First Reading: Isaiah 42:14-21
14For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant. 15I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn the rivers into islands, and dry up the pools. 16And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them. 17They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols, who say to metal images, “You are our gods.” 18Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see! 19Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the Lord? 20He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear. 21The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious.
Psalm 142
1I cry to the Lord with my voice; to the Lord I make loud supplication. 2I pour out my complaint before him and tell him all my trouble. 3When my spirit languishes within me, you know my path; in the way wherein I walk they have hidden a trap for me. 4I look to my right hand and find no one who knows me; I have no place to flee to, and no one cares for me. 5I cry out to you, O Lord; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land f the living.” 6Listen to my cry for help, for I have been brought very low; save me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. 7Bring me out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name; when you have dealt bountifully with me, the righteous will gather around me.
Second Reading: Ephesians 5:8-14
8… {F}or at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9(for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Gospel: John 9:1-41
1As {Jesus} passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud 7and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. 8The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” 12They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” 13They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. 17So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.” 18The 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 19and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22(His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) 23Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” 24So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27He 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?” 28And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out. 35Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” 40Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.”
The God who Suffers with Us
Sometimes you have to wonder what exactly is running through someone’s mind. Sometimes all you can do is shake your head about the things people say, the things people think, and the things they reveal about themselves. Years ago, there was a TV show titled, Kids say the Darndest Things. The premise of the show was to capture the humorous, and oftentimes inappropriate, things that kids say. And of course, this isn’t just true about children, but adults are guilty as well. A lady who suffers from multiple sclerosis (MS), shared some of the things people have said to her, and the advice she’s been given over the years. I’ll let you decide how appropriate or inappropriate these statements were.
This first comment came from a relative: “You must really like being sick; you bring so much of it on yourself.” Another relative said, “The reason I have such good health is that I think right; nobody gets sick unless they think wrong.” Heck of a family huh! Someone else said, “I know just how you feel being crippled; I had a bad case of tennis elbow last month.” Really, comparing tennis elbow to MS? Here’s an encouraging statement, “Your present improvement is just wishful thinking.” Finally, from another friend, “God must really cherish you a lot to trust you with this burden.”
When you think about it, the things people say, the things people think, and the things they do, reveal a lot about who they really are. The story from today’s gospel reading is no exception. It all begins with a seemingly innocent and simple question. The disciples asked, “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he would be born blind?” For the first century Jews, this was a question that made sense. Yet for us, it seems ridiculous.
For us, we’re tempted to ask, what kind of God did the disciples believe in? Did they really think that God looks down from heaven and says, “All right, I’ve seen you cheating on your taxes; I’ve seen you skipping church. So, I’ve decided to make your, yet to be born, baby blind at birth.” We would then follow up these questions with, what kind of God would do that? And yet, as shocking as it sounds, many people view God in precisely those terms.
The ancient Jews dealt with illness and suffering much differently than we do. In fact, it was common belief that illness, and especially physical deformity, were evidence of sinfulness, so upon seeing the blind man, the disciples naturally asked, “Who brought this suffering upon him? Was it something his parents had done that caused God to do this? Or did the man somehow sin before birth, and cause his own blindness?”
And even as we ask these questions, we must ask ourselves, who hasn’t done this very thing? When tragedy strikes or when suffering comes calling, when misfortune hits or when death makes its solemn visit, who hasn’t asked the question, “How come?” Who sinned? Whose fault is this? Why would God allow this to happen, or, why did God cause this to happen? Too often we ask similar questions: if God is in charge, how can this tragedy happen? If God is so loving, why must I suffer loss? If God is kind and all knowing, why not prevent this from happening? If God is almighty, all-powerful, all-loving (or all-whatever else) … if God is any of these things or even just one of them, why should this happen? We’re all guilty of asking these questions at one point or another.
As an EOD, or Explosive Ordinance Disposal team member, Charles Hall blows up bombs for a living. He’s paid $1,500 a week to walk the sands of post-war Iraq, to patrol the fields of war-torn Bosnia, or to search the killing fields of Cambodia for land mines, discarded grenades, and unexploded bombs. Richard Lowther is another EOD specialist. Together, with Hall, they’ve spent years blowing up thousands of deadly devices left behind by the carnage of war. Hall often says, “Every time I pick up a newspaper and read of a war someplace, I think, ‘Great. More work for us.'” Consider this, you and I have a lot more in common with Hall and Lowther than you may think.
As we move along the pathway of life, we must acknowledge that our travels can be just as treacherous as any trail through an abandoned mine field. The threat of violence or random crime, the anxiety of illness or suffering, the sudden grief of death and loss are just as much a part of our world as any remnants of war. Like that EOD team, we often find ourselves in a mine field not of our making, in a battle with sickness that we did not cause, or struggling with a tragedy that’s beyond our controlling.
It’s in these times, when we come face to face with this minefield of life, we find ourselves asking, just as the disciples did, how could God have let this happen? Who sinned? What did I do wrong? Who or what is to blame? It’s in these times that we find that we, and the disciples, share the same question. The truth is, that from the time we’re children, we learn to admire power. We stand in awe of the things that are big and loud and mighty looking.
We honor the victor. We congratulate the one who outsmarts the system. And with our gift of imagination, we project these images out beyond ourselves, magnify them to eternal dimensions, and might even call them “God.” Bear with me a moment and you’ll see that I’m right. In times of struggle, especially when we’re in a situation we cannot control, we desperately need to assign blame. So, we’ll justify our questions by saying, God is the most powerful of all. God is the mastermind of everything that is. God is the clever controller of everything that happens. God is the One who can do whatever we imagine. God can fix whatever that’s wrong.
