Keep Shining Light into Dark Places: A Sermon for 4A Lent

 I keep promising myself that I am going to sit down and write a blog entry about some of the "things" that have been happening in my world this Lent which has made it a particularly "Lenty" Lent. Obviously, I haven't done it yet. Promises. Promises. 

But as I was reading this sermon aloud to my beloved, I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes as I talked about the blind man given his sight, only to be met with skeptism and told to go away. His rejection feels very real to me.

Perhaps, you, dear reader, might also understand the man's total frustration and hurt.

Too many people out there want to bring light to the darkness...only to have those who are in the dark slam the door in our faces. 

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What we just heard was the entirety of Chapter Nine from John’s Gospel.

And… I’m glad we did hear the whole story. Because… just as with the other readings we’ve been listening to from John… this one sticks to the overarching theme:

Moving from darkness to light.

Whether it’s Nicodemus… or the Samaritan Woman at the well… or this blind man: what John wants us to hear… read… mark… learn and inwardly digest… is the idea that if we encounter and consent to enter into a relationship with Jesus…we will be moved from darkness to light.

From ignorance to knowledge.

From self-centeredness to awareness of others.

If there is any one thing to take away from John’s Gospel… besides his advocacy for a high Christological message that Jesus is the Word made flesh and is God incarnate… it’s that Jesus is the light that has come into the world to enlighten and free our hearts and minds to follow God.

And if there is something to be understood from this Gospel text… it’s that there are going to be a lot of people who simply do not or will not accept that reality.

Consider the circumstances of this blind man.

His whole life he has been unable to see.

From the day of his first breath… his world was dark.

Then along comes someone who makes this muddy mixture… rubs it on his eyes… and tells him to go wash them off in this pool of water.

He does as he’s told… and presto… for the first time in this man’s life… he has vision.

He sees the brightness of the sky… the dusty pathways… the people.

How much information for his brain to process!

How wonderful to have been given this opportunity!

How amazing to emerge from this darkness and into the light!

And yet… those who see this formerly blind man… aren’t joining in celebrating this marked change.

Instead… they are disbelieving, demanding and dismissive.

“Wasn’t this that blind beggar dude? Nah….can’t be him!’

“Who did this? Who made you see?” and “How dare he!”

Even his parents get grilled… accused of lying about their adult son’s blindness.

The man tells the same story over and over.

He tells them the truth.

“The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me go to Siloam and wash.”

But no one believed him.

Instead they kicked him out… ostracized him from his community.

All because he had changed… and was now living in the light.

What was it about this man that evoked such a strong… negative response?

I think that’s a question it comes back to the idea of change….and the fear that change generates in us.

This man once-relegated to the streets has changed.

He is no longer dependent on the kindness of strangers. He has disrupted the status quo… introduced a new narrative to his story… a story he can now tell for himself instead of having others speak for him.

His change challenges the system… and that upsets and rattles everyone around him. They don’t know what to do with this.

This is something different… a script which they haven’t rehearsed before… and they don’t know how it ends.

Rather than embrace this new light… everyone is ready to snuff it out.

As we look at what is happening around us today… we can see that same dynamic playing out.

There is such fear…such vehement… even violent… reactions to difference.

I saw a report recently that hate crimes targeting Jews are on the rise in the country. There are the high-profile attacks like the one a few years ago at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh… but there are lesser reported acts of aggression happening daily around the country. Assaults… threats made against synagogues.

One of my favorite TV shows to watch on Sunday nights… “The Equalizer”… had a storyline about anti-Semitism and white supremacist extremists.

When fictional TV shows start incorporating the headlines into their scripts… that’s when we know there’s a real problem out there.

And it’s not just the issue of anti-Semitism.

Entertainment venues are coming under scrutiny because of hosting drag shows… a form of performance art that has been part of western culture for centuries… from Bob Hope and Jack Lemmon to Bugs Bunny cartoons to Monty Python.

State governments are threatening parents of transgender children and denying access to healthcare for those kids.

Just a few days ago… there was a report about a textbook publisher whitewashing the history of the civil rights movement by refusing to mention the racist policies that led to Rosa Parks being ordered to the back of the bus in Alabama.

A rather unbelievable turn of events… especially with so many still alive who know the real story.

I thought about these news reports… and events… as I sat with my Bible opened to the 9^th chapter of John.

That’s when I turned back to the conversation with Nicodemus… the Pharisee who approaches Jesus at night… to engage with Jesus and try to get an understanding about this itinerant rabbi.

And that’s where I read again:

“…the light has come into the world and the people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19).

People loved darkness rather than light.

People preferred to be left in the dark.

People don’t want to have the light because then they might become enlightened.

And that brings us back to the blind man in this Gospel story… and what he symbolizes in the unveiling… and uncovering… of who Jesus is.

Unlike in other healing stories from the Gospels… and similar to the Samaritan Woman at the well… this blind man isn’t seeking Jesus. He doesn’t even know who he is.

And as Jesus tells his disciples… he’s not blind because of any sin he or his parents have committed.

But his circumstances… living on the streets and begging for food… is the sin of the society that has relegated him to being a beggar… and counted him worthless…on account of his disability.

Even the disciples at first don’t understand this because they’re products of that same society.

But Jesus knows that with some enlightenment… not only will it change this blind man and his circumstances and his outlook… it will highlight the need for a society to look at him in a different way.

Certainly… the societal forces from his family… to his synagogue… to the neighbors… would have to now see for themselves this change and rejoice?

And when it doesn’t happen… when this man with light in his eyes gets rejected… who comes to meet him but Jesus.

Jesus comes along side our formerly blind man in his place of hurt and rejection…

Jesus invites him into relationship by asking if he believes in the Son of Man… believes that there is one who brought him from his darkness into light.

And his answer is a “Yes!”

He’s become enlightened…thanks be to God… and stands as a symbol of what happens when the light enters the world.

He represents a beacon to us to show that when we dare to change… when we attempt to move and shift a narrative… challenge a long-standing status quo system of “this is the way things have always been,” we will not see instant success.

But we must believe.

We must trust.

Because the God of our biblical ancestors… the God who desires us to write a script of inclusion… is still participating in our lives.

We’re being called to play our part… to not be afraid of the light… and to continuously let our light shine no matter what.

Don’t be afraid of the light.

And don’t let the darkness of others dim the radiance that is within you.

In the name of God… F/S/HS.