I need to confess to you that there have been times in my ministry when I let frustration get the better of me. One time in particular stands out in my memory. A week before Thanksgiving I received a phone call from the adult daughter of one of our elderly couples. She called to inquire about our Care Ministry and asked if someone could go to her parent’s house on Thanksgiving and take them a home cooked turkey dinner. Our Care Ministry is always responsive to any kind of need, but I was hesitant to ask someone to leave their family on Thanksgiving day to do this task. The parents were mobile enough to attend worship every Sunday, so I asked if one of them was sick or if something had happened. No, she responded, I just want them to have a nice Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.

I knew that this daughter lived in Virginia, less than an hour’s drive, so I asked her if she had plans to see her parents over the long weekend. She responded that she was hosting Thanksgiving dinner for her golf buddies and their spouses and couldn’t possibly get down to her parent’s house. She got a little annoyed at my questions and said, “I thought that was what the church is for!! I just want them to have a nice home cooked turkey dinner on Thanksgiving day!!” I told her that we would deliver a meal on Wednesday, but if she wanted them to have a nice home cooked dinner on Thursday, perhaps she could drive down and get them so they could join her party. I’m pretty sure she hung up on me at that point.

She thought that is what the church is for. I thought that is what family is for. I found out the following Sunday when I saw the parents at church that they had enjoyed a Thanksgiving buffet at a local restaurant and their daughter had surprised them on Friday by bringing them her leftovers. As pleased as they were, I was sad that all the daughter could muster was dropping off day-old leftovers.

John 9 (The Message)

^6-7 Jesus said this and then spit in the dust, made a clay paste with the saliva, rubbed the paste on the blind man’s eyes, and said, “Go, wash at the Pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “Sent”). The man went and washed—and saw.

⁸ Soon the town was buzzing. His relatives and those who year after year had seen him as a blind man begging were saying, “Why, isn’t this the man we knew, who sat here and begged?”

⁹ Others said, “It’s him all right!” But others objected, “It’s not the same man at all. It just looks like him.” He said, “It’s me, the very one.”

¹⁰ They said, “How did your eyes get opened?”

¹¹ “A man named Jesus made a paste and rubbed it on my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ I did what he said. When I washed, I saw.”

¹² “So where is he?” “I don’t know.”

While the town was buzzing about who this man was and what was happening, Jesus had simply seen the man’s anguish and mixed some dust and clay and spit together and made a miracle happen. He sent the man off to the pool at Siloam to wash. This was the pool that was used to purify pilgrims before entering the Temple. The word Siloam means “sent”… here is Jesus, the one sent by God, sending the man off to the pool to then be sent back bright-eyed into the world to bring a word of testimony. And it is significant that the man has to actively participate in his healing. He has to accept the help offered and collaborate with Jesus in his miracle. 

The disciples and the crowd made a lot assumptions about the man’s identity and were totally blind to the need that stood before them. But I found it very unsettling to read in verse 9 that there were relatives among the crowd. And then later in the chapter in verse 18 we discover that this blind beggar has parents in town. This makes me pause and wonder why nobody in the family could house and feed this man so that he didn’t have to beg for a living. Like the daughter at Thanksgiving, they acted like it was somebody else’s job.

And that then makes me wonder if there are times in our lives when we are deliberately blind to a need in our own families that we could potentially meet but decide instead to just look away. It is a good moment right here to ask yourself if you are choosing to be blind to a relative who needs your help, and what could you be doing do to alleviate their distress? Are you going to be like this crowd, or like Jesus?

Open your eyes.

Glad I Saw Him Before He Saw Me