St. James' Episcopal Church
Jackson, Mississippi
March 10, 2002
Fourth Sunday in Lent

When They Know They are Blind,
They will See.
The Rev. William A. Kolb

Gospel Reading: John 9:1-13, 28

About four months ago I realized that the sight in my right eye was growing more and more fuzzy. I went to an ophthalmologist who told me that I had not one, but two cataracts in that eye. He sent me to an eye surgeon who arranged for me to have an operation to remove the cataracts and replace my lens with a new one.

When the day came I reported to the hospital with some trepidation, but I looked forward to improved eyesight. To my surprise, I learned that I would not be put to sleep. (I later learned that insurance companies don't always want to pay to put us to sleep if they feel a local anesthetic will do the job). A little later I found myself on an operating table, very much awake, but with no feeling in my right eye or in the area around it.

As the procedure progressed I was amazed as I experienced layers being stripped away from my eye. With each layer that was taken from my eye, I actually "saw" my sight becoming clearer and clearer. Weeks later I was examined for new eyeglasses to accommodate my improved sight, I now have the joy of seeing as clearly as I did thirty years ago.

Many of us have had the thought at some point in our lives: if Jesus could perform such miracles as he did with the blind man in this morning's Gospel reading, why can't he do that now? I think he does do those miracles today, and that he did so that morning for me. If God created everything, God created the technology and the skills used on my eye in the year 2001. I have an 87-year-old uncle who had an eye operation a few months ago, and his sight has been somewhat restored--another modern miracle.

You might ask, why Bill Kolb and his Uncle Ted and not others? If God can do that, why does He not do that for all blind people? Well, it doesn't work that way, unfortunately. The question of why there is suffering and evil in a world created by a living God of love is not only a whole 'nother sermon; it is a whole 'nother lifetime of seeking and searching. Three years of seminary and much reading can give some possible answers, but as with most things involved with faith in God, it is a mystery.

But what is not a mystery to me is that this Gospel is not, at its deepest level, about physical sight. It is about spiritual sight. Although nobody would want to be physically blind, spiritual sight can give us more blessings and peace than eyesight.

In our Gospel reading today, the leaders of the people saw the making of mud and the putting of it on the blind man's eyes as work--work on the Sabbath. Working on the Sabbath was against the rules. And they called Jesus a sinner for that. They believed that they could see into a man's heart by how he responded to the religious rules of the day. In our Old Testament lesson we read that God does not look on the outward appearance (in this case David's--too young by religious "rules" to succeed Saul) but looks into a person's heart. We too, will benefit by seeing life around us, and especially the people around us, with the "eyes of our heart," not just with worldly guidelines or preconceived notions about others.

To be truly blind means to see miracles and not see God's hand behind them. To be truly blind is to see love and not see God as the source of it. One clear symptom of spiritual blindness is to overlook the fact that we are blind. Jesus says, "When they know they are blind they will see."

The Lord is our Shepherd and we need taking care of just as sheep do--God guides us in the way of sight, God nudges us and prods, God calls us and lures us to the light. God intends for every "downer in our lives" to be used to the Glory of God by opening our eyes and showing us that we are blind. So that once we know we are blind we will be ready to see.

One form of spiritual blindness is when we only want to see through the lenses of the past, and fail to see God moving in new ways. This also applies to those who can't believe that a transformation through Christ can happen. "Once a selfish person, always a selfish person." "Oh, I know Joe - he's always been a bad guy. If he seems different he must want something awfully badly. Don't believe it." Even Jesus' neighbors said that Jesus couldn't be special--they said, "...isn't he Joseph's son--the carpenter? We know him; he can't be the Son of God." The gospel message can change people but it is hard for us to accept that the change is real. Sometimes those who have had their lives changed by God's love have to stay away from old friends, even family, lest they be worn down and worn out by people assuming that they have not changed and never will. But God is a God of change, of transformation. God can do anything with us, especially if we are open to it.

If we have the inner sight to know that we are blind and that we need God's help, we have spiritual sight. If we think we do not need God's love and help to be strong and wise, we are blind.

Why do we need God's help? Well, it has been said that every human being is capable, under certain circumstances and pressures, of doing the worst things that have been done by others in the past. A sign of spiritual sight is to know that that applies to us. It has also been said that until we can see ourselves at the foot of the cross with a hammer and nails in our hands, we do not know why we need a saviour. Only in God's light do we see light; that is why we used to say in our 1928 Prayerbook, "There is no health in us." That meant that without God, there is no spiritual light in us.

This past Friday I saw the movie, We Were Soldiers. Now if you were pretty much grown, or older during the Viet Nam conflict, and if you have not felt deep sadness and remorse about our involvement, I believe that you will after you have seen that movie. Near the end of the movie, the men who had gone through the first significant battle of that war and had survived, are surrounded by a horde of fresh reporters who have been allowed to interview them. The survivors are just coming out of the jungle area where they have been through gruesome killing for many days. The newspaper people put microphones in front of their faces, they ask question after question. And the worn out soldiers just stare at them, with no words coming out of their mouths. They are asked, "How do you feel about your victory?" They are asked, "How do you feel now that it is over?" And they have no answer. They are too sad and too aware of the evils and vicious depravity of war to translate their thoughts into any human words. They have been moved to their depths by spiritual insight and can see what the reporters, who have not been through the conflict, cannot see. The fighters have seen the battle almost as if they have seen it through God's eyes. All they knew was that they have seen hell on earth.

The formerly blind man was asked to denounce the one who healed him, given that Jesus had healed him on the Sabbath. That he would not do. He was direct and to the point: "All I know is that I was blind and now I can see." That man can teach us an important lesson. If we receive blessings that we did not bring about by ourselves, we need to just "be still and know that God is with us." Without getting autobiographical, I can tell you that since my wife Sunny became critically ill last fall, we have been blessed in so many ways by so many people--both here and in Memphis. And for me it has been a reminder and a confirmation--God is present, and God cares about me and Sunny. God has just showered blessings upon us left and right from October 29th to this very hour. As a friend of mine says, "God is good, all the time!"

The hymn "Amazing Grace," includes the words, "Once I was blind but now I see." That hymn was written by John Newton, the owner of a slave ship that brought prisoners to the New World where they were then sold into slavery. He was transformed by the love of God in Christ. We too, are constantly being worked on by a God of love who yearns to see us become whole.

In this holy season of Lent, one of our traditional practices is self-examination. God willing we can each find some blindness that we may turn over to the source of all light, and find clearer, brighter sight for the life ahead of us. AMEN

Copyright 2002 The Rev. William A. Kolb

Gospel Reading: John 9:1-41
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. NRSV

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