SUNDAY, MARCH 19, 2023 | LENT - 4A

Preliminary

1Samuel 16:1-13 :

1 Samuel 16:1–13 NRSV

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.” Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?” He said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.” He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.

Ephesians reading:

Darkness x light

Christ as light

John 9:1–41 NRSV

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 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, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. 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?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 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.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 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.” 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. 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.” 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 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 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.” 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. Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” 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.” He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 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?” Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out. 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.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. 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.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

Problematic - yes, blindness does not come from sin, but Jesus says “he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. “ - open to misuse!

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Jn 9:3.

Jesus is the light…so the world is illuminated

A messy miracle - Jesus healed him with saliva and mud on the man’s eyes. Ew!

Contrast with Photine at the well - his witness is not believed, but rather suspect - are you him? Who did it? It does not stir curiousity, but more suspicion

Pharisees are divided on what is essentially a non-issue for us - whether Jesus is a sinner, if he did a miracle (he did it on sabbath and thus according to some, he sinned)

The man thinks he is a prophet

Pharisees are trying to defend their cozy safe zone - was he really blind? His parents are cautios, because they do not want to lose membership in the synagogue

Pharisees constant questioning - they are in denial, the man self identifies as his disciple now (Pharisees self-identify as disciples of Moses)

The man also believes that God does not work through sinners, but believes that Jesus is a faithful person

Pharisees unmask themselves - even though the man sees, they still consider him sinful because he was blind (born entirely in sins)

Blindness compared to spiritual blidness - the man professes faith, the Pharisees do not.

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Good morning!

Once again, we are reminded by this reading that the Bible is not exactly a medical journal. Remember when Jesus WASN’T endorsing washing of hands before meals? Yeah, let’s leave the medicine and health to professionals! It’s not that Jesus wouldn’t know, but rather the case of the writers not understanding. We cannot really expect anyone in that time to understand modern medicine! It seems obvious to most of us, but sometimes you can meet people that will challenge modern science with their Bibles , but let me tell you as someone who worked as a summer chaplain at a hospital in Colorado - when the medical emergency strikes, even the Amish will go to the hospital in the end!

The belief that a disability is caused by someone’s sin is of course false - our loving God does not work like that! I strongly believe that our God is not one to put somebody in a wheelchair, make somebody blind or shortsighted, or give someone epilepsy, because someone in their family was “bad.” There is portrayal of God as a jealous God in Deuteronomy and Exodus:

8 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 9 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me, 10 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generationc of those who love me and keep my commandments.

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Dt 5:8–10.

But, hear me out, our fullest and most complete understanding of who God truly is comes from observing and listening to Jesus! And Jesus refutes that view.

And we also must affirm that the theology of light and darkness, pure and sinful, seeing and not seeing is problematic - it is riffing off themes that are present in our cultures for a long time and they often lead to racism, exclusion, marginalization, and so on. Because archetypes are reductive and can never fully capture the reality. Just like you may be paying more for car insurance, because the app that tracks your driving is counting working late or simply living in New Jersey with its unpredictable traffic against you. Yes, generally it is safer to drive during the day or stick to the highways, but if neither is an option, what are you to do? So let’s set that anthropology aside, at least for now.

I’d like to contrast it with our text last week, in which Photine, the woman at the well was reached by Jesus and she then shared her amazement with others and those in turn met Jesus and believed in him. A fairly straightforward and positive interaction. Here, it is getting rather complicated. Jesus heals a man by mixing saliva with mud and then putting it on his eyes and then sending him off to wash it off in the pool of Siloam. What the man met with upon seeing again was mostly disbelief and derision from both his neighbors and the religious leaders. Pharisees especially, instead of rejoicing that a miracle has happened, they are poking at the situation like prosecutors at a murder trial - trying to prove their point. Asking the man, then asking his parents, and then asking the man again, just like at a trial, hoping to get the answer they want, rather than the one they are getting. They really want to paint Jesus as this sinner breaking the sabbath and what not, but the miracle is getting in the way. If only they heard that one can be a sinner and a saint at the same time and God still can works miracles through you (wink).

Jesus didn’t make the miracle conditional on the man becoming a disciple - it is the man that eventually self-identifies as such. And when the man pushes against the narrative of the Pharisees, they do show their true colors in the situation -they still think less of the man because he USED to be blind. Not a good sign. Then the reading ends with a section on “Spiritual blindness”, which again…maybe let’s replace it with “clarity” - which then still points to the idea of reversal of power within the world. The mighty will fall and then the downtrodden will be lifted up by the grace of God.

So what do we do with it all? Let’s take a closer look.

