Magic Eyeball Spit

John 9

Berenstein Bears

Radical life upheaval: berenstein bears became Berenstain Bears.

Now this cognitive dissonance is strong enough that some put forth the theory that there is a glitch in the Matrix or we switched universes into one where they were the Berenstain bears the whole time. And you can tell who is from our universe and who is from their universe by whether that sounds weird to them.

But of course, the simplest story is that we were simply wrong.

When something challenges our worldview we can reject or we can discover.

Religion is famous for doing the former. Sometimes that has had the heading of Christianity. When something new comes along, perhaps a scientific discovery about the world around us. Perhaps an application of Biblical principles to challenge universal social institutions… like slavery.

In the face of a challenge to “the way things are”, or our worldview, we can reject something, come up with a story of why it’s just bad or wrong without taking the time to explore it. Or, we can explore it and perhaps discover something new.

This is sad, but religion has a reputation for rejecting new truths, at least at first. And we can see how this would develop. A religion claims to answer so many things… and Christianity is no different. We claim that the Bible reveals truth about the Universe and about an ultimate being, we call God, who created that Universe. It contains truth about your purpose and my purpose and our ultimate destination and what happens after death and all of these things.

And in claiming so much truth, we can construct a box, a little pocket universe, in which we know and understand all things and anything unknown or not understood is just straight rejected. This is a possible life strategy, but it has one small flaw. It is about the worst thing ever.

We see this played out in John 9

John 9 – Healing the Blind Man

The Initial healing

8: 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.

Now we find out later that this guy was there all the time. Enough that when he wasn’t there, others immediately missed him. How many times had Jesus gone in and out of the temple? There are these large steps for entrance and exit. Perhaps hundreds of times Jesus has walked right past this guy. And he’s still blind.

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

Now this is an offhand comment that reveals a whole worldview. There was this powerful idea, beautifully simple, that suffering, especially physical deformity or disability, was a direct result of sin. Always.

Now suffering and disease generally we do believe is the result of sin marring the perfect creation of God… and there are a lot of examples in Scripture of disease or disability being used by God specifically in response or punishment or as teaching tool in response to sin. But there is no Biblical evidence that each disease or instance of suffering is caused by specific sins of someone involved. In fact, that theology is rejected in Scripture in several places… and Jesus does so here.

3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed 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.”

It is as if Jesus has been waiting for this moment… perhaps every time he passed by the blind man, waiting for the time to be right. This is the moment. Now we could be upset that God would curse this man with darkness for his life up to now to make Jesus look good.

But… the darkness of the blind man is nothing to the darkness all mankind are in at this moment. And Jesus reveals himself now, coming from his claim in the last chapter as the “light of the world” to truly, literally be a light to this man on many dimensions.

6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

The pool of Siloam was quite some distance away. And possibly the blind man went through the dark tunnel built by Hezekiah to withstand the siege of the Assyrians (I was there ;). But he went.

And washed. Almost like a baptismal pool, possible connections there.

And… so much story here, so much to that man, what is he thinking? What is he seeing?

He “came back seeing.”

8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10 So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

First Interrogation

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 So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. 17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

Parental Interrogation

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 how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus[b] to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

Second Interrogation

24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. 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?”

I like this guy, he’s kind of snarky.

28 And 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, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.

Super snarky

32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.

For the Religious leaders, this is a worldview challenge. They are initially conflicted, and confused. It is a challenge to their worldview. They believed this man was born in sin and that’s why he was blind. What does it mean that he sees now? They believe Jesus is trouble and, if there’s any overlap in the audience with the last chapter, tried to stone him for claiming “before Abraham was, I AM.”

The blind man is bad, Jesus is bad, how are good things happening here? It is a conflict, a challenge, and they start to investigate, which is good. But ultimately, they reject what they don’t understand. They come up with a story that allows them to live in their little box where everything makes sense to them. And that’s fine… but a comes at a brutal and even fatal cost.

Their little boxed in World has no place for the Light of the World.

Moses we know, let’s stick with what we know.

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

What do you do in the face of world challenge

This happens to us. In fact, if we are true followers of the Light of the World, of Jesus the Son of God, it will necessarily happen.

Because the world is always going to be bigger than your understanding of it.

And if that’s not enough, God is always going to be infinitely bigger than that! Your set of expectations and assumptions have to be broken and expanded and shattered and grown. They have to be if you are to discover all that God is and has for you. All that He has created even in this world for you, much less the next!

If “religion” creates for you ever and only a safe place where everything is simple and understood, that you may be in danger of shutting out the Light of the World. In rejecting the new, you reject the new that God has for you, wants to teach, wants to grow you into the new you.

Christ following, seeing and following the Light of the World, should create within us courage because we know he is with us, but also awe and wonder and glorious discovery at what he has wrought and what he is working in us.

It can be scary. That’s okay. And if he isn’t teaching you something huge and new and profound about the universe today, don’t panic. He may be letting you digest the last thing or preparing you for the next thing. He may be teaching you something profound so smoothly that you are barely noticing what he is doing in you.

But if you are feeling dazed and confused, like you barely understand theologically and biblically what is happening around you. Perhaps your emotions are all over the place, your relationships, your work, your everything seems to take on whole new and unfamiliar dimensions…

#realtalk. That is me these last few months. I am, as you know, in the midst of a divorce. So many things are changing… and I don’t always know what is going on. Sometimes I can process it theologically and Biblically… and sometimes I can’t. Sometimes I find joy and worship in the midst of this… and sometimes I can’t. Emotions all over the place. Relationships changing.

God is challenging my view of the world. I can reject it, or I can discover something new. Something new about him. Something new about how and why he made me… and for what. I want to discover.

The Discovering blind man

Think of that blind man. Washing the Magic Eyeball Spit from his eyes for the first time. And a whole new dimensions of life floods into his eyes, lights up parts of the brain he has never used before. He is seeing for the first time, processing so much all at once, a beautiful nightmare, a terrifying, glorious, light drenched moment. The light of the world revealing the beauty of the world, and introducing him to a whole new dimension of life.

He doesn’t even recognize Jesus as the one who healed him. But he is discovering and he is searching and he is hungry and thirsty to know the one who has healed him. Who is saving him from darkness. And in contrast to the sad, pat little religious story that they are handing out in the temple, he wants to understand the world he is seeing anew for the first time. He wants to meet the author of that world.

36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

Merry Christmas to Us

We begin to lean towards Christmas, remembering the light of the world, made flesh for us. That we might see and discover. How surprising to find the light of the world as a baby. To discover life and the very definition of love in a manger.

Let us, church, discover the light of the world. What is God teaching us? What is he showing us? What is he teaching me that I might teach you and what is he asking you to teach me? There is so much more to learn, so much more to know, so many surprises and discoveries before us.

Let us refuse, church, to live in a small religious box, carefully constructed so we understand everything in it and rejecting everything else. Let the Light of the World, Jesus himself, spit on my eyes that we might ever discover his truth and his glory and his light.