EYES
TO SEE
At
the first church I served, one of the young men in the congregation
had earned his Eagle Scout award. Although the troop was sponsored
by another church, he chose to have his Court of Honor at our church.
As his pastor, I was invited to attend. As I stepped out of my car,
a gentleman with a Bible in hand stepped out of the car next to
mine. I had seen him around town, and was pretty sure he was the
pastor of the church that sponsored the scout troop.
“Pastor
Jones?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Welcome,
I'm Dann Houghton, the pastor of this church.”
“No,
you can't be.” he said and walked away. Seems I didn't look like
what he thought a pastor should look like. He had sight, but could
not see.”
Both
of today's stories deal with blindness and sight. In the story from
1 Samuel, Samuel is unable to see beyond his human mindset. Eliab
fit Samuel's idea of what a King should look like, And God had to set
the record straight: The LORD said to him, "Pay no attention
to how tall and handsome he is. I have rejected him, because I do not
judge as people judge. They look at the outward appearance, but I
look at the heart."
In
our gospel lesson from John, the man born blind receives the gift of
sight, but the Pharisees, blinded by their strict observance of the
law, can neither see nor appreciate the miracle of grace. Just as
my fellow clergyman could not envision me as a pastor, the Pharisees
could not see Jesus as the Messiah.
What
we are looking at, and what we are seeing, aren't always the same.
It's easy to see what we want to see, that which fits our ideas of
what we are looking at.
The
captain of the Titanic refused to believe the ship was in trouble
till water was ankle deep in the mail room. Only then was it apparent
the multi-layered hull had been pierced and the unsinkable ship was
going to sink. Ships that could have arrived before the great ocean
liner went down weren't summoned until it was too late.
And
of course the legend of a US aircraft carrier approaching an oncoming
vessel.
US
Ship: Please divert your course 0.5 degrees to the south to avoid a
collision.
Reply:
Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a
collision.
US
Ship: This is a ship of the US Navy . I order you to divert your
course.
Reply:
Sorry, Sir, I cannot do that. You need to divert your course.
US
Ship: THIS IS ADMIRAL J.W. EYES OF AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS CORAL SEA*,
DIVERT YOUR COURSE NOW!!
Reply:
This is Lighthouse Keeper D.M. Witt, respectfully suggest you divert,
Sir.
Saul,
the first King of Israel, whom God had chosen, had disobeyed God; and
that disobedience was the cause of his rejection. But even thou God
had rejected him, he had not yet been removed from power; so when God
told Samuel to go to Bethlehem and anoint a new king, Samuel rightly
feared for his life. But he went, taking a heifer with him,
disguising his purpose as a sacrifice to the Lord. At the Lord's
instruction, Samuel invites Jesse and his family to join him. After
preparing Jesse and his sons, Samuel has all the young men pass
before him as he awaits God's choice: but God remains silent.
Finally Samuel asks: “Is that all of your boys?”
“There
is still the youngest one,” Jesse answered, “but he’s out
keeping the sheep.”
“Send
for him,” Samuel told Jesse, “because we can’t proceed until he
gets here.”[c]
12
So Jesse sent and brought him in. He was reddish brown, had beautiful
eyes, and was good-looking. The Lord said, “That’s the one. Go
anoint him.” 13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him
right there in front of his brothers. The Lord’s spirit came over
David from that point forward.
For
Samuel this was a difficult assignment. Samuel had been the one to
anoint and advise Saul. He had come to love Saul and his family, and
so he found it difficult to let go. How many of us find in hard to
let go of things we no longer need. How many of us can't use our
garages for cars because they are full of things we no longer use,
but can't let go of. That's the position Samuel was in. But God did
two things for Samuel. First, God reminded him that he needed to
accept God's judgment “How long are you going to grieve over
Saul? I have rejected him as king over Israel. Fill your horn with
oil and get going. I’m sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem because I
have found[a] my next king among his sons.” Sometimes it's hard
for us to accept God's judgment We fear the unknown. Our
imaginations run wild at the thought of what might happen. “I
can’t do that,” said Samuel. “Saul will hear about it and kill
me.”
