It was very difficult for you to get to sleep last night,
wasn't it? There was no way that you wanted to close your eyes.
After all, those eyes had been sightless since you were born.
Again and again you looked at everything in that little Judean
home...the mud walls that had become an ever lighter beige over
the years, the brown chairs and table, the red color of your
father's cloak, the wrinkled hands of your mother as she served
you your food. All the colors of the rainbow...blues, greens,
purples...colors you had heard about, but could never have known
before. No wonder you could not sleep.
As night fell, you stared out the window, looking up to the
heavens and seeing those millions of twinkling stars you had
heard about...that glorious moon shining down so brightly in the
desert sky. You looked out across the city and saw the candle
light flickering in hundreds of courtyards as darkness began to
descend. Over and over, you looked at things that everyone else
takes for granted...but to you, each view was special.
As you scanned the scene, you thought about the events of
the day. You had gone out from your parents' home just as you
had done for over twenty years, ever since you had been old
enough to care for yourself. You had been going to the same spot
along the same side of the same road everyday to beg for alms.
There were others along the route who did the same thing, but
after so many years, no one ever tried to get too near to you, to
"cut into your territory." You were able to get enough to
subsist, but not much more.
But yesterday was "Shabbat," the Sabbath Day, generally one
of the more successful days of the week for you. Perhaps people
felt more generous on their way to and from worship in the
temple...or perhaps more guilty.
Then again, your Sabbath success might have had something to
do with your exhortation to the travelers. You were clever
enough to quote Scripture as you begged. "Attend, all you who
pass by, the words of the Psalmist: `Happy are those who consider
the poor; the LORD delivers them in the day of trouble.' Help
me, poor and miserable, blind from my birth." Or you might quote
the Proverbs: "'He who has mercy on the poor, happy is he.' Help
this poor, miserable blind sinner." Yes, Shabbat had always been
one of your better days.
You got to know some of those who passed by over the
years...the temple leaders who made such a production of giving
you next to nothing while exhorting you to a more faithful life;
the sweet old widow who would always have a few mites for you as
a memorial to her little boy who had died so long ago. There
were some who gave who never made themselves known - they
silently came up, put a few coins in your bowl, and walked on
without saying a word. You would always acknowledge their gift
with a "Shalom Aleichim," but they would never respond. Of
course, there were others who would also approach silently, but
for other reasons...pranksters who would come up as if to give
you something, but instead would grab whatever was in your bowl
and run off laughing loudly and taunting you to come after them.
You knew the tricks though: you had learned long ago never to
leave more than a few mites in your bowl at any one time - most
of the money would be removed as soon as it was given and put in
a pouch on the inside of your cloak.
But on this particular Sabbath, it was not the temple
leaders or the widow or the pranksters who approached you. It
was a group of students with their rabbi. You made your usual
appeal for mercy: "Help me, poor and miserable, blind from my
birth." But instead of hearing coins drop in your bowl, you
heard one of the men ask, "Master, who sinned, this man or his
parents, that he should be born blind?" WHAT? What kind of
thing is that to ask? You thought, "Don't ask questions...give a
few sheckels here."
It WAS a fair question, though...one that you had wondered
about, although not in recent years. You had heard your parents
discuss it. Some actually believed that a person could sin while
still in the mother's womb. Others said that the sin was held
over, along with the punishment, from a previous existence of the
soul, an idea that came from Plato and the Greeks. Certain Jews
believed that souls were ALREADY either good or bad and
punishment for whatever sinfulness there was would be inflicted
after birth. Or perhaps your blindness came because of some sin
of your parents or grandparents. Who cares? Theology,
Schmeology. You are blind. Too bad.
But what did this rabbi say? He said that neither you NOR
your parents had sinned. He said that your blindness existed
that the works of God might be shown through you. What? Then
the teacher said some more things that were totally lost on
you...things about working while it is day and the night coming
when no one can work, and "while I am in the world, I am the
light of the world." You had no idea what that meant.
