Reflection on John 9:1-41

John 9:1-41 (NRSVue)

¹ As [Jesus] walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” ³ Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. ⁴ We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 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, 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. 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 Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am he.” ¹⁰ But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 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.” ¹² They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

  ¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. ¹⁴ Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 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.” ¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. 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.”
  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 ¹⁹ and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” ²⁰ His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind, 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.” 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. ²³ Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
  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.” 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.” ²⁶ They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 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?” ²⁸ Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹ We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” ³⁰ The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. ³² Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” ³⁴ They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.

  ³⁵ Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” ³⁶ He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” ³⁷ Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” ³⁸ He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. 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.” ⁴⁰ Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” ⁴¹ Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”

 

Reflection

Everyone who sees this blind man sees a scandal, but Jesus sees a person.  The world wonders, “Who should we blame?”  Jesus wonders, “Who should we heal?”

The disciples see the blind man and wonder whose sins caused the man to go blind; the man’s own sins or the sins of his parents?  It is like when I saw a guy with hair that resembled a rat’s nest walking down the street the other day.  I uncharitably thought to myself, “What is that guy on?”  He was a problem.  He was a scandal.  He must be nasty in some way. 

Of course, it was completely possible that the man was actually very sick and just needed to get out of the house for fresh air.  Maybe, he had done nothing wrong.  That very likely possibility never crossed my mind at the time.  I was too interested in imagining the scandal.  Like the disciples, wondering if the blind man’s life is tainted by sin, I wondered what this crazy haired man had done wrong.  We tend to see scandals walking past on the sidewalk, but Jesus sees a person.  The world wonders, “Who should we blame?”  Jesus wonders, “Who should we heal?”

As he and his disciples are walking along, Jesus sees the blind man.  He sees his distress.  He sees the man’s need.  He sees that the blind man needs to be restored.  In a flashback to the beginning of creation where God takes some mud and shapes it into a human, giving the human life, Jesus spits into some dirt, mixes it into mud and spreads in on the man’s eyes so that his life can be restored.

Children do something like this all the time.  Whenever a beloved creation made out of Play-Doh gets broken, like an arm getting broken off, creative children simply open the Play-Doh container and fashion a new arm. 

Of course, some children get distracted trying to figure out who broke the arm.  Who caused the harm?  Who caused the scandal?  And, then a fight ensues where one says, “She did it!”  And, another says, “No, you did it yourself.”  And the bickering goes on and on and on and on until a certain parent’s head starts to pound.  Does this sound familiar?  When it is all about the scandal, what was broken never gets fixed.  The scandal becomes a distraction to seeing the need.

But Jesus sees the need and heals his beloved creation.  Jesus makes the special mud to heal the blind man’s eyes.  The blind man goes and washes in the waters just as instructed.  And, after the man has washed, he can see!  It is amazing.  This man, who has been blind from birth, can finally see! 

It should be a wonderful day, but that is not how the world works.  Remember, where Jesus sees a person, the world sees a scandal.

            “Is that the guy who was blind?”

            “It’s not him.  It just looks like him.”

            “I’m the man!  I’m the man!  I’m the man!”

            “You can’t be.  How did your eyes get opened?  It is impossible.”

“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.”

“Where is this man Jesus?”

The man was healed of a lifetime of blindness.  It was supposed to be a day of rejoicing.  Sadly, the people do not see him, not really.  They only see the scandal.  They only see a hoax being played on them.  They are blind to the man.  They do not see him.  They do not rejoice with him.  They do not welcome him, and eat with him, and discover his amazing story.  They become fixated on the scandal.  The world wonders, “Who should we blame?”  Jesus wonders, “Who should we heal?”

Here is the scandal: Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath.  Jesus had done work.  The Pharisees forget about the man and become fixated on the scandal of Jesus.  “Is the formerly blind guy who he says he is?”  “Did the healing actually happen?”  They drag the man’s parents into the situation to establish that he really was blind and thus was really healed. 

The religious leaders then turn their attention back to Jesus.  They focus on what a sinner Jesus must be since he healed on the Sabbath.  And, though they are giving the formerly blind man lots of attention, thoroughly interrogating him, they do not actually see him.  They are distracted, worrying about establishing how sinful Jesus is for healing on the Sabbath, against the Law of Moses.  The world wonders, “Who should we blame?”  Jesus wonders, “Who should we heal?”

