A PRAYER FOR THE SEASON OF LENT (from Celebrate God’s Presence)

Creating God, still Centre of the world you have made, we come to you in this season of turning and returning. We do not know how to seek you with our whole hearts, but we know you are our source and our destiny. In the midst of life, we return to you, we turn toward you. We thank you that you receive even the broken heart, the troubled conscience, the conflicted spirit. Amen.

READ: The Gospel of John 9:1-41 (Jesus heals a man who was born blind)

Link to Bible Gateway

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

This passage is a story of healing and judgement. The intertwined themes of light and spiritual blindness (or choosing to stay in the dark) form a motif for the Gospel of John (see John 1:1-16, 3:1-8, 5:30-36, 12:36-50).

One of the central characters in this passage is the man who was born blind. Since the man was born blind, his neighbours,– and the religious authorities,– assumed that he or his parents must have sinned. Therefore, he is considered ritually unclean, which means he is barred from taking part in the worship life of the community.

So, in addition to being a physical limitation, the man’s blindness is also a barrier to full participation in community life,– a spiritual limitation. He has been socially isolated all his life.

The Pharisees also play a key role in the passage. Although the Gospels usually portray them in conflict with Jesus, they were part of the religious establishment of the day. Their philosophy grew out of the experience of the Exile in Babylon, and stressed the need for holding on to the faith of their ancestors. They were known for their devotion to observing the rules of Torah,– and enforcing the rules which kept people like the man born blind on the periphery of the society. (For more about the Pharisees)

The healing of the blind man is a problem for the Pharisees, because it happens on the Sabbath. Taking spittle and forming mud balls with it constitutes “work” according to Torah, the Jewish Law, which includes what we know as the Ten Commandments:.

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work,– you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. (Exodus 20:8-11)

To the Pharisees, Jesus is a sinner who breaks the Law by healing on a Sabbath, and his actions provide another warning sign that their religion is in danger of dilution and contamination.

The passage overflows with irony and pathos, as it relates the increasing conflict between the man born blind and the Pharisees. The Pharisees become more pointed and malicious in their questioning, and the once-blind man becomes more and more the example of faithful response. He moves from mere recipient of healing to the point of proclaiming his faith in Jesus as Lord.

QUESTIONS

How do we react to the belief that physical limitations are punishment for sin?
How do we respond to the question of why bad things happen to good people?
How do we react to ideas which challenge our traditions and beliefs?

STUART’S REFLECTION: “Rabbi, Who Sinned?”

“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2)

This question from the disciples at the start of the passage illustrates a common view of the culture in Jesus’ day: that suffering, sickness and physical impairments were acts of God, acts of punishment. The question is evidence of a “Theology of Prosperity” (the doctrine which holds that God rewards faithfulness with wealth and prosperity).

Historically, national and international disasters have often lead to speculation about possible connections between sin and punishment. “This disaster occurred because someone (usually an enemy) sinned.” Such disasters have been used to to justify all kinds of prejudices and discrimination.

This happened when "Black Death” swept through Asia, Europe, and Africa in the 14th Century, killing somewhere between 25% and 60% of the European population, depending on whose statistics you use. It happened when the Europeans brought smallpox to the New World, and decimated the native populations. It happened when AIDS became established in North America some 30 years ago.

Today in our frustration with all this social distancing stuff, we might ask, Who sinned, that this new corona-virus should have such power over us? We might even want to blame someone for this situation.

I believe that such responses are grief responses. We grieve for those who have contracted the disease. We grieve for the families of those who have died. We grieve for the health care workers who have been the first responders at great personal risk. We grieve the social and economic losses.

On a deeper level, we grieve our inability to stop the progress and spread of the virus. We grieve our loss of innocence, and the loss of our sense of immunity and immortality. We grieve the loss of our connections to community.

I believe that, in times like these, we don’t really need answers to the question of “Why did this happen?” That question, like the disciples’ question of “Who sinned?”, will only distract us from the real issue at hand, which is the question of how we respond to difficult situations..

We need to look instead for answers to “What can we do?” After all, our role in life is to become God’s way of letting others know that they are not alone in their suffering. God calls us to bring healing and wholeness for others in their pain and suffering.

In faith, we respond in compassion to the suffering around us. In faith we offer hope and comfort to those in need. In faith we become instruments of God’s healing, channels for God’s love. May it be so!

PRAYER OF CONFESSION (No.928a in Voices United)

Holy and gracious God, gathered as your people responding to your call, we confess

the self that is not aware of sinning;
the heart that is too hardened to repent;
the pride that dares not admit it is wrong;
the righteousness that knows no fault;
the callousness that has ceased to care;
the blindness that can see nothing but its own will.

God, in your healing love, forgive us; through our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

HYMN: “Amazing Grace” (John Newton, 1779; No. 266 in Voices United)

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.

 

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