Lent 4 A

Today I'm reposting the sermon I posted for Lent 4 A in 2014 because I did not have available any other sermons for that Sunday. This discussion of blindness felt worth reposting.
In the Gospel for the Fourth Sunday in Lent John describes the healing of a man who was born blind. In the sermon I gave in 2011 I considered the different kinds of blindness that are described in the Gospel and how in many ways the man born blind could "see" what others could not. 

I also discussed the importance of the  ministry of healing in the church.

I hope you find this helpful to your preaching and/or your daily life, for we all have our blind spots.

Lent 4 A

April 3, 2011

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church Arroyo Grande

The Rev. Valerie A Hart

In this rather long Gospel reading we hear about a number of different kinds of blindness. First, and most obvious, is the man who is born blind, and he was healed of his physical blindness. His illness was of the body. There was something wrong with his eyes, and Jesus fixed it so that he could see. 

But there was more profound illness and blindness going on in this story. There was the blindness of the people who were neighbors and had seen this man begging his whole life and yet had never really seen him as other than that blind beggar. And when he could see again, they couldn’t recognize him. They weren’t sure it was the same person because they had only seen his blindness and not the person. And then of course there is the blindness of the Pharisees who were so concerned with their rules and regulations that couldn’t see and acknowledge a miracle when it happened. 

Now you will notice that most of the time in the Gospels, when Jesus heals someone he can do it from a distance, or he might touch them, or he might put his hands on the eyes or the ears to heal them, but in this story it is different. He spits on the ground, on the dust, and he makes mud from it. Now that’s significant because according to the rules of the Sabbath you are not supposed to knead bread, you are not supposed to make mortar, you are not supposed to do any kind of mixing together. So by taking his spit and some dust and making mud out of it he was breaking the Sabbath rules. He must have done that with awareness. As part of why he chose to heal in that manner. So when he put the mud on the man’s eyes and sent him off to wash he must have known how the Pharisees would react. And sure enough, when the Pharisees hear about it they are blind to what really happened. All they can see is that someone broke one of the minute rules. And therefore they labeled Jesus as a sinner. 

This harkens back to the beginning of the story when the disciples ask Jesus, “This blind man here, who is the sinner? Was it he or his parents?” Because they assumed that for such a horrible thing as being blind from birth someone had to have sinned. They were blind to seeing the reality, and Jesus said, “He was blind so that the works of God can be seen.” For the glory of God, not because anybody sinned.

There’s lots of blindness here. The one who isn’t blind is the man who is born blind. Because he sees. He sees who Christ is. First he says he’s a prophet, and then he says he believes. And he had great courage. He is willing to speak out and say that this Jesus must be a prophet even though he knew that the Pharisees would kick him out, and even though his parents, who according to our understanding didn’t have any illness at all, didn’t have the courage to speak. They had a blindness out of fear.

There’s lots of different kinds of blindness, and most of us know very well that wonderful hymn Amazing Grace. “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost and now I’m found, was blind and now I see.” John Knox, who wrote that was never physically blind. He could always see with his eyes, but grace let him discover that he had a more problematic kind of blindness. He was blind to the suffering around him, he was blind to the humanity of people around him and he was blind to what he was doing to them. It was a much greater illness than to not have sight. You see, he was a captain of a slave ship. His ship would go to Africa and the cargo hold would be packed full with slaves. These were people who had been captured, and were stuffed into the cargo hole like cattle. They suffered terribly on the trip to the Americas. They struggled with illness and death and if they survived they were sold into slavery. John Knox would get his money and go right back and fill up the ship again. He was blind to the suffering that was right there in the bottom of his ship. But at one point grace touched him and opened his eyes to see what he was doing. He was blind and suddenly he could see. He was transformed and became a minister and wrote that hymn that touches all of us. Because we all have ways in which we are blind and we all need that grace that will open our eyes.

Jesus’ healing is an important part of the church. He not only healed people, but he sent out his disciples to heal. He told them to heal physical maladies. He told them to drive out demons, which is how mental disorders were described back then. Instead of saying someone was mentally ill it was said that they had a demon. So they healed mental-emotional illnesses. And they were to preach the coming of the kingdom of God, which is to heal spiritual illnesses. That was an important part of their ministry, and what Jesus told them to continue to do. You find it in the Acts of the Apostles where the Apostles continue to go out and heal people. 

The church has included that throughout it’s history. Healing has been an important part of ministry. Jesus describes himself as the “light of the world” and Paul says that we have become the light. We can be the healing presence of God. And when we pray for healing, when we lay on hands for healing as the disciples did we offer ourselves to be an instrument of God’s healing grace in the world. We ask that God’s healing heal the body mind and spirit of the person we pray with or for.

It is an important part of the Episcopal Church and it has been an important part of St. Barnabas for a long time. Our Wednesday, mid week service, is a healing service. Every week as part of that communion service we offer the laying on of hands and invite people to come up for that gift. 

Some people are given a gift of healing. Sometimes people know they have a gift for healing prayer but they don’t want to admit it to themselves. Sometimes you may have a sense of it but you are not going to tell anybody else, and some people know that it is a ministry that they are called to. There is an organization called the Order of St. Luke’s that Chris Finch can tell you more about. Sandra Barnard has a small group that is part of this order, in which people are encouraged to develop and use the gifts of healing. So if you want more information about that you can talk to me, you can talk to Rev. Jeremy, or you can talk to Chris or you can talk to Rev. Sandra and learn more about the order of St. Luke’s. We are going to try and get this going here at St. Barnabas, and get some more people involved in it.

During our regular Sunday service during communion we usually have someone standing in the back of the church offering healing prayers. But today what we are going to do is we are going to have healing prayers as part of this service like we do at our Wednesday service. So, after I am done with the sermon we will have the creed and then we will do the litany of healing which is the Prayers of the People that we use on Wednesday morning. After the confession I will invite you to come up and receive the laying on of hands, for yourself or someone else, for healing of the body, or of the mind or of the spirit. We will offer prayers with you, inviting God to work in your life in a healing way. I have seen times when people have had physical maladies healed in ways that really shocked the doctors. I have seen people who had mental issues that did much better. I have seen people whose spiritual life has been uplifted through prayer. Most of the time I have no idea how God has responded to the prayers. Because I trust that whatever is needed God is able to provide and we can be an instrument of God’s healing by inviting the Holy Spirit to be there and transform people.

So when it comes time, you will be invited to come forward. Rev. Jeremy. Chris, Kathy Bond and I will all be behind the altar rail to offer healing prayers. We usually come and kneel around on the altar rail. If you feel called to also lay on hands on people and help with the prayers you are welcome to do so. If you have any physical limitations and it is difficult for you to come forward we will be happy to come to you in your pew. Christ is the light of the world and we are to be God’s light now.

Amen