SERMON
by Reverend Judith Alltree, delivered on Sunday April 3, 2011
at the Church of the Holy Spirit
John 9:1-41
There are three gates at the south end of the Temple Mount, called the Huldah Gates. You can see their outline, but 2000 years worth of rubble under Temple Mount prevent us from walking through them. The fact that they are visible at all is miraculous, hidden as they were under tons of more rubble, the result of everything from human destruction to massive earthquakes, most of which was only begun to be removed about 30 years ago.
It was through those gates that the common people went into the Great Temple to worship God, to bring their offerings, confess their sins, pay their penances. Jesus would have been one of those people, along with his disciples and followers. The Huldah Gates are located at the top of a long, uneven flight of stairs. It would have been incredibly difficult to get up those steps if you had any kind of disability; getting to the gates at all would have been a remarkable feat.
So, laying on the steps, and propped up at the gates themselves, were those who came to beg for their daily bread, unable to work, the poorest of the poor. These were the blind, the lame, people suffering from all kinds of skin diseases, or emotional impairment. As the vast majority of the Jewish population would find their way into the temple at some point, all of whom would be carrying money or food for their offering to God, if you were looking for a handout, this was the place to be.
But let’s put this into perspective for a moment: these were not people simply unwilling to work for a living. These people were outcasts because of their illnesses. Any kind of disability or disease was considered to be the visible sign of sin, either committed by the afflicted person before birth, or perhaps as payment for the sin their parents had committed. There were no medical explanations to offer these people; instead, blame was assessed. Today we might diagnose blindness, for example as a problem related to an illness like measles, or even genetics. 2000 years ago, however, it was just labeled “sin”. And no one would associate with such a person and be “tarred with the same brush”.
On this day, Jesus and his disciples have just left the Temple where Jesus has come close to being stoned by a group of Pharisees who were angry with him, yet again, for some of his more outrageous claims, such as “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:31b-32) As they walk towards the Huldah Gates, Jesus sees the blind man, begging at the gate. The first thing his disciples ask him is “who committed the sin that resulted in this man’s blindness? He or his parents?”
Jesus denies the connection between sin and illness. He tells them that neither the man nor his parents sinned, but that he was born bind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.” (John 9:3-4) In other words, God isn’t punishing this man, but Jesus’ act in relieving the man’s suffering is announcing in word and in deed the beginning of a new creation: Let there be light.” And he did it in a rather spectacular fashion.
For most of Jesus’ healing miracles he asks the person “what do you want me to do”; in this case Jesus says nothing to the man. He leans over and spits on the ground. What is that? Of all the outrageous things Jesus has said and done, this is a topper. He spits on the ground, and makes a mini-mud pie of the spittle soaked clay, and then rubs it on the blind man’s eyes. The poor guy simply stands there and lets it all happen to him. Then Jesus sends him to the pool called Siloam, which is a little way down the hill from the steps to the Temple, and tells him to wash his eyes. There are no promises of restored eyesight, just the bizarre act of spitting on the ground and smearing mud all over this beggars eyes and the instruction to go and wash your face.
The beggar, on faith alone, does wash his face, and rises from the water of the pool of Siloam to find that he can see. And right away, the wheels fall off this miracle wagon. No one else can believe what they see.
First problem, the man’s neighbours, and those who had passed him at the temple gates, don’t believe he’s the same man, the blind beggar. Some recognize him, others don’t, and all of them keep asking, how did this happen? Who did this to you? Remember, blindness was considered a sin, therefore, the healing of his blindness had to mean the reversal of sin, the cleansing of sin, the washing away of sin. How could sin just be washed away? The beggar seems a bit flip when he says, some guy named Jesus rubbed mud on my eyes and told me to wash my face and the next thing you know, I can see. These folks drag him off to the Pharisees, because all healings needed to be verified by the local priests and temple officials before anyone can reenter society.
Second problem: it’s the Sabbath. Jesus has done it again: within a few minutes of his earlier argument with the Pharisees, they catch him breaking the Sabbath by healing someone. Actually, they decide Jesus broke the Sabbath by spitting on the ground and making a mud pie; they contemplate declaring that mud pie making is work and all those who take part in mud pie making are breaking the Sabbath. The Pharisees start badgering the poor beggar about the miracle: how did this happen? Where is the man who did this?” The beggar doesn’t know what Jesus looks like: he was blind when he met him! And because Jesus made mud pies on the Sabbath, thereby breaking the law, he is declared to be a sinner by the Pharisees, thus the miracle of sight which the beggar now enjoys is also considered a sin because it was given outside the law. “No one from God would commit a sin in this way, by working on the Sabbath, therefore Jesus can’t come from God!” the Pharisees declare. The beggar, however, declares Jesus to be a prophet!
Then the Pharisees go to the beggar’s parents, who allow that he is their son, and yes, he was born blind, but don’t want to get involved in the argument. As the parents of a blind man, they were suspect in committing the sin which is alleged to have caused their son’s blindness. They could get thrown out of the temple if they appear to side with their son. It is apparent that they don’t support him in any way, or he would not beg for a living – but that’s another story. “Ask him yourself,” the parents tell the Pharisees, anxious to get away from them. So the Pharisees go back to this poor beggar and begin to badger him again, demanding he now renounce Jesus as a sinner.
The blind man refuses. “All I know”, he tells them, “I was blind, and now I’m not.” They keep badgering him, and he refuses to recant his story, and in frustration tells them: “Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing!” And of course, the Pharisees use the “born in sin” argument on him, and throw him out of the temple. He loses all possibility of membership in the elite enclave – not that he was allowed in anyway because of his “sin”.
But does he care? Jesus shows up at that point and asks him: “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The beggar answers that he does. “Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” (John 9:39) Some of the Pharisees overhear this comment and say to themselves, “but not us; he doesn’t mean us, we’re okay, we can see”.
Jesus’ response is not what they want to hear. “There are none so blind as those who would not see.”
AMEN.