I
Samuel 16: 1–13 / Psalm 23 / John
9: 1–41
This
is the homily provided for the people of St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania,
by Fr. Gene Tucker, for Sunday, March 22, 2020.
(An introductory note: This homily was not
delivered as part of our Sunday morning worship, because St. John’s is currently
closed due to the COVID–19 viral outbreak. Instead, it was provided via
electronic means, and in hard copy to those without email.)
“SEEING BAD OR SEEING GOOD”
(Homily text: John 9: 1-41)
Again this Sunday, as was the case last Sunday, we
are blessed to have an appointed Gospel text from the Fourth Gospel, the
account of Jesus’ life, ministry, passion, death and resurrection provided to
us by John. (And, looking ahead, next Sunday’s Gospel text is also appointed
from John, the account of the raising of Lazarus, from chapter eleven.)
This Sunday’s text recounts the healing of a man
born blind. (It’s important to note that this Sunday’s text is a lengthy one,
compared to the length of most of our Sunday Gospel texts, as was last
Sunday’s, but the reason for the length is that it’s important to capture the
entire account of the original event.)
Two main themes emerge from the text, and they have
to do with the reaction of the Jewish onlookers and the Pharisees to the man’s
condition, on the one hand, and to the great and good thing that Jesus did, on
the other. Put another way, the challenge that these two perspectives place before
us is this: Do we follow the example of
the Pharisees and only see the bad aspects of a situation, or do we see the
great and good things that God does?
We may begin our examination of the text by looking
at the attitude of God’s people in the time of our Lord’s earthly ministry. In
the account, the first evidence of the attitude is found in the comments of
Jesus’ disciples, who ask, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was
born blind?” The idea that the man himself, and maybe as his parents, might be
responsible for the man’s condition, stems from the Ten Commandments, where God
states that he will “visit the sins of the fathers on their children to the
third and fourth generations.” (Exodus 20: 4b) (As we shall shortly see, the Pharisees
also enunciate a similar perspective.)
The disciples’ question arises from ideas and
attitudes that were common among God’s people in that day and time. The
supposition was that, if a person was healthy and well-to-do, then they must
have been blessed by God for adhering faithfully to the commandments of God as
they are found in the Law of Moses. It naturally follows, then, that the
reverse is also true: If a person is sickly, or poor, or is afflicted by some
debilitating condition (such as blindness), then the cause must surely be some
besetting sin.
As the narrative unfolds, the Pharisees, who have
come upon the scene, are concerned only with two things: 1. That Jesus healed
the man on the Sabbath day; and 2. That the man (or his parents) must surely be
notorious sinners.
Jumping ahead to the end of the narrative, the
Pharisees’ blindness (in not being able to see the good in what had happened,
but only the bad) is condemned. To them, Jesus says, “If you were blind, you
would have no guilt, but because you say, ‘We see’, your guilt remains.”
Being able to see, especially in the Fourth Gospel,
but also in Scripture as a whole, has much more to do with being able to see
spiritually. The idea does include the physical ability to see, but there is a
deeper meaning, having to do with spiritual acuity and perception. It is on
this aspect of the meaning of the word “to see” that the Pharisees are
condemned as being blind.
You and I, as we noted a moment ago, are faced with
a choice: We can see the bad in a situation and bemoan its effects, even as we
search for some reason for the predicament. Or, we can choose to see God at
work in a situation, rejoicing that God’s kingdom is breaking into the world.
We live in a world that offers plenty of bad things
to be concerned about. In so many ways, it seems as though God’s kingdom is
light years away from coming into its fullness. (Think of our current situation
as the spread of the coronavirus widens and threatens to upend peoples’
lives….that’s just one example.)
But if we can see God at work, even in the worst
possible circumstances, then we can see that God’s power to create and to
recreate can incite in us a desire to work alongside God’s plans to being the
kingdom into being, bit by bit, in the here and now. As Jesus noted, at times,
a situation exists for the very purpose of allowing God to demonstrate His
power. (See John 9: 3.)
That’s our charge and our mandate as Christians, to
assist God in making the kingdom’s arrival a reality. May the Holy Spirit guide
us, enable us, empower us, for the work of ministry.
AMEN.