The religious leaders are blind to the formerly blind man.  They cannot see him.  This is why they fail in the end.  Sin still clings to them.  The scandal has blinded them to a very real person.  The scandal has blinded them to the work of the Lord to restore the world, one person at a time.  The scandal has blinded them to the amazing goodness of Jesus.  And, because the scandal has blinded them to Jesus, it has blinded them to God.  They cannot see.

When I first saw the young teen, I glanced briefly into her room in the children’s psychiatric ward at the hospital where I served as a chaplain.  She was singing quietly to a young girl, cradling her, rocking her back and forth as the young girl cried over and over about how she missed her mom and dad.  The nurses had placed the little girl into the bottom bunk of the teen’s room, and they were wise to do so.  She was a gift to that psychiatric ward.  She was a gift to that little girl.

Later, in the children’s spirituality group that I led, I had a chance to talk to the loving teen.  The little girl was still clinging to her arm, even at group time.  I asked the teen why she was in the children’s psychiatric ward.  She responded, “I do not always make the right choices.  I am here a lot.  But lots of kids don’t make good choices.  Do you want to know what I think?  I think it is because my parents don’t see the good that I do.  They can only see the bad.  Plus, I think they wanted a vacation this week and couldn’t convince anyone to take care of me.” 

Of course, you and I know that parents cannot just put children into a psychiatric ward because they want to take a vacation, but there was still some truth in what she thought.  It seemed as if her parents did not really see her.  They did not see her the way the staff saw her, as a loving asset; someone who would love a little child in the throes of grief.  They did not see her the way the little girl saw her either, as a loving someone to whom she could cling. The parents seemed distracted by the scandal of their own daughter, and the scandal caused them to push her away.

The formerly blind man would relate to the teen.  He would have nothing but sympathy for the girl because the Pharisees drove him away from his family and community also.  The formerly blind man tried to convince the Pharisees that Jesus could not possibly be a sinner, because God does not obey sinners.  Jesus must be the real deal because God listened to Jesus and healed the blindness.  The Pharisees did not buy it, and they threw the guy out of their community, even though he was telling the whole truth.

Everyone who sees this blind man sees a scandal, but Jesus sees a person. The world wonders, “Who should we blame?”  Jesus wonders, “Who should we heal?”

Jesus finds the man.  Jesus searches for the man who had been cast out.  Jesus finds the man who had been lost, not because of anything that he had done, but because he was pushed into being lost by those who need to blame. 

I wonder how many good people are pushed out, even today, for no good reason, becoming lost?  How many people have nowhere to go and no one to care about them?

Fortunately, the formerly blind man has someone who cares.  The formerly blind man has someone who searches and finds.  The Bible says: 

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.”

Everyone who sees this blind man sees a scandal, but Jesus sees a person.  The world wonders, “Who should we blame?”  Jesus wonders, “Who should we heal?”  

Because Jesus sees him as the beloved child of God that he is, someone who needs healing, someone who is lost through no fault of his own, Jesus welcomes the man and invites him to be one of his sheep.  The formerly blind and scandalized man is found. 

What if we, the followers of Jesus, did a little more seeing of people rather than scandalizing?  What if we, the followers of Jesus, committed ourselves to look at a person, not as a problem to be taken care of, but as someone who needs to be healed?  What if we admitted to Jesus that sometimes we are the blind ones, only seeing the scandal and not the person?  What if we admitted that sometimes we search for someone to blame rather than searching for someone to heal?

What if Jesus comes and finds us?  What if Jesus seeks us out whenever we become lost, like a sheep who has wandered away?  What if Jesus walks into our dark valleys and finds us, not wanting us to live in fear?  What if we who are lost are found? 

We are found, after all.  Jesus finds us and draws us close.  The world pushes people away, but Jesus embraces us all.  That seeing, that finding, that embracing of the people of the world, is called, “grace.”  It is a grace that opens its arms wide on a cross to embrace the entire world.  What if we embraced that person of grace back?

Seeking to embrace Jesus in return, the man declares to Jesus, “’Lord, I believe.’  And he worshiped him.”  The formerly blind man trusts in the Lord.  He trusts the one who saves rather than blames.  He trusts the one who welcomes and heals, rather than pushing away.  The formerly blind man trusts in Jesus, and so do we.

