Eyes Wide Shut...

 

Eyes Wide Shut

 

John 9:1-41
9:1 As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth.
9:2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
9:3 Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him.
9:4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.
9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
9:6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man's eyes,
9:7 saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.
9:8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, "Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?"
9:9 Some were saying, "It is he." Others were saying, "No, but it is someone like him." He kept saying, "I am the man."
9:10 But they kept asking him, "Then how were your eyes opened?"
9:11 He answered, "The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' Then I went and washed and received my sight."
9:12 They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."
9:13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.
9:14 Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.
9:15 Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, "He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.
9:16 Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?" And they were divided.
9:17 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."
9:18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight
9:19 and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?"
9:20 His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;
9:21 but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself."
9:22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.
9:23 Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."
9:24 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."
9:25 He answered, "I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."
9:26 They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"
9:27 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?"
9:28 Then they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
9:29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from."
9:30 The man answered, "Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.
9:31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will.
9:32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.
9:33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."
9:34 They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?" And they drove him out.
9:35 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
9:36 He answered, "And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him."
9:37 Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he."
9:38 He said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped him.
9:39 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."
9:40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, "Surely we are not blind, are we?"
9:41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, 'We see,' your sin remains.

 

This is one of my favorite passages in the whole Bible, as it answers the time-honored question of “Why do bad things happen to good people?” This is the timeless story of “a man born blind,” and everyone, from the Rag-Tag 12 to the institutional religious leaders wanted to know why. Like Job’s buddies, they thought they knew—surely it was sin, either HIS or his parents. There will always be those who want to believe that there is a cause for bad news or aberrant outcomes. Sometimes, a person is just born blind…or gets cancer…or goes through a divorce…or loves within their own gender. What is interesting is that the people who EXPERIENCE these things (and others, of course) find a way to live well within them, and even to celebrate the life they have. It seems that the “inspectors” on the outside are the ones who make an issue over them. 

 

In this story, every one of the “inspectors” inquires of the man born blind, especially after he receives a miracle of healing from Jesus. They wanted to know the healed man’s allegiances, and his theology. His answer was brilliant: “One thing I DO know, that though I was blind, now I see.” When the “Jews” (religious leaders, later identified as Pharisees) as the man their questions, he turns the tables on 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?" They weren’t happy with THAT inquiry

!

The crux of the story is that this poor man had been blind since birth. As he becomes the center of the theological debate as to why, Jesus announces, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world,” and he heals the man with a technique that requires him to respond (“Go wash in the Pool of Siloam”) to God’s offering of grace. Where he once was blind, now he has both his sight AND a testimony! And he was willing to share his story with anyone he saw! But he was NOT interested in engaging in any theological “reflection” as to why or how it happened. As Sergeant Friday used to say on “Dragnet,” “Just the facts, mam, just the facts.” 

 

The “inspectors” in life are out to bolster their own theology and “control” anyone who has a convincing alternate view. Jesus fell prey to them, as have others. There is a reason the author of this text from John includes all of these details that the other gospels leave out. The author wants us to know the wonderful story of “The Light of the world” healing a man who couldn’t SEE the light, but also about the naysayers and “inspectors” who are so self-absorbed that they value their own views over even those of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The listener/reader is being compelled to celebrate the healing, lift up the Savior, and refrain from joining the “inspectors” corp. Under even the most stringent of questioning, the man just kept saying, “All I know is that once I was blind, but now I see.” 

 

While I never saw the actual film, as the subject matter and the cast didn’t interest me, I was intrigued by the title of the 1999 movie, “Eyes Wide Shut.” There is a lot of that going on in this passage—and in the Christian church of 2023. In the text, one man sees, while a bunch of others just CAN’T see the truth, even when that is what they think they are protecting. Today, one of the factions of the United Methodist “movement” toward disaffiliation is attempting to narrow the theological views of gospel to a level that makes them happy. They will say, and say, and say that they are just doing “what the Bible says,” but ignore what many scholars of the Bible have to say about this, including a majority from their own denomination. These disagreements point to the uncertainty of how we “apply” the Good News to many social issues. That we disagree should not be a cause for separation in a denomination that has held together well over countless similar differences in theological ruminations. But now that the disaffiliating faction has “codified” their disagreements along the lines of the broader spectrum of what has been mistakenly been labeled “evangelicalism,” it HAS become cause for separation. Is this another case of “eyes wide shut?” Are those who want to narrow the theological scope of the Gospel the “inspectors” of today’s Johannine narrative? You decide.

 

I should point out here that some will immediately jump on my use of the term “narrowing the theology” as a sign that I am being “unbiblical.” Doesn’t the Bible say the “way is narrow” that leads to eternal life? Only if you parse the Bible like a telephone book. In fact, what is “narrow” about the way that leads to eternal life is that it is GOD’S WAY, not our way! We participate in the building of the Kingdom of God, but it is not OUR kingdom. The crux of the message is, “Once I was blind, but now I see,” and the restored or granted “eyesight” is a gift from the Light of the World, not something of our own theological contrivance. The “way that leads to destruction” is opened and maintained by those with “eyes wide shut.”

