I Samuel 16:1-13 / Psalm 23 / Ephesians 5:8–14 / John 9:1–41
This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, March 15, 2026 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.
“THE PROSPERITY GOSPEL: AN ANCIENT VERSION”
(Homily
text: John 9:1–41)
Let’s begin, this morning, by asking
ourselves this question: What is it that we most want from God? Closely
connected to that question is this one: “What is it that God most wants to give
us?”
(Take a few moments to explore those
two questions.)
This morning’s Gospel text places
before us the miraculous healing of a man born blind. Before we explore the
implications of Jesus’ action in giving the man his sight, let’s look at the
motivations that seem to have been common in the time of Jesus’ earthly
ministry. Perhaps we can learn a lot from the attitudes that were commonplace
2,000 years ago.
And, we might explore the question with
which we began, as we look at the culture of the time, exploring what answers
people might have supplied, back then, to the question of “What is it that we
most want from God”, and, as well, the other question: “What is it that God
most wants to give us?”.
The first clue to the attitudes that
many people harbored can be found in the question that Jesus’ disciples ask, as
they discover this man, who had never been able to see. They say, “Who sinned,
this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?”.
On its surface, the disciples’ question
is firmly anchored in biblical truth, for the Ten Commandments contain the one
which tells us to honor our fathers and our mothers.[1] Attached as a sort-of addenda to another commandment is this warning: “(God
says) I will visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and
fourth generation of those who hate me…”.[2] The disciples’ question seems to relate to that
warning found in Exodus.
But their question points in another
direction: They want to know if the man’s condition is due to some grievous sin
on his part, or perhaps some major misdeed that his parents committed.
As we dig a little deeper, we can see
that the disciples probably believed – along with many others in that day and
time - that if a person was ill, sick, lame or blind, then their condition must
stem from God’s judgment for some failing or another. The same beliefs would also
apply to someone who was poor, or who had suffered loss of some sort.
Turn this supposition around, and the
converse (most likely) was also thought to be true: If a person was healthy,
wealthy or in some other way seemed to be thriving, then their condition must
be due to God’s favor, which had been showered on that person because they had
done all the “right stuff”.
I think we’re on solid ground in
thinking that all of these suppositions were present in the disciples’ question
about the reality of sin, either on the part of the blind man, or on the part
of his parents. The Gospel accounts – in general - seem to support such
conclusions: Do the right thing, and life will be good to you, because God has
blessed the ones who do the right things.
As the account unfolds, and as the
Pharisees become involved, they, too, seem to harbor the same attitudes about
God’s goodness that were implied in the disciples’ question. They declare that
Jesus cannot exercise the power of God because He had healed the man on the
Sabbath day. To them, profaning the Sabbath in the way that Jesus had done (by
their understandings) meant that Jesus was outside of God’s sphere of
influence.
Put another way, God does not, and will
not, act through someone who stands outside of God’s goodness.
Essentially, the disciples’ question,
and the attitudes of the Pharisees, all point to an understanding that reduces a
relationship with God to a bargain. We could characterize it this way: If God’s
people are faithful, doing the acceptable things (to the Pharisees, doing the
outward actions the Law of Moses required), then God will bestow all sorts of
good things on those faithful people.
We might think that such attitudes were
commonplace only during the time of our Lord’s sojourn among us.
On the contrary, such attitudes exist
today, and can be found among some who claim our Lord’s name. Today’s version
of this sort of bargain-making with God is known as the Prosperity Gospel.
The Prosperity Gospel claims that those
who do the “right stuff” will inherit good things from God. Most of those “good
things” turn out to be material blessings: Money, nice cars, big houses, etc. We could add health to the list, and
favorable relationships in our families. (Feel free to add your own
categories.)
Of course, the Prosperity Gospel is a
heresy, pure and simple. (Just to be clear, a heresy is – as the Greek word
from which it is drawn – a choice (the Greek word means “to choose”) to
proclaim part of the truth, but not all of it.)
At this point, let’s return to the two
questions with which we began.
What is it that we most want from God –
or, better yet – what we should most want from God?
What is it that God most wants to give
us?
The answers are found in this morning’s
Gospel.
The blind man receives his sight. That,
in and of itself, is a great blessing. But his healing points to a deeper
reality: His healing is the result of God’s ability to create, and to
re-create.
Jesus then gives the man something
else: A personal relationship. The man comes to believe in Jesus as the Son of
Man.
A cursory reading of the Old Testament,
disproves the notions of the Pharisees and those like them who believed that
God only wanted to give his chosen ones “good things”. Time and again, God’s
chosen people suffered hardships of various kinds…sometimes, the hardships that
came their way were the direct result of their own disobedience, but not always.
God didn’t spare them from those things. But God was with them in their
troubles, often correcting them when they went astray, but always finding ways
to redeem and to save His people.
What then, is it that God most wants to
give us? Himself!
What is it, then, that we should most
want from God? Himself!
AMEN.
[1] See Exodus 20:12.
[2] See Exodus 20:5b.
