And the prophet sang out…
As I walk through this wicked world
Searchin' for light in the darkness of insanity
I ask myself, is all hope lost?
Is there only pain and hatred, and misery?
And each time I feel like this inside
There's one thing I wanna know
What's so funny 'bout peace, love, and understanding?
Those are the words of Elvis Costello from the album, “Armed Forces' ' released in 1979. As tension boils into war in Ukraine and reports continue in the US about a rise in antisemitism, the ongoing impact of systemic racism, and conflicts over books that express the experiences and feelings of those in the LGBTQ+ community, I can’t help but wonder, what is so funny about peace, love, and understanding?
This is probably the point when some of you are thinking, “Could we just hear some more jazz?” or maybe, “What does all that have to do with the scripture you just read? Can we get on with that?”
Sure, but first I want to acknowledge the words of a certain Buddhist thinker named Thích Nhất Hạnh, who gives a thesis for his book, No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering, by saying, “Most people are afraid of suffering. But suffering is a kind of mud to help the lotus flower of happiness grow. There can be no lotus flower without the mud.”
The first person I ever heard use an analogy like that was one of the wisest people I know, my wife, when she was trying to help one of our children make sense of a tough situation. She said, “It seems like you are focusing on the dirt. Let’s think about how beautiful the flower that grows from it is going to be!”
In our passage today, we get a little of all of the above – light in the darkness of insanity, a little bit of mud, and something beautiful that grows between us by the grace and mercy of God. As we dig a little deeper into all of this, I do want to acknowledge that I don’t use the word insanity lightly, but neither am I referring, necessarily, to clinical mental illness. I think the insanity that Elvis Costello had in mind was something more like the idea of repeating the same mistakes and expecting a different outcome, and that’s certainly what I have in mind because I think that is what Jesus had in mind in v3 when he answered the disciple’s question about a man who was born blind.
Before we get into his response, it’s important to unpack the implications of the question his disciples asked in v2. Jesus had apparently noticed, it says in v1, a man born blind. I imagine he had a tendency to notice people that others simply looked over as though they were background noise or wallpaper, but all the text says is that Jesus saw him and that he had been born blind. We don’t know how any of them knew he was blind from birth unless there was some obvious physical indicator.
I also imagine the disciples wanted to know what was behind the attention directed to this man. I imagine a conversation something like this, “Wait. Jesus looked at him, like, he noticed that guy. Why? Are we supposed to do something? When we asked about the crowd, he told us to feed them, then that kid showed up with the fish and suddenly everyone had enough, but this guy – he was born this way. Peter, say something faithful? No? Matthew, you’re the lawyer…John, John, aren’t you his favorite? Uh, y’all…he stopped. Teachable moment? Um, Jesus, why…who…who sinned – this guy or his parents – that he was born blind? I mean, this is clearly a consequence, and God is almighty and just. It’s obviously his parents, right?”
There it is. The implicit bias is that those who are in need are less faithful, less loved, just generally “less than” those who are so clearly blessed with resources, faculties, and the support of those around them. The one who is in need is clearly in need of forgiveness or else it would seem that God is the unjust one. This is the first assumption about God, and about himself, that Jesus challenges in this story, but it’s also the lynchpin of the whole story.
Before we get into that, I’m going to be a little nerdy with you and say that there are some discrepancies in the translation here. The NRSV seems to make it sound like God intended for this man to suffer his whole life just so that Jesus could show off and heal him, which is problematic to say the least. In a more literal translation of the Greek text, Jesus does not actually answer the question of why the man was born blind. He simply says, “Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.”
So, one might say that this man, born blind, was born as a whole person who has been treated as something less than that, and because of that Jesus can demonstrate more clearly through him the thing that none of us can see – the sin that we all share and the new creation that we can become through faith in Christ!
We see this unfold in v 5 as Jesus re-enacts the creation itself by reminding us that he is the light. He is the incarnation of the primordial and generative will of God that there be something more than darkness in the universe! Then Jesus takes dirt and makes mud with his own spit to create life where it was not. He sent the man in v 7 to a pool bearing the name of the action of being sent, so that others might see and believe that their sin might also be forgiven.
As the revelation of the acts of God flowed through his community it confronted those in the temple, who took it out on the man who had been born blind, demonstrating that the presence of sin was not about rule-breaking but instead it was about denying the presence of God in one another and the relationships that God calls us into.
In v. 35 the man is actually driven out of the temple. He is no longer welcome there. The House of God is closed off to him. Can you imagine that feeling? Unfortunately, there are those, even in our community, that know it too well. Unfortunately, there are Christian Pastors and sects that feel it is their duty to cast out those they deem to be morally impure. Unfortunately, the only category of people who have ever asked me if they will be welcomed and loved in a faith community, or just by me as a pastor, are people who are also gay. Unfortunately, the only times that I have personally heard other Christians (who happen to be lighter-skinned) condemn others categorically, apart from those who are gay, it has been those who are not lighter-skinned. Unfortunately, there are people of all persuasions who just don’t feel welcome or who have let conflicts fester and just don’t feel like the church is a place of community for them anymore.
