None So Blind

John 9:1-41

I was watching a video recently of amazing young people who were doing amazing things with very little. Missing a limb or two they skied the wild slopes, rap danced with a precision many with all their limbs could not, played competition basketball and scored goals or produced tricks on a skateboard at the skateboard park. The last young man was born bind and started skate boarding at 7 and skates everyday. I can’t even stand up on a skateboard yet this young man does stunning tricks and manoeuvres with out the ability to see. When he falls off he spends time feeling the floor of the skate park and familiarising himself with the space. He then goes and attempts the trick again.

 

On a recent episode of the Landscape Painter of the Year a finalist painted stunning landscapes with his feet. Born without hands he has develop a particular practice which allows him to create art many of us who have all our limbs would be jealous of.

 

On another level I am amazed at the number of pets born with legs or sight go on to live amazing lives. We may say they are not aware of their situation but a long look will tell you they are, but they have learnt to run, jump, play and love with out the need for their full complement of limbs and faculties and bring joy and love into the world.

 

Today we meet a man born bind who has been begging all his life. He encounters Jesus and Jesus responds and heals him, giving him something he has never had at any point in his life.  This raises many questions and we could spend time unpacking the impact on the young man now he can see. What does he do? How does he live? All he has ever done is beg. He has no work skills, no ability to earn a living yet he has lost the only capacity he had to earn a living, his blindness.

We could spend time unpacking the impact of forcing people off disability pensions and into the work force with out them ever being given the necessary skills to actually engage. We could explore the impact of forcing a western materialist consumer culture on people who have for many thousands of years lived a completely different life in tune and in touch with the world they occupy, taking only what they need when they needed it. Instead we force our way of being blind on others with the certainty that we see everything.

 

The little ditty, there are None so Blind as they who do not see, is the point of Jesus and the young man’s reaction from his neighbours, his family and the religious elites. These are people who know, who see and are certain that how they see is the only way to see. They have a body of knowledge, of learning that is proven, factual and definable. The have a body of knowledge for which there are proof texts, case studies, evidence and they are not to be deterred by an actual event which defies any of these.

 

They are certain of their truth and try and convince the young man he is deluded, or that he has been faking it all these years, or that he is just making it up. According to the tomes on their shelves and the traditions they have inherited what he says simply couldn’t have happened.

 

Thic Nat Hanh, the Budhist teacher refers to this as the mind of discrimination. We discriminate on what we think and we make others experiences, lives or faith less than ours because that is simply not how we see it. It is this mind of discrimination, of this not that, of this over that, that causes the pain we experience in this world because we are unable to hold ourselves open to the incredible range of possibilities yet unexperienced by us or others.

 

In this story, Jesus reminds us bluntly that those who are certain they see do not. You can not see if you do not hold with in you at the same time the possibility that there is more, that what you see isn’t all there is and that you can and will be surprised by happenings and events you never imagined. Those who are certain have constructed, not a temple of wisdom and knowledge, but a stone tomb in which they are trapped and where they will suffocate for the lack of seeing.

 

An encounter with Jesus only comes to those who are willing to see, to be surprised enough to catch a glimpse of God scurrying between the trees of knowledge, information and certainty; of God slipping in out of chaos, violence and tragedy; of God plugging away in the ordinary tasks of being human. It is the seeing of God striding across the desert, floating on the breeze or plunging into the deeps of the oceans. We limit God if we only look for God in what others or we say we know, no matter how enlightened or wise they or we may be. We miss God at work in the smile of the broken hearted, the cheeky eyes of the children in refugee camps or in the playfulness of adults who are fighting addiction. We miss God when we have already decided how God works. That is the mind of discrimination and it is the mind John’s Jesus confronts in this story.

 

The blind man suffers the type of stereotyping any one who suffers from any kind of debilitating illness experiences. If you have a longterm chronic physical or mental illness you are discarded to begging on the side of the road of life. You are overlooked for jobs and promotions, excluded from social activities and events even by friends and family, you are presumed to be malingering or at least playing the victim. We see that in the policies of successive governments toward welfare in this country. It is seen not as a means to improve the life of those who are unable to do so for themselves but as something of begrudging necessity we shouldn’t have to do. This is the mind of discrimination. 