Reflection on Philippians 4:6-7 and Matthew 6:5-8

 

Philippians 4:6-7

⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 6:5-18

⁵ “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ⁶ But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.^[a]

⁷ “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

 

Reflection

Do you follow Jesus around until your prayer is answered?  Do you pursue him, or do you tend to try to fix everything yourself, not wanting to bother God?

You see, I think a lot about those two blind men in Matthew 9:27-30 who heard Jesus pass by and then followed the sound of his footsteps and cried out after him, “Have mercy on us, Son of David” (Matthew 9:27).  The guys did not give up.  They followed him around.  They followed him into the house.  They went to Jesus with their need.  They talked with Jesus, and Jesus healed their blindness.  It is a story about prayer.

“How?” you might ask.  Sure, there were no knees bent and hands folded.  They did not go to church or light a candle.  And even though those are all shapes that prayer can take, prayer is none other than talking with God and trusting that God will listen and do something.

“Jesus said to [the two blind men], ‘Do you have faith that I can do this?’  They said to him, ‘Yes, Lord.’  Then he touched their eyes and said ‘According to your faith, let it be done to you.’  And their eyes were opened” (Matthew 9:28-30).

We might say, “Sure, it is easy to talk with Jesus and trust in him if we can see him right before our eyes.”  But that is the point of the story, is it not?  They were blind.  They saw Jesus no better than we see him today.  Yet, they pursued him, spoke to him, and trusted that the one they could not see could do something.

How many times have I simply got stuck in my anxiety, in my own head, thinking endlessly through the night about how to deal with my situation?  It is almost as if I continually forget that there is someone to whom I can talk and who will listen and act.

The Apostle Paul advises: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.   And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

In today’s words he said, “Instead of being anxious about everything, talk to God and God will trade your worthless anxiety for a priceless shield of peace.” 

Talk to God.  Put your hearts and minds side-by-side with Christ Jesus.  The one who went to the cross to die for you will certainly take the time to listen to you.  The one who traded death with you so that you could have eternal life certainly has the time to give you some peace.  In fact, nothing would delight Jesus more.  Jesus wants nothing more than to be close to your minds and hearts.  Jesus wants nothing more than to walk and talk with you. Jesus invites you to open your eyes to his presence and pray.  Maybe you will finally be able to see clearly?

I think that this is why Jesus abhors those who use prayer to show off.  Jesus is not happy with the simple appearance of a close relationship with him.  Praying loudly in the church and on the street corner to appear as if we are really close to God might do a lot for our own ego, but it does not have anything to do with God.  If prayer becomes about show, then go shut yourself away in your room Jesus says.  “Pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:6).

Again, prayer is about being seen by God, not by others.  It is about talking with God.  It is about being of one mind with Jesus.  It is about being in a close relationship with our loving savior.

So next time that you feel the anxiety starting to take hold, rather than fix the world’s problems yourself, or even your own problems, seek Jesus out in prayer.  You just may find yourself in the presence of the one who will see you and answer.

Reflection on John 4:5-42

 

John 4:5-42 (NRSVue)

⁵ [Jesus] came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
  ⁷ A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ⁸ (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) ¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ¹¹ The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹² Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” ¹³ Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” ¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
  ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” ¹⁷ The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband,’ ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” ¹⁹ The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” ²¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” ²⁵ The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” ²⁶ Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”
  ²⁷ Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” ²⁸ Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, ²⁹ “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” ³⁰ They left the city and were on their way to him.
  ³¹ Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” ³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³ So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” ³⁴ Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. ³⁶ The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷ For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
  ³⁹ Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. ⁴¹ And many more believed because of his word. ⁴² They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”

Reflection

Clay jars were a common sight in the ancient world.  In a way, they were one of the most important items in the house because they were not only big enough to carry the water for the day, but they could also store it and keep it cool.  Every day someone (often a wife or a daughter) used to go to the well and fill the clay jar for the rest of the family.  The clay jar was an essential item. 

And with that blatantly obvious and completely irrelevant piece of information, you can now go home feeling that your life is complete.

But I beg you to wait a second or two before you start adding to the shopping in your mind and listen to an astonishing thing about the clay water jar in this story.  The reason I gave you this blatantly obvious and rather mundane information about clay water jars is because the Samaritan woman in this story from the gospel of John ran off and left hers behind. 

Why would you do that?  You need water for the day.  You need water to survive.  These large jars, which everybody had to have, were essential to daily life.  But the Bible says that “the woman left her water jar and went back to the city” (John 4:28).