I don’t think that means that Christians are horrible or the church is doomed or that Western Christianity has entirely lost its way. I think it just means that those who follow the way of Jesus need to be like the man who was born blind. When he was asked who Jesus was and what he did, he called him a Prophet – a man of God – and he said, “All I know is that I was blind and now I see.” When they challenged him, he recognized the connection between the acts of Jesus and the power of God alone. No one else makes something out of nothing. Only God can do that.
Then when Jesus asks if he believes in him as the son of God, he says that believes and then he worships. So much more could be said about all of these things, but if you recall, I said that the lynchpin – the thing that holds this story together – is the idea that God’s justice is not retributive and that suffering is not the direct result of sin.
To really understand this, we have to read v39 in light of the experiences of both the man born blind and the Pharisees. 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.’ The judgment of Jesus is not condemnation. It is an invitation. It is a recognition of the sin that separates us and of the consequences of leaving things as they are – in a state of separation. The judgment of Jesus is the invitation to become blinded by the brilliance of the light of Christ so that what we see are the mighty acts of God in one another and the opportunity to be re-created in God’s image as we are sent into the world over and over and over.
Before Jesus, the man was a beggar who was seen as nothing more than a cautionary tale to those in his community. He sat where he sat because that was the place for those who were dependent on charity. Once he could see, he became a clear and present example that charity is not the same as seeing and respecting the basic humanity of a person in need.
The way I see it, true worship of God is not boiled down to a list of dos and don’ts. It is the ability to hear Jesus say, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” and then respond, “Lord, I believe!” as we are sent out into the world.
Certainly, there are moral repercussions for all that we do. Certainly, we are still called to be charitable and to love the Lord our God with all that we have and all that we are and to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves. That starts with seeing ourselves – and one another – not so much as broken vessels but as actual, intentional, and incarnational demonstrations of the presence of God!
As we seek to do that, prophets and critics alike join in the final chorus with Elvis Costello, asking:
Where are the strong?
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony
'Cause each time I feel it slippin' away, just makes me wanna cry
What's so funny 'bout peace, love, and understanding?
To that I say, with God’s help and in the light of Christ, we are strong and trustworthy together. We, the people of God, the Body of Christ, find harmony together because there is absolutely nothing funny about peace, love, and understanding. It is, in fact, what we expect to find and to offer as we draw one another into the spirit's tether of grace, mercy, and redemption.
At least I pray that it may be so with you and that it may be so with me, and to God be the glory now and always. Amen!
As I walk through this wicked world
Searchin' for light in the darkness of insanity
I ask myself, is all hope lost?
Is there only pain and hatred, and misery?
And each time I feel like this inside
There's one thing I wanna know
What's so funny 'bout peace, love, and understanding?
Those are the words of Elvis Costello from the album, “Armed Forces' ' released in 1979. As tension boils into war in Ukraine and reports continue in the US about a rise in antisemitism, the ongoing impact of systemic racism, and conflicts over books that express the experiences and feelings of those in the LGBTQ+ community, I can’t help but wonder, what is so funny about peace, love, and understanding?
This is probably the point when some of you are thinking, “Could we just hear some more jazz?” or maybe, “What does all that have to do with the scripture you just read? Can we get on with that?”
Sure, but first I want to acknowledge the words of a certain Buddhist thinker named Thích Nhất Hạnh, who gives a thesis for his book, No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering, by saying, “Most people are afraid of suffering. But suffering is a kind of mud to help the lotus flower of happiness grow. There can be no lotus flower without the mud.”
The first person I ever heard use an analogy like that was one of the wisest people I know, my wife, when she was trying to help one of our children make sense of a tough situation. She said, “It seems like you are focusing on the dirt. Let’s think about how beautiful the flower that grows from it is going to be!”
In our passage today, we get a little of all of the above – light in the darkness of insanity, a little bit of mud, and something beautiful that grows between us by the grace and mercy of God. As we dig a little deeper into all of this, I do want to acknowledge that I don’t use the word insanity lightly, but neither am I referring, necessarily, to clinical mental illness. I think the insanity that Elvis Costello had in mind was something more like the idea of repeating the same mistakes and expecting a different outcome, and that’s certainly what I have in mind because I think that is what Jesus had in mind in v3 when he answered the disciple’s question about a man who was born blind.
Before we get into his response, it’s important to unpack the implications of the question his disciples asked in v2. Jesus had apparently noticed, it says in v1, a man born blind. I imagine he had a tendency to notice people that others simply looked over as though they were background noise or wallpaper, but all the text says is that Jesus saw him and that he had been born blind. We don’t know how any of them knew he was blind from birth unless there was some obvious physical indicator.
