blindness

Not Fair-You-See

Posted on by Betsy

This morning we return to the story of a blind man who was healed by Jesus by mixing dirt and spit together and putting it on the man’s eyes. Our focus today is on the blindness of the Pharisees. You will quickly see that they live up to their name and are not fair-you-see. (Google “I Just Wanna Be a Sheep” for further explanation.)

John 9 (The Message)

13-15 They marched the man to the Pharisees. This day when Jesus made the paste and healed his blindness was the Sabbath. The Pharisees grilled him again on how he had come to see. He said, “He put a clay paste on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.”

16 Some of the Pharisees said, “Obviously, this man can’t be from God. He doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” Others countered, “How can a bad man do miraculous, God-revealing things like this?” There was a split in their ranks.

17 They came back at the blind man, “You’re the expert. He opened your eyes. What do you say about him?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

24 They called the man back a second time—the man who had been blind—and told him, “Give credit to God. We know this man is an impostor.”

25 He replied, “I know nothing about that one way or the other. But I know one thing for sure: I was blind . . . I now see.” 26 They said, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

27 “I’ve told you over and over and you haven’t listened. Why do you want to hear it again? Are you so eager to become his disciples?”

28-29 With that they jumped all over him. “You might be a disciple of that man, but we’re disciples of Moses. We know for sure that God spoke to Moses, but we have no idea where this man even comes from.” 

30-33 The man replied, “This is amazing! You claim to know nothing about him, but the fact is, he opened my eyes! It’s well known that God isn’t at the beck and call of sinners but listens carefully to anyone who lives in reverence and does his will. That someone opened the eyes of a man born blind has never been heard of—ever. If this man didn’t come from God, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

34 They said, “You’re nothing but dirt! How dare you take that tone with us!” Then they threw him out in the street.

So immediately the crowd started to buzz about the miracle and begin to deny what was evident right before their very eyes. “Wasn’t this the blind man?” “No, it couldn’t be the blind man. It just looks like him!” So even though he gave a clear account of what Jesus had done, they couldn’t see it for what it was and dragged the man before the Pharisees.

The Pharisees, you recall, suffered with their own kind of blindness. It was a spiritual blindness to the needs of the community due to their laser point focus on the Law. The word Pharisee comes from the Hebrew word “perushim” meaning separated. They separated themselves from everyone else by living in strict accord of the sacred writings and the oral traditions that laid down very exact rules for living. They hoped to keep their religion pure and wanted to ward off any influence of pagan and gentile thought and culture.

But it isn’t an overstatement to suggest that sometimes they carried this too far and their rigidity blinded them to the acts of God that were happening all around them. Because of this blindness, they were highly offended that Jesus healed on the Sabbath, which broke the Law, even going so far as to proclaim that this alone disqualified Jesus from being a “man of God,” for surely someone truly sent by God would have let the blind man remain blind in order to honor the Sabbath. In their self-righteousness, they were totally blind to compassion, humanity, and God’s priorities for his people.

The story ends with Jesus finding the man again after his argument with the Pharisees has landed him out on the street. Now we need to remember that the last time they were together, the man walked away to the pool with mud pies on his eyes, so he had not seen Jesus until that very moment. When he put the voice to the face, he recognized that he was seeing Jesus for the first time, he cried out “I believe!” Seeing is believing, but also believing is seeing.

Friends, Lent is all about seeing God more clearly. Lent is a good time to do an “I” exam. Lent teaches us to look for God in ordinary places and things like mud and spit and water. Lent adjusts and sharpens the lens of God’s healing power and what we must do to help ourselves get better, physically, spiritually, relationally, and nationally. Lent invites us into a pool of purification so that we might be cleansed and sent. Do you see what I’m talking about?

What are you being blind to? What situation in your family, your workplace, your neighborhood, or your nation are you deliberately not seeing that is crying out for your help? Where do you need corrective lenses so that you can see what God sees?

Today is a good to open your eyes. May God bring clarity and direction to our sight.

Do You See What I See?

The True Meaning of Family

Posted on by Betsy

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

Blame Game

Posted on by Betsy

For the brave among us, turning on any of the “news” programs is like watching an extended version of the blame game. It is never anybody’s fault anymore. Actions and words that are on film and on the record are denied the minute the tide changes and what was said or done no longer fits the current agenda. It boggles the mind how callous and deceitful people can be. Rather than stand up for what they said or did, the finger immediately comes out and they point to their enemy with emphatic “It wasn’t me. I didn’t do it. They are the ones that did wrong.” Like two young brothers trying to avoid punishment for hitting each other, they deflect responsibility and falsely accuse the other of the crime. And it’s just as childish.

In our Scripture today, we witness the miracle of Jesus’ healing a blind man with the simple elements of dirt and spit. One would think that this incredible, mind blowing thing would have people on their knees in awe and wonder. But other things take precedence, like trying to figure out who to blame for his blindness.

John 9: 1-41 (The Message)

 1-2 Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?”