The
second thing God did for Samuel was to change his vision from the
past to the future. Looking back is easy. Looking back is
comfortable. Looking forward is not. Harry Truman told of a new
toy; a small wooden bird called the "Floogie Bird." Around
the Floogie Bird's neck is a label reading, "I fly backwards, I
don't care where I'm going. I just want to see where I've been."
By
involving him, personally, in the designation of the new king; God
not only changes Samuel's focus, but gives him confidence that things
will be OK. We cannot know what the future holds, but as long as we
know who holds the future, we have nothing to fear. That was the
lesson God taught Samuel.
In
our lesson from John, Jesus is walking in Jerusalem when he saw a
man who had been blind since birth. (Joh 9:2) Jesus' disciples
asked, "Teacher, why was this man born blind? Was it because he
or his parents sinned?"
This
was a normal question in a time when, it was believed that the
righteous received good things from God, and the unrighteous bad
things. Jesus, like the writer of Job, tries to put this false
teaching to rest by answering: “You’re asking the wrong
question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such
cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. As long as it
is day, we must do what the one who sent me wants me to do. When
night comes, no one can work.” And with that, he he
spit on the ground. He
made some mud and smeared it on the man's eyes. Then he said, "Go
and wash off the mud in Siloam Pool." The man went and washed in
Siloam, which means "One Who Is Sent." When he had washed
off the mud, he could see.
Unfortunately,
those who were not blind could not see. In spite of his insistence
they argued over whether or not he was the the one born blind, or
someone who looked like him. Finally, since this occurred on the
Sabbath, they took him to the Pharisees for investigation. (I often
wonder, “doesn't investigating what Jesus does on the Sabbath
constitute work? And if so doesn't that make the Pharisees guilty of
the sin of which they accuse Jesus?)
When
the man tells them what happened, Jesus put mud on his eyes and told
him to wash it off in the Pool of Siloam, they refused to believe it.
Since it was done on the Sabbath, it was a sinful act, therefore it
was done by a sinful man, therefore it could not have happened'
therefore this man was not born blind. So they sent for his parents
to identify him.
Dragged
before the Pharisees on a Sabbath, the parents were understandably
afraid. When asked: “Is this your son, the one you say was born
blind? So how is it that he now sees?” They answered: “We know
he is our son, and we know he was born blind. But we don’t know how
he came to see—haven’t a clue about who opened his eyes. Why
don’t you ask him? He’s a grown man and can speak for himself.”
Again
they interrogated the man born blind. Again they demanded to know
what happened.
“I’ve
told you over and over and you haven’t listened. Why do you want to
hear it again? Are you so eager to become his disciples?”
With
that they jumped all over him. “You might be a disciple of that
man, but we’re disciples of Moses. We know for sure that God spoke
to Moses, but we have no idea where this man even comes from.”
“This
is amazing! You claim to know nothing about him, but the fact is, he
opened my eyes! It’s well known that God isn’t at the beck and
call of sinners, but listens carefully to anyone who lives in
reverence and does his will. That someone opened the eyes of a man
born blind has never been heard of—ever. If this man didn’t come
from God, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.”
34
They said, “You’re nothing but dirt! How dare you take that tone
with us!” Then they threw him out in the street.
Like
Samuel, like far too many Christians today, the Pharisees didn't
want change. “We like things just the way they are, thank you very
much.” And so they closed their eyes to the sight of something
that went against the grain of their thought.
When
people in power refuse to see things they don't want to see; things
that don't support their way of thinking; they are doomed to fail.
(Joh 9:35) When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and
asked him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
The man
answered, "Tell me who he is, sir, so that I can believe in
him!"
Jesus said to him, "You have already seen him,
and he is the one who is talking with you now."(Joh 9:38) "I
believe, Lord!" the man said, and knelt down before Jesus.
Some Pharisees overheard him and said, “Does that mean you’re
calling us blind? Jesus said, If you were really blind, you would be
blameless, but since you claim to see everything so well, you’re
accountable for every fault and failure.”
The
fact that we have eyes does not mean we can see. Millions of people
can look world and
cannot
see the hand of the creator, they see only evil, disaster, war,
hatred, prejudice, and anger, and nothing but electro-chemical
reactions.
We
have two choices. We can, like the Pharisees look without seeing,
or we can see what the blind man saw. Which will you choose?
AMEN.