This woman had obviously discovered in Jesus something wonderful enough and freeing enough to cause her to leave her precious jar. 

Tell me, what might God do for you that would cause you to leave your car sitting in a parking lot?  Now, I am assuming that you have a car worth caring about.  Growing up, my family owned Ford Pintos.  The Ford Pinto was the paper plate of the automobile world.  They were nearly one-use vehicles that you pitched in the garbage after a drive and then you just picked up another. 

But assuming you have a nice car, tell me what it is that God might do for you that would cause you to run, leaving your car in the parking lot, while you go and tell your neighbors?  What have you been lugging around in your clay jar that needs to be lifted from your life?

The Samaritan woman had a few things in her jar weighing her down as she walked through life.  The first seemed to be her own self-worth.  How do I know?  For starts, the Bible says that when the Samaritan woman encountered Jesus, “it was about noon” (John 4:6).  It was noon.  It was the hottest time of the day, and that time of day was not when women went to the well to draw water.  They took their journey in the morning or in the evening, when it was cool.  But the Samaritan woman intentionally came at a time when she knew that she would not encounter anyone else.  She intentionally came at that time, when no one would see her and whisper and talk.  She held something shameful about herself in her heavy jar of life.

The shame becomes tangible when she suddenly finds that she is not alone.  Her lack of self-worth becomes painfully obvious when she refuses to allow a potentially romantic scene at the well to play out. 

Now, you need to know that in the ancient world “young woman” plus “young man” plus “well” equals “romance.”  Though I am certain that Jesus did not have any romantic intentions, as far as a classic romantic story is concerned, Jesus appeared to start off the romantic scene correctly.  "Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’" (John 4:7).  Just for your information, that line in the ancient world was the equivalent of; "Do you come here often?"  And she opens this romantic scene with a stellar response, "’How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans)” (John 4:9).  

She puts up a wall to the attempted connection.  She throws up a wall of shame to push him away.  Her shame would scream, “Can't you see I’m only a Samaritan?"  “Can’t you see I’m only a woman?”  “Can’t you see I am only the enemy.”  “Can’t you see that I am only me.” 

The thought weighed her down.  Have the words, "I'm only…" ever come out of your mouth?  What preconceived notion of who you are and what you are capable of weighs you down?  What negative self-talk of “I’m so stupid,” or “I’m so lazy,” or “I’m so weak?” invades your daily activities?  Who has stacked a heavy rock of “You are only…” on your shoulders? 

Have you ever encountered that person who stared at the dance floor as a teen, hoping that someone would come over and ask for a dance, but somehow knew it would never happen?  Worthlessness makes your jar very heavy.  Being alone in the world is a heavy thing to carry.

Jesus said to the woman, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10).  “I'll give you water that is better than worthlessness” Jesus promised.  Worthlessness is an unhealthy drink.  Jesus promised to give her “living water” (John 4:10).

Delving deeper into the murky waters of her jar, Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back” (John 4:16).  Looking down into her jar she saw swirling there her uncertain and chaotic life.  Widowed, she had been bounced around to live with many men, many husbands, none of whom thought that she was worthy enough to keep her around.  As I said before, “worthlessness” filled her jar, but mixed into those waters was a life of instability and chaos as well. 

"I have no husband," she admitted (John 4:17).  

Jesus responded, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband.  What you have said is true!" (John 4:17-18).

Do you know what a prophet is?  A prophet is not a fortuneteller who can clearly see events in the distant future.  Rather, a prophet is someone who is somehow able to peer over the lip of your closely held jar and describe the murky water inside.  That is who a prophet is. 

Jesus was this woman’s prophet, and she knew it. 

I would like to propose to you that even in our modern world prophets are still essential.  You cannot let your jar be filled with clean, living water from God, “water gushing up to eternal life,” until you can clearly see that you have been lugging around murky water (John 4:14). 

It is amazing how people will put up with bad water for years and think that it is normal.  It is amazing how little we can see of ourselves.  In a world where we say, "Leave me alone, it's none of your business!" we probably need prophets more than we would like to admit. 

Jesus is a savior, yes, but also a prophet.  And those Jesus sends into our lives are also prophets.  They are the ones who point out the obvious discoloration floating in our jars that for some reason we just cannot see ourselves.  If only we would let others look into our jars?  If only we would look ourselves?  Maybe we are just fine with stagnant, murky water.  Maybe it is good enough.