You did not have much time to do any wondering, for
suddenly, you felt something cool and soothing being put on your
eyes. The rabbi had spat upon the ground and made a muddy paste
and applied it to your darkened sockets. What sort of magic was
this? Many believed that there was some special power in the
spittle of a famous man - the scientists of the day all said it
had curative qualities. It was said to be protection from the
poison of serpents, a guard against epilepsy, leprous spots could
be cured, and it could even take care of a crick in the neck.
But could it restore sight to one who had never known sight?
Again, no time to wonder. The rabbi told you to hurry on and
wash it off in the pool of Siloam.
No trouble getting there. After all, the pool was one of
the most famous landmarks in all of Jerusalem. You washed...and
as you finished...it was unbelievable. It was as if you had just
been awakened from a long night by someone pulling back the
shades - the light floods into those sleep-darkened eyes. At
first, you squinted against the brightness, then forms became
more well-defined, and finally, all was clear in the morning
light...people, water, rocks, trees...all these things you had
only imagined before were now in clear, sharp focus. The shout
formed deep in your heart and burst forth from your lips...PRAISE
GOD! I CAN SEE!"
And you kept shouting all the way home which, in itself, was
a strange trip. All those years, that journey had been guided by
friends or by counting the number of steps to a particular
turning place in the road. But now you had no landmarks for
reference - you had never seen any. How do you get home? Do you
count the steps again as you had done for so many years, or do
you know to turn left on the Jericho road, then left again on
King David Street, go two blocks to Jehosephat Court and it's the
second house on the right. However it happened, you made it,
shouting all the way, "I WAS BLIND, BUT NOW I CAN SEE!"
Needless to say, the neighbors had no idea what to make of
it. Some said, "Well, look here! He is the one who sat by the
road and begged." Others said, "Well, he LOOKS like him, but it
might be someone else." But you said, "NO, NO, NO, it is NOT
someone else. It is I. I am the one. I was blind but now I can
see." But HOW, they wanted to know. So you told them the story:
"The man called Jesus anointed my eyes with clay, told me to go
and wash in the pool of Siloam, and now I can see." Over and over
again, you joyously told that same story.
But the most special telling was to your mother and father.
All these years they had worried and wondered over you...
concerned what would happen to their child when they would no
longer be around. Now, with eyes and mouths wide open, they
listened to your incredible tale... dumbstruck at the magnitude
of the miracle that had taken place.
Well, this was too big an event to be held among just family
and friends. Your parents took you to the temple to meet with
the leaders there. They wanted the priests to verify that the
miracle was real. So the Pharisees asked you to tell them what
happened, and once again, you repeated it, just as you had done
for everyone else.
But there was a difference this time - instead of being
happy for what had happened to you, those Pharisees began to look
at one another with a glance that said, "You realize that the one
he is talking about is that fellow we have been having so much
trouble with...this Jesus of Nazareth." So by the time you had
finished your story, the temple leaders were ready to pounce.
After all, these were leaders, and one of the functions of
leadership is to distinguish false prophets from true. They were
SURE that this Jesus was a false prophet, NOW they had the proof.
They did not care that someone who had been blind since birth
could now see again - that made no difference. This Jesus had
violated the Sabbath...and THREE WAYS at that. He had done
"work" by making clay, and even something as simple as that was
forbidden; he had HEALED on the Sabbath and that was illegal
(medical attention might be given if a life were in danger and
then only to keep the patient from getting worse, NOT to make him
better...blindness was not life threatening); and finally, it was
absolutely forbidden to put spittle upon even so much as the
eyelids. This Jesus was definitely a law-breaker...a false
prophet...a sinner.