Furthermore, we’ll rationalize that if we can get God on our side than we cannot lose. If we get God behind us, then everything will be all right. When we encounter illness or suffering, when we come face to face with tragedy, when we pray for healing or comfort, and it doesn’t happen, out pops the question, “Who sinned?” What went wrong? How could this happen? Why God? After all, if God were on the side of the blind man, then he wouldn’t have been born without sight. Who sinned, this man or his parents?
It’s the difficult question to the problem of suffering, that is perhaps the most difficult question any human being can face. You see what’s happening is that we seek the easy answer, and life isn’t always that simple. This is what the disciples were doing. Looking for the simple, easy answer to a complex question. Who sinned, this man or his parents? Could it be that neither sinned, but that the blindness was caused by an outside circumstance, an illness, a disease, or an environmental factor?
Wouldn’t it be nice if all our difficulties could be traced to the source so we can place blame? Deep down we know it’s not as easy as that. For some time now, there have been digital recording devices that allow us to record a movie and edit out the commercials at the same time. For many people, they wish that their faith was like that digital recorder. We want easy answers for everything.
These are the people who wish they could program out the unexplainable, place blame where it belongs, and attribute the good to God’s will. We’d all like to have life clearer, more easily understandable. But life simply isn’t like that. Bad things happen to good people. Some prayers are answered, and others seemingly are not. People suffer. Misfortune happens. Tragedy strikes and we’re left only with questions. Jesus, in His Sermon on the Mount reminds us, God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:45). And as Saint Paul says, “We see in a mirror dimly …” (1 Corinthians 13:12).
The good news is, in the midst of a life filled with questions, in a world that often confounds us and gives us few answers, we can turn to the One whose love we can trust. In this season of Lent, we can draw near the cross and find our comfort there. Ours is a God who suffers with us. Ours is a God who embraces our tears. Ours is a God who understands our pain. Bishop John Baker says in his book, The Foolishness of God, that the only totally accurate picture of God that we have is the crucified Jesus. Or as another theologian puts it, “The only omnipotent power of God that really matters is God’s almighty power of enduring love.”
We believe and confess that God was present in the sufferings and death of Christ, and we confess and believe that God is present with us in our suffering as well. Remember how Jesus answered the disciples? “Neither this man nor his parent sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him” (John 9:3). We take comfort in Paul’s words: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). God doesn’t cause our suffering, but He can allow it to happen so that our faith is strengthened and that “the works of God might be displayed.” Now I don’t know if the blind man was happy to hear that answer or not, or if he even understood it. But I do know this, Jesus’ answer can have deep meaning for us.
When all is said and done, even as suffering, tragedy, misfortune, and loss remain a mystery for us, the source of healing, the source of comfort, the source of strength and hope is not. Ours is a God who shares our suffering. Ours is a God whose love never ends. And ours is a God who stands within tragedy and upholds us in loss. Let me share a difficult story that might help to explain what I mean.
Jim found himself overwhelmed and in shock over the events of the past few hours. His body was numb, and he felt detached from the world around him. Jim and his wife, Connie, had just lost their four-month-old son to SIDS — Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The previous afternoon, Jim had driven to the babysitter’s house to pick up his son Joshua. It was a routine trip he made five days a week after work. Routine, until he arrived and little Joshua couldn’t be awakened from his nap. The next hours were a blur. Wailing sirens, swift-moving paramedics, emergency room doctors, and reassuring nurses. All efforts to revive little Joshua failed. Their child was gone, and now difficult decisions awaited them.
Questions about organ donation, telephone calls, notifying family and friends, and the funeral plans. Strangely, for some reason, Jim felt he needed a haircut and being new to the community, Jim’s brother volunteered to call his hairdresser for an appointment. Her schedule was full, but after a few words of explanation, the salon owner said, “Send him right over. I’ll work him in.”
Exhausted from no sleep, Jim settled into the chair and began to reflect on the events that had happened, desperate to have them make sense. How could this have happened? Why Joshua? The questions kept coming; the pain was deep and real. Suddenly Jim remembered the words of the hospital chaplain, “Sometimes we just don’t know how God is working in our suffering. Perhaps in Joshua’s passing, God is causing something good to happen. God doesn’t cause our suffering, but He is present with us, and shares in our pain and sorrow.” The stylist expressed her sympathy as Jim related the events. Somehow it helped to tell the story.
Perhaps if he told the story enough times, he could make some sense of it. As Jim shared that Joshua’s organs had been donated, the hairdresser stopped, motionless. After a few moments she spoke, her voice barely a whisper. “You’re not going to believe this,” she said, “but only an hour ago the customer sitting in this very chair wanted me to hurry so she could get to the Children’s Hospital. She was filled with joy; she said her prayers were answered. Her new baby granddaughter was receiving a desperately needed transplant, a heart valve that would save her life.” At that moment, Jim’s healing began.
Jim’s story echoes what Jesus tells us today. When heartache comes, as it surely will, when suffering and tragedy barge into our lives, the question isn’t “who sinned or whose fault is it?” Instead, let us be comforted by the fact that God is indeed almighty, all-powerful, and all-loving, and He is the One who is with us even in the Valley of the shadow of death. We serve a God who shares in the tragedies of life and in all our sorrows and pain. And even in the darkest of times, we serve a God, that in Jesus Christ, suffers with us.
Amen.