Participating in Creation

Siloam / Bethesda

Washing at the pool

John 5:7 NIV

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

Hovering over the waters

spit & mud

Jesus in creation cf. John 1:1-5

John 1:1–5 NIV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

More than a “Healing” this is an act of Creation

Playing the blame game

The story begins like this

John 9:2 NIV

His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

In the rest of the chapter, the Pharisees begin an investigation, at times an interrogation - who is to blame that this miracle occurred on the Sabbath?

Who is to blame that this happened on the Sabbath?

Who is to blame that Jesus healed this man?

Even his parents wash their hands of him

John 9:20–21 NIV

“We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.”

This miracle begins with blame (the question of the disciples), and ends with blame (the questioning of the Pharisees).

These days we seem to live in a constant cycle of blame

Who is to blame for COVID, inflation, climate change, forestry slash, the scale of the cleanup after cyclone Gabrielle? The list goes on and on, and seems to speed up over time:

WHO IS TO BLAME FOR ALL OF THIS?

Who has Sinned?

This miracle begins with blame (the question of the disciples), and ends with blame (the questioning of the Pharisees), in the middle, Jesus changes the subject.

Rabbinic method

Jesus and the art of the non-sequitur

“So that the works of God might be displayed in him”

cf. John 3:16,17

Motivated not by punishment, but by love.

How then were your eyes opened?

This miracle begins with blame (the question of the disciples), and ends with blame (the questioning of the Pharisees), in the middle, something miraculous happens

John 9:10–11 NIV

“How then were your eyes opened?” they asked. He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

What would it look like if our eyes were opened?

Not only to to the brokenness of the world, but to God at work bringing light and hope?

Participating in the act of creation

So often, when the darkness closes in, we are tempted to search for someone to blame.

How could this be?

How could a God of love allow this suffering?

Instead, Jesus challenges us to search for the light.

Where is the love of God displayed in this tragedy? How can we become workers of the light, instead of being crushed by the darkness?

How can we be stirred by the Spirit hovering over the waters?

Over the last few weeks I feel like I have been bombarded with situations in my friends’ lives that just take the wind out of your sails.

Last week, I hugged a friend goodbye, and as she said “Goodbye”, I realised that it was probably pretty final

I am praying daily for a friend who never fully recovered from COVID, and is now walking through a dark valley that may or may not brighten as they travel along the way

Last week I became aware of the plight of an old friend whose young son has a rare disorder that affects fewer than 100 people worldwide. As a result he will lose his sight before his third birthday unless he has light-giving, sight-giving surgery on the other side of the world. The catch? The bill comes to over $100,000.

How could this be?

Who is to blame?

Jesus changes the conversation.

Jesus invites us in to a healing, life-giving, light-giving act of creation that reflects the overwhleming, overflowing, unbounded love of God for all of his children, for all of creation.

My small part - praying - contributing to the givealittle campaign - my small part may not amount to much, but through the grace of God and the goodness of people, the goal is within reach.

This wee man will have his surgery.

Together, 961 people have come together to give sight to the blind.

Now they just need to go and wash in the pool of Siloam, and begin that journey up the hill, with light restored and hope renewed.

We may not be able to heal the blind with mud and spit, but miracles do happen. Both big and small.

When we are confronted with brokenness and pain, we are not called to find the one to blame and punish them.

No, we are called to be agents of the day, workers of the light, in all things working together in the Spirit, in all things working together for the purpoases of God’s good love.

The miracle begins with brokenness. And we don’t always know how it will end, but in the middle, the light is at work.

Amen