But what if it is not good enough?  Naming the murkiness in our water is powerful stuff.  Admitting things like fearing that depression has taken hold, or admitting long ignored health problems, or admitting that stress is leading you to a breaking point, or admitting that you hide at work to be free from the stresses at home, or admitting that you live with a constant feeling of worthless, admitting any of that can be hard stuff.  It is hard to admit that we have put up with lugging it around all this time. 

But here is a simple truth: you cannot throw out the bad water until you can see that it is bad water.  You are just going to keep drinking it again and again until you finally can see that it is making you sick.

Even if you see the bad water in your life, I have to admit, it is hard to throw it out.  What will take its place once I throw it out?  Will my jar simply be empty?  Nothing is worse than emptiness.  That is why it is hard to keep people with mental illnesses on their medications, because strange and horrible feelings are preferable to no feelings at all (which is the effect of some medications).  Those of us without mental illnesses are not any different.  Anything is better than emptiness.

But do you know who was willing to take a chance with leaving the bad water behind?  The woman.  Jesus refused to push the woman away, even when she objected, even when it was clear that he knew about her entire sordid past.  He knew her.  This created an opening that potentially allowed some fresh water to flow her way. 

The woman said to Jesus, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet” (John 4:19).  Her prophet was right there.  Jesus, her savior, was right there, ready to fill her up with fresh, living water.  Jesus was right there to assure her that the Messiah had come to proclaim to her.  “I am he, the one who is speaking to you” (John 4:26).  God, the great “I am” was there, choosing to speak to the one who was “only the enemy,” “only a woman,” “only a Samaritan.”

And Christ is right here with us as well.  The Bible reminds us that “where two or three are gathered” Christ is there (Matthew 18:20).  So, we can take the chance and throw out the murky water that does not give life.  We can seek the one who fills us with fresh, living water; water that renews us in such an amazing way that we too leave our heavy jars behind. 

You see, the jars of our old lives are a trap.  You can stare into those jars for too long and never realize that there is a world out there.  But once you are helped to look up from your jar, you see a wonderful new world of opportunity and love and happiness. 

You see that other people are walking around, carrying heavy jars, staring into their jars, and you just want to go and tell them, “Look up!  Don't you see that you are staring down at your own feeling of worthlessness, at the chaos of your life, at the very things that threaten to destroy your soul?”  “Look up,” you say.  “Look up and experience the gift of freedom that Christ has given to me.  It is good.  It is refreshing.  It is “water that gushes ‘up to eternal life’ (John 4:14).  Look up!” 

And they do.  And one by one people are freed from their heavy jars as Christ moves more people to be prophets and proclaimers of Christ’s freedom to each other.  And it is a beautiful sight when you look in front of you and see a huge pile of jars that have all been left behind.  They were not that important after all.

Reflection on Sermon for Matthew 6:1-4 and Matthew 14:13-21

 

Matthew 6:1-4 (NRSVue)

6 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them, for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

² “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ³ But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your alms may be done in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.^[a]

 

Reflection

“You give them something to eat” (Matthew 14:16).  That is what Jesus told the disciples after a long day spent healing a crowd of hungry people who brought to Jesus the sick and the suffering.  The sun was going down and the disciples suggested that the people be sent away before nightfall so that they could scrounge up something to eat for themselves.  But Jesus stopped them dead in their tracks and told them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat” (Matthew 14:16).

Surely, Jesus knew that all the food they had was five loaves of bread and two fish.  Surely, Jesus knew that the disciples could in no way feed a crown of 5000 men plus women and children.  Yet the lack of food does not change what followers of Jesus Christ are expected to do.  The lack of food does not change the fact that followers of Jesus Christ do not send people away who are in need.  That is not how a solution to the problem is found for those serving in the kingdom of heaven.  Followers of Jesus Christ are loving and generous, just as their savior is loving and generous.

Giving is a fundamental discipline of Lent.  During Lent we learn that followers of Christ love like Jesus and they give like Jesus.  And how did Jesus give?

“He ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled, and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full” (Matthew 14:19-20).

First, Jesus let the crowds sit with him.  He did not send them away, even though they had such a meager meal.  Giving means connecting first.  Whether or not you are able to help, at least you are able to sit down and connect.  Those who give like Jesus, first love and connect like Jesus.