 

 

If I had to choose a theme for the lections of this, the Fourth Sunday in Lent, I’d probably call it, “WHAT is God UP to?” It has been my experience that life rarely follows predictable patterns, and just when we THINK we have acquired enough knowledge or experience to BEGIN to predict—or at least offer a good guess—of what follows, circumstances usually take a turn we didn’t see coming. Is the universe really that random? Is God too “aloof” from the human world? The texts for this week might be summarized thusly:

 

*God, while not random, is not bound by our plans, nor not even by what we would see as “logical.”

 

*God HAS a plan, but neither is it rigid or without response. In fact the field of Process Theology suggests to us that God NECESSARILY responds to OUR response, bringing together our past with what we are doing at the present, to help guide us into a future that is mutually beneficial.

 

*God will expose us to some of the “whys and wherefores” of God’s actions, but chooses a “ministry of presence” with us, rather than one of painstaking explanations. We may or MAY NOT know why something is happening to us, but we CAN know that God is with us.

 

*God “illuminates” our options but leaves it up to us to choose which paths we take, and will help us mature in our ability to see where God’s light is most brightly shining, so we can take that path, instead of stumble in the darkness.

 

As you can plainly see, I continue to be greatly disturbed by the “disaffiliation” movement going on in the United Methodist Church. First of all, I resist being “pigeon-holed” by those who disagree with my firm, Christian belief that “All means ALL,” and that persons of the LGBTQ community are acceptable to God just as they are, and not only when they “acknowledge” that their “condition” is sin, and can be “healed.” Unless one stops reading competent articles from the medical, scientific and psychological communities, this “narrow” view can be a case of “eyes wide shut.” But beyond this “trigger” theological debate—and it IS a debate, not a “we’re right and you’re wrong” matter—much disinformation about the “whys” of disaffiliation are being used to persuade congregations to vote to leave the UMC. One of the churches I served voted to do so on “financial grounds,” having been told that disaffiliation would allow them to “make their own decisions” about what to do with their considerable assets, and to not be restricted by the policies of a more connectional church. (I’m guessing they will join the new Global Methodist Church, which is, itself, propagating much disinformation, namely that its required “apportionments” will be much lower, and some are even saying nonexistent. So, the new church will subsist sort of like an air fern that needs no sustaining nourishment?) Other perpetrators of the disaffiliation movement are hawking the false idea that the United Methodist Church will soon “ditch” Jesus Christ and any reliance on Scripture as the primary piece of the historic “Wesleyan Quadrilateral.” To me, this all sounds very much like the “inspectors” of the story from John, who are trying SO HARD to make their theological views “fit” the story of the man born blind, or maybe even more so, make HIS story fit into THEIRS. Somebody is operating from the “eyes wide shut” view, while the Man-Formerly-Known-as-the-Man-Born Blind just keeps repeating, “All I know is that once I was BLIND, but NOW I SEE!”

 

There can certainly be serious repercussions to keeping one’s eyes shut to reality. I am finishing this sermon on Saturday this week because I spent 24 hours sick in bed with something that left me exhausted, dehydrated, and extremely nauseated. Being one of those pastors who was great at urging parishioners to seek professional medical help instead of throwing clams at the sun or drinking the latest potion reported on the Internet (isn’t everything you read on the Internet, TRUE?), in this case, I also fit the idiocy of the preacher who didn’t always practice what he preached. When my solution to my health dilemma was to ask my lovely wife to go to Giant Eagle for some Gatorade, she instead called the UPMC “Nurse on Call,” who suggested I go to the emergency room and that we call our PCP, as well. Both parties said GO TO THE E.R., as dehydration for a guy 68 who has a few other health issues can be serious (something ELSE I’m a hypocrite about—not “giving in” to being 68 instead of 30). I probably would have kept my “eyes wide shut” opinion and opted for the Gatorade, except for the concern these two calls raised on the face of Dara. So, at 5:30PM on St. Patrick’s Day, off to the ER at Passavant Cranberry we went. After a few tests to rule out anything more serious than either a viral or “food-borne” issue, they pumped me full of fluids and gave me meds to stave off the nausea. At home, I had a great night’s sleep, and while still weary from the ordeal, here I sit, finishing my weekly “retirement sermon,” none of which I have missed since retiring in July of 2021. As a ”P.S.” on this personal story, my EMT son, who works with the wildfire fighters in Alaska, has been begging his dad to take some of his health situations more seriously “at your age” and take advantage of ERs, my PCP’s advice, and an occasional call to the EMTs when my A-Fig kicks up, instead of twiddling my thumbs and hoping it “just goes away.” Given that Jesus is the EMT in this story who arrives to heal the man-born-blind, I should listen! “For Once I was blind, but now I see!” Go do thou likewise, Beloved. Amen!