
“You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught from year to year,
It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear –
You’ve got to be carefully taught!”
Once you see prejudice in action, you can see it at work everywhere around you. Once when making a parish call at an expensive, exclusive neighborhood (right next to a Country Club). The lady that answered the door was holding a martini in her hand and her first words to me were, “Those damn Roman Catholics!” The confused look on my face caused her to quickly continue and explain that “Those Roman Catholics” had swung a deal to make it possible to “integrate” her neighborhood! I asked her if she knew the individual person who was moving in, and she said, “I have never met him.”
Prejudice in action.
Another story comes from Becky Manly who was the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship representative at Whitman College. On one of her may plane trips she was working on an article she had been asked to write. The gentleman sitting next to her introduced himself and inquired about the nature of her work. She said, “You don’t want to know.” He pressed a little more and she said, “That he really didn’t want to know, but if you must know, I’m a Christian Evangelist.” She could see him back peddling when he said, “Well, I’m a college professor and I’ve never had much interest in Christianity. Becky asked if he had read the documents. He said, “What documents?” She said, “Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.” He admitted that he had not read the documents. She said she was surprised that a college professor would reject something that was important to so many people without some study and dialogue.
Prejudice in action: Could a fair-minded person look at the life and ministry of Jesus Christ and hear the positive testimony of his disciples and not be at least a little bit interested to learn more?
A quote by Aubrey Thomas de Vere – “Prejudice, which sees what it pleases, cannot see what is plain.”
Jesus went in search of the man he had healed of his blindness:
Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”
How blind are we?
Wouldn’t it make a world of difference if we could learn to see every man, woman, and child as a precious human being in God’s universal and diverse family?
How can we teach ourselves to be more open and accepting to what is plain? Paul gives us some direction in his letter to the Ephesians…
Once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord.
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