Those Who Will Not See

There is a phrase that has been popularized by John Heywood, an English playwright in 1546 and again by a English Presbyterian minister, Matthew Henry, in the 1600s.  The phrase is “None are so blind as those who will not see.”  This is one of those phrases that were thought to be in the Bible when discussing spiritual blindness, but it turns out it was not.  The meaning of this phrase is the frustration that is felt when trying to convince someone who has chosen not to understand or see the truth, no matter how obvious it is.  Today we have heard about physical and spiritual blindness.
In today’s gospel, Jesus is walking with the disciples and comes up on a man who has been blind since birth.  At that time, many would assume that any affliction, illness, or disability was the result of sin of the person or of their parents.  The disciples asked Jesus about this.  Jesus told them that the man’s blindness was not the result of sinfulness of the man nor his parents.  Jesus said that the blindness was so that God’s work would be revealed in the man.
Jesus made a paste of spit and mud, put them on the man’s eyes and gave him specific instructions to wash in the pool of Siloam.  The man obeyed Jesus and received his sight.  The man returned to the area where he was, but Jesus was no longer there.  His neighbors were astonished because the man they knew as a blind beggar could now see.  They wondered if it was really him.  The formerly blind man identified himself and told the neighbors what a man named Jesus had done for him.  However, the man had no idea where Jesus might have gone or what Jesus looked like.
The neighbors then took the formerly blind man to the Temple to meet with the Pharisees.  This was a common practice to have a person who was healed shown to the religious authorities to be pronounced as clean or cured.  Another reason to go to the Temple is because the formerly blind man received his sight on the Sabbath.  This was not something that was normally done on the Sabbath.  The Pharisees began to argue that whoever was responsible for this must be a sinner because they did not observe the Sabbath.  Yet some believed that a sinner could not perform such a sign.  They asked the formerly blind man what he thought of the person who gave him his sight.  The man said that Jesus must be a prophet.  
The Pharisees were still not settled on what had happened so they summoned the man’s parents to verify that the man had been born blind.  The parents confirmed this and that they did not know how their son could now see.  They were very careful of what they said to the religious authorities because anyone who proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah was put out of the synagogue.  Those times were very different form now.  The synagogue was the religious, cultural, and social center of the community.  If you were put out, you were ostracized from society and there was no place else to go.
After speaking to the man’s parents, the Pharisees again summoned the man to ask him agin what happened.  The man became frustrated with he Pharisees because it was obvious that they did not believe him.  It was like they wanted him to say something they could use to trap Jesus rather than being happy that someone in their midst was given the gift of sight.  The man taunted the Pharisees and asked them if they wanted to be disciples of Jesus.  The Pharisees became enraged and threw the man out of the Temple.  Is it me or did anyone else notice that no one seemed to be happy for the man who was given the gift of sight.
Jesus heard about what happened to the man and went out to find him.  Once found, Jesus revealed himself to the man.  He called Jesus Lord and worshipped Him.  On this very fortunate day, the man received his physical sign and his spiritual sight.
Some nearby Pharisees heard what Jesus said to the man and asked if they were considered to be blind.  Jesus responds in such a way as to let he Pharisees know that they cannot judge people on sin because of how they do or do not obey the law, or because of any illness.  Sin comes from resistance to Jesus and His Heavenly Father.
Brothers and sisters, we have just been told something that may have shattered our thinking.  We may have gotten used thinking of sin as something someone has done.  Thankfully, most of us no longer think of illness as a punishment for sin.  During this time of Lent, it is time to repent and change our ways.  If we are still thinking of sin as something we have done to ourselves or one another, we have to change.  We have to think of sin in terms of our relationship to God.  We have to restore our spiritual sight.  We have to look at each other in a different way.  We may need to attempt to see each other like Jesus sees us.  Jesus’ mission here on earth is to be our mission - to love and care for one another.  This may be a new way of thinking and being or maybe it is just something we have reacquaint ourselves to doing.  We may have gotten into some bad habits and wonder why things do not turn out the way we hoped.  It is now that we must turn back to God and stop resisting God.  
The good news of today’s gospel is that Jesus will find us wherever we are and give us the chance to change our lives forever.  We need to learn to trust Jesus more and be willing to obey and be open to His way rather than our own.
St. James family, we have been shown two very different ways to reacting to Jesus.  We can be like the formerly blind man whose faith seemed to grow after He met Jesus for himself and with each questioning of what happened to him because of Jesus.  When he finally saw Jesus face to face, the man could no longer deny what Jesus had done for him and understand who Jesus really was and began to worship Him.  He saw Jesus with his physical sight and felt His presence with his newfound spiritual sight.  On the other hand, the Pharisees and religious authorities could not get past their adherence to the law.  They resisted Jesus, the Son of God, who was right in front of their faces.  That is where real sin begins - when we resist God in the person of Jesus.  The Pharisees could not see God in Jesus or in anyone else they saw.  I hope we can be different.  I am glad that most of us can see with our physical eyes, but I hope even more that we can see with our spiritual sight and open our minds and hearts to Jesus and each other.  Bishop Gunter of Wisconsin spoke to us in our Clergy Retreat a few days ago about encountering the world in different ways.  We can experience the world with our arms folded over our chest skeptical of everyone and everything - even God.  We can experience the world with our fists ready for a fight - even with God.  We can experience the world grasping at everything we can grab - except God.  Finally, we can experience the world with arms wide open, like Jesus welcoming everything and every one.  We cannot always do this and be perfect like Jesus because we do live in a very unpredictable world, but I hope we will spend more of our time experiencing the world with arms wide and welcoming.  We just may change our lives for the better and be a little more like the formerly blind man in increasing our faith and accepting Jesus who should always be at the center of our lives.  God bless us all.  Amen.