So, when you are faced with a crowd of thousands, all needing supper, what do you do?  You know what you should do, but what you should do and what you can do are two very different things.  I should give away my millions to help the less fortunate, the only problem is that my bank account seems to lack those millions.  Even if the disciple’s hearts were in the right place, they just did not have the food.

I am not certain that Jesus did either.  It is not like he pulled out a huge Santa bag and started handing out the bread and fish.  But what he did do was this: “he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples and the disciples gave them to the crowds” (Matthew 14:18).  I do not know if Jesus knew how all of this was going to turn out or not, but what I do know is that he prayed.  He looked up to his Father in heaven and he trusted that his Father in heaven would provide in some way.  How could God not provide? God is love.

So, giving is first about connecting with others who are in need.  And then, it is about connecting with God who provides.  Only then will we be able to help pass the bread to the crowds.  Giving is about connecting with others and connecting with God.  It is about loving others and loving God.

I think that is why Jesus suggests that we do it in secret.  If giving to others starts to become a spiritual problem for us, we do it in secret.  Sometimes, giving becomes about getting your name on the plaque or receiving the “thank you” that makes it “all feel worth it.”  But, giving is not about “me.”  Giving is not about making me “feel good” or making me “feel fulfilled.”  If it becomes about loving me rather than about loving God and loving others, Jesus says, “do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:3-4).

After-all the followers of Jesus Christ are no better than those crowds who seek healing and food.  We all open our hands to receive what the Lord provides.  We can only give because the Lord has first given to us.  As Martin Luther famously said on his deathbed: “We are beggars.  This is true.”

Reflection on John 3:1-17

 

John 3:1-17 (NRSVue)

¹ Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. ² He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with that person.” ³ Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. ⁶ What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” ⁹ Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
  ¹¹ “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen, yet you do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴ And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
  ¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
  ¹⁷ “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Reflection

Nicodemus sought Jesus out in the middle of the night.  Jesus welcomed Nicodemus in the darkness, taking time in the late night to provide some understanding and some light.  Jesus loved Nicodemus enough to join him in the darkness.  Jesus loves the whole world that much.

I think about this often, how Jesus chose to greet Nicodemus in the darkness.  It seems obvious to me that Nicodemus chose to come to Jesus at night because he did not want to be noticed.  He did not want to be seen associating with Jesus.  Who knows what might have happened to Nicodemus had he been seen associating with such a man: loss of standing in the world; loss of notoriety; loss of privilege.  Jesus knew this of course.  Jesus knew of Nicodemus’ shame.  Yet Jesus still chose to meet Nicodemus and reveal the mysteries of God’s heart to him.

The scene did not have to play out this way.  Jesus could have chastised Nicodemus.  He could have called him weak of faith.  He could have refused to meet with him all together.  He could have condemned Nicodemus, sent him away, and banished him for dwelling in the darkness. 

After-all, Jesus is the light of God.  Jesus did not need to dwell in the middle of the night with dark figures who prefer to hide.  But, if Jesus never entered the darkness, never sought us out in our dark times, how would any of us in this dark world be saved?  How would Nicodemus or any of us who dwell in the darkness come to know anything about the heart of God? 

Jesus “did not come into the world in order to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). 

Do we get that?  Do we truly understand that Jesus does not look upon our neighbors with distain; “Tisk, tisk, tisk,” dripping from his lips?  Do we truly understand that he does not look at the shady dealings of the house next door and use his cosmic powers to make the people dwelling within disappear?  Do we truly understand that Jesus sat down with prostitutes, ate with tax collectors, healed sinful people, and had conversations with women with whom no one else was willing to speak?

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). 

Do we truly understand that Jesus chose to sit with people in dark places so that they might be saved?  I am not sure that I always do.  If the thoughts of my mind had the ability to eliminate the people who I deem as “unworthy” daily, this area would have a pretty sparse population.  Not only that, I wonder just how much time I have wasted, condemning people rather than talking with them and connecting them to the one who can lift them out of the darkness: Jesus Christ our Lord? 

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). 

That makes me think of the quote from the late David Huskins, “If God didn’t send Jesus into the world to condemn it, I doubt he sent you.”

That seems a little too true for comfort. 

