I Samuel 16: 1–13; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5: 8–14; John 9:
1–41
This is a
reflection by Fr. Gene Tucker, which was provided for St. John’s Church, in Huntingdon,
Pennsylvania on Sunday, March 26th, 2017.
“THE REVELATION OF GOD’S POWER AND GLORY”
(Reflection text: John
9: 1–41)
(Introductory note: On this Sunday, the church did not hear a
traditional homily. Instead, we engaged in a round-robin
discussion/question-and-answer/comment period which is affectionately known as
“Stump the Priest”. The reflection here is offered for those who might benefit
from an in-depth, written, look at today’s Gospel text.)
Today,
we continue our journey with the Fourth Gospel as we hear John’s recounting to
us the healing of a man who had been born blind. If I may speak personally,
this is one of my favorite healing miracles in all of the New Testament. In
addition, I rejoice whenever we get to hear John’s voice in our cycle of
appointed readings.
Today’s
Gospel is, in its most basic sense, a teaching about God’s glory, God’s power
to create and to recreate. We will return to this theme shortly.
Today’s
Gospel provides us with a close look at the “tenor of the times” during the
period of Jesus’ earthly ministry. It also provides us with a wonderful
reversal of roles as the man who had been healed becomes a teacher to the
Pharisees….talk about turning the tables! The student becomes the teacher of
the teachers.
As we
approach this text, we would do well to begin by looking at the unusual aspects
of it:
There’s
no request from the blind man to be healed: Jesus approaches the man, and without asking
the man whether or not he wanted to be healed, begins kneading a mixture of
clay and spit. (Two items of interest here are: 1. Kneading anything on the
Sabbath was one of thirty nine specifically prohibited acts, which means that
Jesus was guilty – in the Pharisees’ estimation – not only of this violation,
but of healing on the Sabbath; and 2. Using a mixture of clay and saliva was a
commonly accepted form of addressing maladies in those days.)
The
blind man makes no upfront demonstration of his faith in Jesus’ ability to help
him: Quite often in the Gospel accounts, a person
who is healed makes some demonstration at the time of their request of their
faith in the Lord. Here, the blind man is totally passive. The blind man’s
demonstration of faith comes in his compliance with Jesus’ demand that he go to
the Pool of Siloam to wash his eyes. But, it’s also important to note that
here, as is quite often the case, Jesus presents the person with some sort of a
test of faith.
The
Pharisees’ disbelief in the miracle is dispelled: As we might
expect, the Pharisees don’t believe that anything miraculous happened at all.
They raise questions and objections about the man’s identity. They raise
concerns that he wasn’t really born blind. (If he hadn’t been born in that
condition, it’s possible the Pharisees could claim that whatever malady he had
had simply corrected itself.) One by one, these objections are swept away: 1.
Some of the man’s neighbors – though not all – confirm his identity, also
confirming that he had been blind all the time they knew him; 2. The man’s
parents confirm that he is their son and that he had been born blind; and 3.
The man himself is old enough to bear witness to his condition and to the
Lord’s healing. At each step along the way, any basis for disbelief on the
Pharisees’ part is taken away. (Of course, the Pharisees persist in their
unbelief.) In the end, there’s no doubt the man was, in fact, born blind, and
that something miraculous had happened to allow him to see again.
Causes
for disease and illness: Notice that the disciples begin the encounter
by looking at the man and then asking, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his
parents, that he was born blind?” This comments sheds light on common
assumptions within Judaism during the time of the Lord’s ministry:
Specifically, it was thought that
person’s physical ailments were due to some grievous sin, sin that had
been committed by someone’s parents[1], or by
the individual him or herself. The belief was that a person was being punished
for sins that may have been committed in the womb before they were born.
Let’s
return to the essential meaning of this incident, that it took place to show
God’s power, and therefore, God’s glory. As I reflect on the ways in which we
see God’s power most clearly, the following three manifestations seem clear:
- The created order reflects the glory and power of God in its complexity, in its beauty, and in the ways in which the whole creation is intertwined. The Psalmist puts this reality well, as he says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” (Psalm 19: 1)
- In the transformation(s) in individual person’s lives: The miracle before us this morning points directly to this aspect of being able to see God’s glory and power. That the man was born blind specifically to show that power and glory might be a somewhat difficult proposition for us to accept, perhaps. But the misfortune the man had suffered prior to his healing stands in sharp contrast to the complete and total healing he received, a demonstration of God’s power and glory. The essential truth to be grasped here is that individual persons may function as agents of God’s working.
- Those who witness the transformative power of God in others (such as the blind man) also reflect God’s power and glory as they ascribe to the Lord the power to create and to recreate in their own lives and in the lives of others.
The Church’s essential function is to bear witness to God’s power and glory. We do this primarily through our worship together. All else that the Church might undertake to do in the Lord’s name is secondary to the “first things” of its purpose, which is to worship God.
Beyond
that, however, stands the reality that the Church is to be a place where we can
come to learn how to recognize God’s power and glory at work in individual
person’s lives and in the world around us. In this sense, the Church becomes a
laboratory where God’s purposes can be worked out, where we rejoice with those
who have been beneficiaries of God’s power and glory, and where we learn to
recognize the signs of God’s power at work in our own lives. For God’s
essential power and glory resides in His power to create and to recreate.
Thanks
be to God!
AMEN.
[1] This belief might be based on a provision in
the Ten Commandments, which reads, “You shall not make for yourself a carved
image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the
earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the
Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting
the iniquity of the fathers on the children
to the third and fourth generation….” (Italics mine)