 

Jesus seeks out the young man and asks him clearly what does he now see – what is his world view? Does he see within the restricted worldview of all who seek to discriminate against him or others, or has he seen the darkness piercing light of God in the midst of the world’s blindness. He answers in the affirmative – he has seen God. 

 

It is time for the church and for us to stand with all those who do not fit into the body of knowledge possessed by those who believe they see but are blind. It is time to look to catch a glimpse of God in the midst of the issues we face individually and as an institution. It is time to let go of certainty, the mind of discrimination and face the damage from the past by such as the treatment of indigenous peoples, of child abuse by members of the church, of the treatment of women, the exclusion of the LGBTI community and more, and begin to see the beauty of uncertainty and surprise, of God loitering with intent in our midst.

 

Unless we do we will continue to exclude just as the elite did in this story. 

9 to 1

Luke 17:11-19

 

Standing in the old section of the Burwood Cemetery we were surrounded by the graves of young children, many of whom were under the age of 12. The two teenagers with us were intrigued as to why this was the case. We explained that 3 or more generations ago people died young of diseases we no longer see as fatal – measles, chicken pox, colds, appendicitis and more. Also those who lived didn’t enjoy the same preferred position in families as they do to day. Education above primary school was rare and the idea of a career of their choice simply not on the agenda.

 

For these two young men, this story was both foreign and outside of their experience. What they took for granted simply wasn’t available to those young people whose headstones dotted the immediate surrounds. It was for them, and possibly is for some of us, almost impossible to imagine a world different to theirs/our experience. As a result we can fall into the trap of taking what we have now as always being the way it was.

 

We take life, our life for granted and when something happens contrary we become anxious and angry that our expectations are not met. Our life has become narcissistic to the point that we cannot imagine it being any other way than it is now. If it is out of balance we seek to regain the life we are used to without being grateful when we do.

 

This little pericope of Jesus is not so much about gratitude but about the expectation of entitlement, taking life for granted. 10 people encounter Jesus. All 10 are sick and have an illness described here as leprosy. It may not have been leprosy in the strict definition, but because of a skin ailment their lives were out of balance. The normal life function of relationships, work and religious practice was not available to them. They were outcasts, marginalised by their illnesses and seeking to find a way to become participants, once again, in the normal activities of life.

 

They meet Jesus, and are healed. Jesus sends them on their way, 9 keep going, only one stops, turns around and says thanks. It is here that Jesus pronounces, ““Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” Now this raises some interesting questions. We are told that all are healed, but only this one is made well, what does that mean? Is gratitude evidence of something more than healng the physical illness? Is wellness different or deeper than the physical cleansing? Is faith more than simply wanting something good to happen, is it about depth, deep speaking unto deep, where we glean the truth that something more is at work here than physical healing?

 

Many years ago, when I attended AA, I used to notice that there were at least two groups of people at meetings, those for whom the joy of life had returned in soberiety and those who, while sober, still moaned about how difficult it was each day. The latter would stand at every meeting they attended and go on and on about how hard it was to be sober, the temptations, the difficulties and then lapse into a protracted sense of martyrdom for continuing to remain sober. Somehow we were to applaud their stoicism in the face of great strife.

 

An old AA man would say, “Any one can get sober, only a few master sobriety.” A very wise statement reflected in our story today. Any one can get healed, only a few master the art of living well. The Samaritan begins the journey by stopping, turning around and recognising the hope he has received.

 

The other 9 took it all for granted. Life went on with their ego self at the centre of all things; the only difference was they no longer had the skin disease. Had anything really changed for them? Were they convinced that this was their right and finally all had returned to the way it always was before they got sick?

 

The Samaritan’s faith made him well. Jesus distinguishes between the 9 and the 1 by recognising the 1’s faith, a faith that was only activated when he stopped, took stock, turned around and recognised the source of his healing. Faith here refers to a conviction that results in reflection and metanoia, a complete about face or change in direction. The 9 were healed by God’s grace; the 1 was made well by his awareness of the mystery lying at the centre of his experience of Jesus.