3-5 Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world’s Light.”

We need to remember that in those times, disabilities like blindness were thought to be the result of sin. The Jewish understanding of the Levitical blessings and curses detailed in Leviticus 26 led them to believe that disobedience to God’s Word resulted in physical impairments. But even with that background, it is very disappointing to read that the disciples’ first reaction was to try to assess blame rather than to see how they might be able to help the man. They imply that the sin that led to the man’s blindness might even be the result of his parent’s sin, since he was blind from birth. 

I love Jesus’ immediate reaction. His sharp response left no room for interpretation. “You’re asking the wrong question.” They tried to impose their faulty theology on the situation when what the situation actually called for compassion and action.

I’m sure all of us are guilty of asking the wrong question from time to time. I remembered a scene from the old Pink Panther movie that illustrates this and still makes me laugh. Inspector Jacques Clouseau is checking into a hotel and there is a dog at the registration desk. 

Clouseau asks, “Does your dog bite?” The Hotel Clerk responds “No.” Clouseau bows down to pet the dog. “Nice doggie.” And immediately the dog barks and bites Clouseau’s hand.

Clouseau says,  “I thought you said your dog did not bite!” The Hotel Clerk responds, “That is not my dog.” Poor Clouseau! He asked the wrong question.

When we come upon someone who needs our help, maybe it is better and more Christ-like to ask, “How can I help” rather than, “How did you end up in this situation?” What we see can be severely clouded by our assumptions. We hear that someone has lung cancer, and we assume they are a heavy smoker. We see a teenager get arrested and we assume it is a result of bad parenting. We hear that someone got fired, and we speculate about what they did something to deserve it. We read a bad review of a doctor on Facebook, and we assume they are at fault.

Blame-casting and making assumptions have very little value when they replace just looking at situations with unbiased eyes and trying to see what God sees.

The challenge for us today is to be better than the disciples in this story and start asking the right questions. Next time you see someone in need, ask God to show you what he sees, and ask him to show you how you can help. Lent asks us this question: Can you see what God sees? Or do you need God to heal you of your blindness?

I See the Moon and the Moon Sees Me by Michelle Robertson

Hot Chicken Salad

Posted on by Betsy

Have you ever resisted someone’s help? Thinking that you had everything under control, did you ever reject the kind ministrations of friends and just plugged along in your misery? False pride, embarrassment, stubbornness, and a sense of not wanting to appear weak can turn our heads away from the compassionate offering that a friend is trying to make. When we do that, we miss out on so much.

Many years ago, my daughter had to come home from college when she was diagnosed with cancer. She lived with us for nine months while she underwent daily chemotherapy, surgeries, and procedures. We were overwhelmed with her care, and our loving and supportive church tried to help. I was serving as a pastor on that staff and really resisted any assistance. Cards and gifts for my daughter were welcome and appreciated, but any offering of help for her father and me as caregivers was rejected. “We’re okay, we’ve got this, we’re good” became my mantra when any kind soul offered support for us. How foolish I was! Talk about stupid and unnecessary pride. Finally I realized that my pride was preventing the church from being the church to us, so I began to accept meals. We’re Methodist, and casseroles are our love language! I was inadvertently stopping people from loving on us and doing the acts of ministry that God was calling them to do for our family.

The first delivery was something called “Hot Chicken Salad.” This casserole dish of pure heaven was not a salad as such, but a culinary adventure in beautiful white chicken chunks, crunchy slivered almonds, and a saucy sauce that made my eyes roll back in my head. And for that moment, I was uplifted by the gift of a friend and church member who was also uplifted to be able to do something tangible in our fight against cancer. I still make that recipe today.

In our passage today, we see Jesus offer an act of ministry to a man who was born blind.

John 9 (The Message)

 1-2 Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?”

Right from the bat we see that the disciples asked the wrong question. They were focused on trying to figure out the theology behind the blindness, proving that they were blind to his need. Jesus focused on a compassionate response.

3-5 Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world’s Light.”

We often hesitate to step into places of helping a stranger. We ask how the unhoused person ended up that way. We question if giving the person on the street some money might enable them to go off and get high. We question how the mother with a lot of kids in tow ended up on food stamps. We hesitate to support the veteran found sleeping in the freezing rain because we don’t trust the GoFundMe that a community member set up.

We ask the wrong question.

6-7 He 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.

Dust and clay played an important role in Genesis 2:7: 7 then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (Common English Bible) Jesus’ use of dust in this healing miracle harkens back to the power of creation. Indeed, Jesus created sight in the blind man. What is he trying to create in you today? What are you blind to? Where is God hoping to open your eyes so that you might offer a compassionate response?

The last sentence reminds us that when we are offered healing, we need to participate. The man went and washed and he saw. I accepted a gift of a meal and ate of the bread of empathy that night, and it made me stronger. Is God calling you to participate in your own miracle?

Say yes to the Hot Chicken Salad. It will change your life.

Soon by Kathy Schumacher