First of all, the focus here is not really the blindness to begin with - the focus lies elsewhere. Many Biblical scholars seem to agree that the author(s) adapted an older source and added few verses there and there and changed the meaning from

Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 36: John (Second Edition) Form/Structure/Setting

from a demonstration that Jesus had come “from God” (cf. 3:2; 20:30–31) to a sign of Jesus as the Light of the world who has come for judgment (384).

To better unify it with the themes of the whole gospel. The added verses do not make it any less Spirit inspired, however, so we still have the whole to contend with.

Perhaps it is, again, a good opportunity to use dual lens and consider both meanings of the passage.

Let’s start with Jesus “coming from God” - a sign, a miracle is a great proof of Jesus coming from God, of course. But even in the chapter we can see that it ain’t enough for everybody - simply put, the Pharisee made up their mind and STRONGLY refused to accept any facts that contradict their view of Jesus as this sinner, this rebel, this tear in the status quo they got used to! How can he be from God if he does not observe the seventh day of rest and religious activity? Hmm? Hmm? I am sure we all encountered discussions like that -you try to share about something you strongly believe in, but the other side would simply keep poking holes in your arguments and when they run out of holes to poke, they just shut off and there is not much else to be done. And hey, maybe we were the ones poking holes and shutting off, too, in some situations. I know I was, early in my faith journey especially, there were just so many black and white perspectives I attained and I wasn’t willing to let go off. I was sooo better off once I let go of the notion that the Bible is inerrant and can be read just straight up literally!

The truth is, as we are told over and over again in the Bible, not just here, signs and miracles alone will not convert anybody - it requires inner sight, clarity coming from God to begin with. The man that was healed in the passage had it and could, at first perhaps reluctantly say Jesus is a prophet and later profess Jesus as Lord whom he believes in: Kyrie, pisteuoo! I wonder if the inability of his parents to stand by his side and the rebuke he received from the Pharisees as compared to Jesus who SAW him, pushed him over the edge, just like acts of love and kindness can help US to see the beauty of God and God’s realm as opposed to the strife and ugliness we may experience in the world.

On the other hand, what about Jesus as the Light of the world who has come for judgment? I guess we are looping back to the anthropology again. I think that as species, we have an ingrained fear of darkness that truly can be overwhelming. Growing up, I was a city boy, so being in the middle of nowhere, where there is hardly any light pollution of any kind, was quite terrifying - what was that rustling? Have I just saw a shadow by the trees? What was that shriek?

So naturally, light comes as the obvious positive candidate opposite to darkness that unpredictable and potentially dangerous darkness. Light illuminates, light drives away some of the darkness and uncertainty (unless you are in a horor movie that is), and it may even provide warmth…if it is not an LED, in which case you are going to be cold. Let’s keep to this basic understanding and apply it to our faith - for example, I can say that before I came to faith in Jesus, I had been grappling and stumbling in a sort of spiritual darkness. There were yearnings for justice and meaning that nothing in the world up to that point could provide. God through Jesus with the help of the Holy Spirit illuminated the Scriptures, the witness of other Christians, and the present and past efforts of the body of Christ to me and I gained inner sight and later clarity to decide to get baptized and commit to a life of service and mission. The simplicity of Mark came alive, the history of the church became more than just a recounting of naive and overly aspirational people, the patience and kindness of Christians suddenly felt more than just an elaborate scheme to get another butt into the pew, and the list could go on. And as for the judgment part - the longer I am Christian and get to know Jesus…my hope and optimism that we will ALL be alright in the end is growing stronger and stronger to be completely frank with you.

Then we may wonder what the dual lens of Jesus coming from God and Jesus as the light of the world have in common. I believe it may be this - the world desperately needs both. In our world and times, where the irresponsibility of corporations such as Norfolk Southern is high (on what number of leaks are we since Ohio?), where some believe that the solution to our ills is to narrow down what we teach kids at schools through banning of books and restricting curricula under the threat of prosecution, where the privileged and influential enjoy the benefit of the doubt until the very end and yet still somehow retain some following even after they get busted such as is the case with the likes of Andrew Tate and his pretty obvious case of human trafficking; where populist bigots fearmonger and capitalize on their follower’s implicit bias against those that are transgender, gay, Muslim, immigrants, refugees, unmarried women and so on to gain more power while hurting so many people....and the list could go on…for these reasons and more we do need the reminder that Jesus comes from God, is of God, and IS God and that he is the light, that powerful spotlight that not only illuminates and clarifies the good in the world, but also reveals just how deep the darkness is in our world.

Friends in Christ, let us remember both and receive it as good news - Jesus is not just some influential teacher or prophet, but truly the God’s only Son that descended upon us through and in God’s love and care for the world and that this very Jesus illuminates, provides warmth, and safety against the darkness present in this realm until everything will become Kingdom of God, the reign of God. Amen.