St. John 9:1-41
As often as God cures the desperate sufferings of human bodies, on those very occasions he reveals the power of his divinity; but on these occasions, the Lord causes us to look more deeply into why he does these things. We peer into these accounts of healing with great curiosity precisely because it has bearing on our lives. There are at least two things at play when we ponder God and His work in our lives. First, our faith wavers in our belief in God. We believe; we want to believe; we need to believe. The most honest of us will admit the difficulty of believing. We sometimes cannot help but wonder if it all is true or just human fabrication. Second, we have our own infirmities and sicknesses. Maybe we have a disease that slowly takes over the body. Maybe our eyesight slowly fails. Perhaps our hearing slowly parts us. Physical infirmities remind us of our mortality and this causes great concern. What is foraging and pushing these two concerns forward are the very things from which we need to be saved. We desire to be with Christ, and we would be all the better if He would just come to us and heal us. Our hearts long for Christ’s descent into our lives. The gospels bear the record of God’s descent into the lives of people, and a careful study of the gospels will reveal Christ’s frequent healings. The deaf are led to hear, the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, and the dead are raised up. Jesus does these things in the gospels in order to show His divinity. He is God. He has power and authority over everything. What is more, the prophets mark well that this is one of the signs of the Messiah’s coming. Isaiah 35 tells us that the desert shall rejoice because this One shall come and save you. “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped,” says Isaiah. Streams shall come forth in the desert. Things will happen in the dry and arid places that herald the good news that the Savior has come. The blindness that the man in St. John’s gospel experiences is of two kinds: one physical and the other spiritual. His eyes are darkened hinting the same condition for his heart and soul. Without the light of the gospel this man cannot see. He does not see things as they really are. In fact, he can see nothing. The blind man cannot see God nor can he rightly understand the world in which he lives. Life is the same today. Jesus says “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world”(John 9:5). Those who live in this world and do not understand the gospel cannot rightly understand God or this world. People often ask in the midst of trouble and suffering, “Why is this happening to me?” “Why did my loved one have to die?” “Why do I have to die?” “Why do bad things happen in this world?” etc,. Those who ask these questions either have not heard the gospel or they do not recall the gospel’s purpose. Sin from the Garden of Eden broke forth and death comes through sin. Sin has tainted all that God has created. God’s creation, thanks to sin, is broken. The life of every human that lives apart from the gospel is living in complete and utter darkness. Jesus, the light of the world, breaks forth in the midst of the darkness and opens the eyes of the blind man, dispelling the darkness. At the end of the gospel the man confesses and says, “Lord, I believe,” as he falls to his knees and worships Christ. The miracles of Jesus in the gospels are signposts and banners that stand tall to show all who are looking on that Jesus is God. His divine nature is evident. Jesus comes forth to be about His Father’s business and restore creation. Jesus comes to fix the broken world that sin has caused, restoring this creation and reconciling it to the heavenly Father. In St. Matthew’s gospel, you may recall, John the Baptist’s disciples ask Jesus if He is the coming one, the Messiah. Jesus’ responses to them is this: “Go and tell John what you see and hear: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them”(St. Matthew 11:4-5). The beauty in Jesus’ response to John’s disciples is at the end: “the poor have the gospel preached to them.” It is the gospel that gives real sight. The gospel enables you, me, and all who hear to see Jesus for Who He really is--that He is God. He comes to heal us from within. Jesus comes and takes the vile wickedness from within us, and He cleanses us. He takes the evil from within and makes us His holy ones. Our tainted consciences that are filled with our mistakes and our sins, Jesus restores and makes us new again. The sins that trouble you are forgiven in Christ: all of your sins are forgiven. Jesus is the gospel; He is the peace of God. Jesus shines upon you and you find for the first time that there is hope, love, and mercy shown to you in the midst of a dying and crippled world. God descends from heaven and touches your eyes of faith. The Pharisees will rage against all the gospel stands for. The world may cast the recipient out of their midst, but Jesus comes again to the man. The Pharisees cast the man out of their midst, but Jesus comes to him, again. This is the gospel. Jesus comes to your aid, not once, but over and over again speaking the words of truth. Jesus comes to you over and over through the gospel, through absolution, through the sacrament, and He imparts to you His light. The light shines in the darkness and you are His. Jesus does come into your world to give you sight and to heal you of sin. The gospel also helps us, then, to understand the world around us. Living in Christ and His mercy--having this be our home and where we live--we are then able to see the world for what it really is and some of our questions are thereby answered. Why struggle? Why death? Why hardship? Why calamities? Why the ugliness of the world? The hardships exist so that “the poor will have the gospel preached to them” and the peace that surpasses all understanding will be understood and welcomed. After all, it is Christ alone who comes amidst the darkness to give forth His rays of light. The psalmist’s prayer is the prayer of the church: “For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness”(Psalm 18:28). Amen. -- Rev. Chad Kendall Trinity Lutheran Church Lowell, Indiana www.trinitylowell.org http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=243282012833