 

Wellness is more than healing, and sometimes, is present when there is no healing. People are well when they recognise the joy and hope of life in the midst of illness, tragedy and loss. People are well when they retain their balance and embrace challenges, opportunities and possibilities despite the lack of healing or closure. People are well when they are able to grasp the mystery of creation in all things they encounter.

 

This is a story about great hope hidden in the everyday we take for granted. Like the 9, we are so busy going on, we miss the gems staring us in the face. As my father would say if we couldn’t see or find something; “If it had been a snake it would have bitten you”. In other words we miss the bleeding obvious in search of the more we not ready to receive. The 9 were excited to be normal that they forget to receive fully what they had been given.

 

How easy it is for us to do this in our lives. Materially we live in a world full of extraordinary experiences we take for granted. We have possessions, experiences, opportunities people of past generations could never have imagined, yet we act as if that is the way it has always been. We expect the stuff we have without a thought of gratitude. We take for granted stuff people in 2/3’rds of the world have never had – fresh water, accommodation, regular meals, work and access to health services. We get upset when the Internet is down, winds blow over power poles and the freeway is blocked because we take it for granted we can get our way with life. We become one of the 9 and fail to recognise just how blessed we are.

 

Spiritually human beings have made themselves the centre of the Good News, more so, we as individuals have made ourselves the unique project of the incarnation and the resurrection. Somehow that story is all about us and we take it for granted that we have God on speed dial, that God only has eyes for us. Modern individualism makes us sure of our place in God’s plan that we get upset when things don’t go our way. Why has this happened? Why me? What have I done? We walk away with the 9 unaware that there is more at work here than meets the cursory glance. Spiritually we are challenged to stop, reflect and turn around, embracing the unknown just below the surface.

 

Until we do we will continue to walk in the footsteps of the 9. Amen. 

Becoming Clean

Mark 5:21-43

As a child I used to accompany my father on his daily rounds on the farm. One of he tasks I remember was poisoning rabbits and foxes using 1080 and strychnine. We would lay baits and mix the ingredients without the use of protective clothing, not even gloves. When it came to lunchtime, a splash of water on the hands and a wipe on the back of the jeans was all we did before we gobble down our sandwiches.

 

No-one died. At least not my dad, my brother or myself. The pigs, foxes and rabbits did not fare so well.

 

Our modern world is very different. Cleanliness has indeed become to mean something akin to godliness, or at least scientifically defined human-li-ness.  Washing hands, disinfecting every available surface, avoiding contact with anything that may contain the faintest layer of germs is of paramount importance. So much so that we are almost too clean.

 

Our desire to be clean has given rise to resistant strains of bacteria and bugs that fail to respond to accepted methods of treatment. Hospitals, nursing homes and other medical facilities are battling what are called superbugs. People go into what are expected to be clean environments and finding themselves the victims of bugs and germs causing great pain and discomfort.

 

In a world attuned to change and adaptation, the created world always finds a way around the intervention of man. Edward Teller has written an excellent book called, “Why Things Bite Back – New Technology and the Revenge Effect” dealing with the questions such as  ‘Why after all the advances made in medicines are there deadlier diseases around than ever?; Why do new roads lead to bigger traffic jams?; Why does every major technological advance lead to paradoxical, unforeseen and unintended consequences? He cites studies showing that with every great advance there is a corresponding revenge effect: pest-control which spreads pests, exercise which diminishes fitness, cleanliness protocols which spread germs.

 

Interestingly, for the Christian church, it’s efforts in education, for example, has improved the education levels across society, producing well educated people with astute critical thinking capacities who have ‘abandoned’ the church. The result of helping people to think for themselves has been that they have, and in doing so have found alternative world views to that which we have, in the past, offered them.  

 

In the natural world, what we experience is the contamination of the clean by the unclean, the good by the bad, the healthy by the unhealthy.  That was the reason for the cleanliness laws in the synagogue cult. In the Old Testament “clean” and “unclean” refer to whatever makes a person, animal, or object acceptable or unacceptable to God. For example, a person became unclean by eating certain foods, touching certain objects, and having certain kinds of diseases or bodily discharges.