“If God didn’t send Jesus into the world to condemn it, I doubt he sent you.”  What is striking about these words is that they came from the mouth of a minister who experienced constant criticism and condemnation himself.  Darkness overtook his life as he soaked in everyone’s criticisms, taking them all to heart.  In the end he took his own life.  He struggled with the darkness of his life and hoped beyond hope that the words of scripture are true, that Jesus meets when us in dark places.  He hoped beyond hope that we are not condemned, no matter how dark the place in which we find ourselves. 

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). 

What the scriptures desperately want us to understand is that Jesus meets us in our dark places.  Like Nicodemus, we are offered a glimmer of light.  We are offered something new.  Jesus offers us a different vision.  He offers us a different life.  He offers us the light of God.  Jesus reveals that we will get to see the kingdom of God when we are born again, or as our bibles say, “born from above” (John 3:3).

Jesus wants us to experience a complete change in how we see the world.  We are so used to the dark ways that things work down here in this world that our understanding of the world needs to die.  Jesus clears out the ways of this world so that we can be born again with a clear mind; so that we can see things the way that God sees them.

In fact, Jesus says that to live in the kingdom of God you need to be born of “water and the Spirit.”  Like in the days of Noah, the water drowns out the old, dark life and the Spirit of God blows new life into you once again.  It is a second birth that allows you to see the kingdom of God.  It is a second birth that allows you to enter in the kingdom of God.  Only then will you see things the way that God sees them. 

But, this is not just about you.  God can and does renew any one of us at any time that God chooses.  “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).

God can renew even the most unlikely of us.  Remember how Moses, the murderer of that slave driver, was transformed into one of the greatest prophets?  Remember how Peter was transformed from a Jesus denier into a brave preacher?  Remember how Saul was transformed from a persecutor of Christians into one of the most prolific evangelizers of the faith?  The Spirit blew into them all, giving them vision from above, making them servants of God.  Remember how the Spirit blew into you, transforming your weakest moments in life into one of your greatest strengths?  God can renew even the most unlikely of us, and God does.

One of the best trauma therapists that I know was brutally traumatized herself.  I will not get into the details; you can certainly imagine the worst.  The dark world in which she lived as a child formed and molded her to be a destructive teenager.  Her mind was consumed by the need to get back at the dark world. 

“The world is cruel,” she thought.  “The world is evil.  The world needed to be destroyed.”  And, work to destroy it she did.  Out of pure madness the teen set fire to her neighbor’s garbage can one night, and flames quickly shot up the side of her neighbor’s back porch.  The old woman saw the fire in the back of her house and quickly put it out with her garden hose. 

In an inexplicable act of compassion, rather than pressing charges, the neighbor invited the girl to help her put new siding on her back porch.  Each morning started out with milk and cookies, and then the work would begin.  While they worked, the old woman asked the teen about her life.  She listened to the teen’s pain.  She hugged her when she revealed the worst over cookies and milk.  She was there for the teen’s high school graduation.  And the old woman was there when the newly educated trauma therapist graduated from college.

The old woman had been born from above and she understood a couple of holy truths: that God loves “the world,” even the dark parts of the world, and that Jesus has no intention of “condemning” the world.  Rather Jesus desires to save the world. 

The old woman herself had once been born again, rising from the cleansing waters of God and filled with the breath of the Holy Spirit.  Because the woman had been born from above and understood God’s vision for the world, the teen was also given a chance to be born anew.

The therapist now lives a new life, so different than the dark one she had inhabited before as a youth.  Now, she looks upon the world with love, not hate.  Now, she sees the darkness within people as something that needs to be healed, not condemned.  Now, she looks to Jesus to provide that healing and eternal life, just as the Israelites looked to the snake for healing and forgiveness in the wilderness.  She trusts in Jesus, who refuses to condemn, because his life and death is all about salvation.  She looks upon the world with love, because Jesus looked upon her with love and sent her neighbor at the right time.  She refuses to condemn, because that is not what seeing with the eyes of Jesus and living in his kingdom is actually about.  The Spirit continues to breathe new life into her through the words of scripture that she memorized soon after having her life turned around by Jesus.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16).

She also memorized this phrase, because she thought it was just as important as the first:

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17).

Jesus spoke to her in the middle of the night, in the middle of her darkness, and she had been saved. 

Jesus breathes new life into you also.  Jesus is there in your darkness also.  Allow your darkness to be drowned, and be ready for all that the Spirit has in store as Jesus fills you with new breath and new life.