But even though the violations seemed to show that Jesus was
not from God, some of the Pharisees objected. They asked, "How
can a man who can do these things, perform such miracles, NOT be
from God?" After all, you had been blind from the time you were
born. Had you only been healed of a backache, that might be one
thing, but you had been given sight that you had never had
before. It was too big a thing to be passed over as the work of
a sorcerer or a false prophet. The argument among the Pharisees
reached no satisfactory conclusion, so they decided to ask you
what YOU thought. "He opened your eyes; what do YOU say about
Him?"
To you it was obvious: "He is a prophet," you answered. You
had never been particularly religious...after all, you were not
even allowed to attend the temple services because of your
disability. But you knew some scripture. Moses had guaranteed
to the Pharoah that he was genuinely God's messenger by the signs
and wonders he had performed. Elijah proved he was the prophet
of the real God by doing things the prophets of Baal could not
do. To you, there was no question...Jesus HAD to be a prophet of
Yahweh.
By now, the skeptical Pharisees were beginning to see
another possibility...you had never really been blind at all.
You were just a disciple of Jesus who SAID you were blind and now
were healed to get the faithful ensnared by this false prophet.
AHA! So they sent you into another chamber and called your
parents back in to see what they had to say.
Your poor parents! They had heard that the leaders of the
temple were out to get Jesus and had threatened anyone who
claimed to be his disciple with excommunication. They would be
excluded from the congregation; their property might be forfeit;
they would be social lepers; they would be cut off from God -
excommunication was a powerful weapon. But what could they say?
"We are sorry, but, yes, this is our son...and yes, he has been
blind since birth...no, we do not know how his sight was
restored. Ask HIM! He is old enough to answer your questions."
Your parents were afraid...and who could blame them?
So again, the Pharisees called YOU in, thoroughly bewildered
by this time. They wanted the story again. They said, "Swear it
as in a court of law...tell what happened." And so, one more
time, you told them as plainly as you could, "I do not know
anything about whether this man is a sinner or not; all I know is
that I was blind and now I can see." But the Pharisees persisted
at you: "Well, how did he do it?" An exasperated smile came
across your face - "I have told you once; now you want to hear it
again? Why? You do not want to become his disciples TOO, do
you?" And then you chuckled a little which made your
interogators REALLY mad.
You should not have done THAT - not very tactful. That is
partly why they began yelling at you, calling you names and
saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We
know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know about this man."
The words came in torrents.
Finally, with a sigh, you said, "You people amaze me. You
say you do not know where he comes from, but yet he gave me the
sight I never had. God does not listen to sinners, but God DOES
listen to those who fear him and do his will. Since the
beginning of time, no one born blind has ever had his sight
restored until now. If this man had not been from God, he could
never have done it."
That was the last straw. Had there been any doubt as to
whether or not you were a disciple of Jesus before, it was now
removed. They said, "How DARE you try to teach US. After all,
YOU were born entirely in sin...blind. Get out...OUT!" You were
excommunicated. It was quite a blow. You used to be a blind
beggar by the road; now you were a social leper and no good Jew
would be allowed to associate with you. What should have been
the happiest day of your life was turning to dust and ashes in
your mouth.
You went out, wandered down the road apiece and then sat
down under a tree to think about all that had happened...
discouraged, down-cast. Suddenly, there was Jesus again. He
came over to you and asked, "Do you believe in the Son of God?"
And you responded, "Who is he, Master, that I might believe?"
Then Jesus answered, "Not only have you seen him, but it is he
who is talking to you now." What else could you answer as, all
of a sudden, the truth of what you had been saying to the
Pharisees became so obvious..."Lord, I believe." And you
worshiped him.
This morning you awakened from a night of only fitful sleep.
You could look to the east and see the glory of a sunrise that
you had never seen before. You could look around the room and
see the bed from which you had just arisen. You could see the
color of your clothes. But, in your mind, there was something
more...you could see Jesus - truly the Son of God.
Yes, yesterday you were blind. Then you met Jesus. And with millions of others through the years, your eyes were opened.
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.Amen.
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