 

These laws, when strictly applied, ensure that some people were periodically unacceptable to God (women for example) and others were permanently unclean because of their occupation (shepherds for example) or because of illnesses (such as lepers). Others who touched them or a dead person were also deemed to be unclean.

Joe Sprinkle notes that “The rationale for these laws is never clearly spelled out, but several explanations probably have some validity, including hygiene, the need to dissociate oneself from disgusting or pagan things, various other ethical lessons, the association of Yahweh with life and wholeness rather than death or disorder, the separation of worship from expressions of sexuality, and the need for Israel to be separated from the Gentiles.”

Being unclean refers to the relationship between people or things and God. In some ways it may be like someone telling another, "Don't touch me!" There is something about the relationship that is estranged. Unclean things and people were estranged from God and each other. They weren't supposed to touch each other.

In some ways their view of unclean things is like our saying, "One bad apple spoils the whole bunch." Contact with one of these unclean things made you an unclean person. There is some truth to this. If you hang around someone with a contagious disease, you are likely to end up with the same sickness. If you hang around with the wrong group of people, their bad influence may "spoil" you. There are some good reasons to stay away from certain people and things.[3]

In Mark 5 Jesus touches the unclean. In the passage read to day Jesus touches two such people. John Petty notes that "Mark does not explicitly mention violations of the "purity code," but there are two of them in this reading. First, the woman with the haemorrhage touched Jesus, rending him unclean. Second, Jesus touched the dead young woman, which also would have rendered him unclean."

 

An interesting thing happens, Jesus is not contaminated by their uncleanliness. In fact, he takes that on and replaces it with cleanliness, the cleanliness of being in relationship with God. Jesus infers by his comments not to tell anyone, that the miracle is the restoration of their place in God’s economy, something that had only been lost by implication of the law, not by truth of God’s creative compassion.

 

James R. Edwards (The Gospel According to Mark) writes about these three: "All three characters in Mark 5 transfer their uncleanness to Jesus, and to each Jesus bestows the cleansing wholeness of God. Mark 5 might be called the 'St. Jude chapter' (the saint of hopeless causes), for the Gerasene demoniac, the menstruating woman, and Jairus each find hope in Jesus when all human hopes are exhausted." (p. 161)

 

Jesus mixes everything up. Jesus doesn't become unclean by contact with the unclean people. They don't bring him down to their level. Jesus' holiness transforms their uncleanness. Jesus acts in a way which puts the world at rights. He is prophetic. His words and actions speaks into the world a message of inclusion and power which overcomes the hardwired view of the world - unclean triumphs of the clean.

What an amazing insight! What must that have looked like for those watching! How very different it is from our natural perception and from our treatment of those who are different to us due to age, gender, health, ability, ethnicity and station in life.  Who do we accept and why do not accept them? Is there still in our thinking a sense of the clean and unclean, of the acceptable and the unacceptable, of the normal and the abnormal?

Do we look at people with suspicion, somehow certain that to engage with them may mean that we will become contaminated by whatever separates us, whatever that maybe? Or have we found through our relationship with God through Christ the enlightened freedom of cleanliness allowing us to engage with others in ways that help them to accept that freedom for themselves?

Thomas Merton writes, “Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy (in light of Mark, whether or not they are unclean). That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody's business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbours worthy.” Jesus exemplifies this unconditional compassion is an environment focussed on religious and societal laws of exclusion, equal to the Nope, Nope, Nope of Tony Abbott, IS or the American gun lobby.

If we are one with God through our relationship with Jesus, then there is no room in our thinking for such a stand against anyone who wishes to enter this place, to share our precinct, to be a part of our community on the basis that they are not worthy or they are unclean. That is not for us to say. We are but to love them as we are asked to do.

 

In the aftermath of the Charleston shooting, we have been witnesses to this kind of love in action. The victims of the shooting welcomed the young man into their circle. He was affected by their love despite carrying out the crime. The relatives of the victims and their fellow church members have expressed forgiveness to him and returned to open the doors and worship.

 

They have remained uncontaminated by his actions and offered him a way back. That is love, that is the love we have seen in Jesus and that is the love were are required to live in our own lives, the love of taking into ourselves the brokenness of others in such a way that we make it possible for them to reconnect with the kingdom of God. Amen.

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