I also imagine the disciples wanted to know what was behind the attention directed to this man. I imagine a conversation something like this, “Wait. Jesus looked at him, like, he noticed that guy. Why? Are we supposed to do something? When we asked about the crowd, he told us to feed them, then that kid showed up with the fish and suddenly everyone had enough, but this guy – he was born this way. Peter, say something faithful? No? Matthew, you’re the lawyer…John, John, aren’t you his favorite? Uh, y’all…he stopped. Teachable moment? Um, Jesus, why…who…who sinned – this guy or his parents – that he was born blind? I mean, this is clearly a consequence, and God is almighty and just. It’s obviously his parents, right?”
There it is. The implicit bias is that those who are in need are less faithful, less loved, just generally “less than” those who are so clearly blessed with resources, faculties, and the support of those around them. The one who is in need is clearly in need of forgiveness or else it would seem that God is the unjust one. This is the first assumption about God, and about himself, that Jesus challenges in this story, but it’s also the lynchpin of the whole story.
Before we get into that, I’m going to be a little nerdy with you and say that there are some discrepancies in the translation here. The NRSV seems to make it sound like God intended for this man to suffer his whole life just so that Jesus could show off and heal him, which is problematic to say the least. In a more literal translation of the Greek text, Jesus does not actually answer the question of why the man was born blind. He simply says, “Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.”
So, one might say that this man, born blind, was born as a whole person who has been treated as something less than that, and because of that Jesus can demonstrate more clearly through him the thing that none of us can see – the sin that we all share and the new creation that we can become through faith in Christ!
We see this unfold in v 5 as Jesus re-enacts the creation itself by reminding us that he is the light. He is the incarnation of the primordial and generative will of God that there be something more than darkness in the universe! Then Jesus takes dirt and makes mud with his own spit to create life where it was not. He sent the man in v 7 to a pool bearing the name of the action of being sent, so that others might see and believe that their sin might also be forgiven.
As the revelation of the acts of God flowed through his community it confronted those in the temple, who took it out on the man who had been born blind, demonstrating that the presence of sin was not about rule-breaking but instead it was about denying the presence of God in one another and the relationships that God calls us into.
In v. 35 the man is actually driven out of the temple. He is no longer welcome there. The House of God is closed off to him. Can you imagine that feeling? Unfortunately, there are those, even in our community, that know it too well. Unfortunately, there are Christian Pastors and sects that feel it is their duty to cast out those they deem to be morally impure. Unfortunately, the only category of people who have ever asked me if they will be welcomed and loved in a faith community, or just by me as a pastor, are people who are also gay. Unfortunately, the only times that I have personally heard other Christians (who happen to be lighter-skinned) condemn others categorically, apart from those who are gay, it has been those who are not lighter-skinned. Unfortunately, there are people of all persuasions who just don’t feel welcome or who have let conflicts fester and just don’t feel like the church is a place of community for them anymore.
I don’t think that means that Christians are horrible or the church is doomed or that Western Christianity has entirely lost its way. I think it just means that those who follow the way of Jesus need to be like the man who was born blind. When he was asked who Jesus was and what he did, he called him a Prophet – a man of God – and he said, “All I know is that I was blind and now I see.” When they challenged him, he recognized the connection between the acts of Jesus and the power of God alone. No one else makes something out of nothing. Only God can do that.
Then when Jesus asks if he believes in him as the son of God, he says that believes and then he worships. So much more could be said about all of these things, but if you recall, I said that the lynchpin – the thing that holds this story together – is the idea that God’s justice is not retributive and that suffering is not the direct result of sin.
To really understand this, we have to read v39 in light of the experiences of both the man born blind and the Pharisees. 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.’ The judgment of Jesus is not condemnation. It is an invitation. It is a recognition of the sin that separates us and of the consequences of leaving things as they are – in a state of separation. The judgment of Jesus is the invitation to become blinded by the brilliance of the light of Christ so that what we see are the mighty acts of God in one another and the opportunity to be re-created in God’s image as we are sent into the world over and over and over.
Before Jesus, the man was a beggar who was seen as nothing more than a cautionary tale to those in his community. He sat where he sat because that was the place for those who were dependent on charity. Once he could see, he became a clear and present example that charity is not the same as seeing and respecting the basic humanity of a person in need.
The way I see it, true worship of God is not boiled down to a list of dos and don’ts. It is the ability to hear Jesus say, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” and then respond, “Lord, I believe!” as we are sent out into the world.
Certainly, there are moral repercussions for all that we do. Certainly, we are still called to be charitable and to love the Lord our God with all that we have and all that we are and to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves. That starts with seeing ourselves – and one another – not so much as broken vessels but as actual, intentional, and incarnational demonstrations of the presence of God!
As we seek to do that, prophets and critics alike join in the final chorus with Elvis Costello, asking:
Where are the strong?
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony
'Cause each time I feel it slippin' away, just makes me wanna cry
What's so funny 'bout peace, love, and understanding?
To that I say, with God’s help and in the light of Christ, we are strong and trustworthy together. We, the people of God, the Body of Christ, find harmony together because there is absolutely nothing funny about peace, love, and understanding. It is, in fact, what we expect to find and to offer as we draw one another into the spirit's tether of grace, mercy, and redemption.
At least I pray that it may be so with you and that it may be so with me, and to God be the glory now and always. Amen!
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