Siege

I don't have a lot to say today.  Lent is challenging enough when we give thing up of our own choosing.  Well there is something difficult about not knowing how things will work out.  Ends
do not justify means.  How things finish is important as how thing start.

We like to think in our daily lives that we know how things will end.  Most days with sleep and we rise to face a new day.  We are confronted by the problems of the world and in most cases we work hard to avoid common pitfalls.  We see people stuck in different situations.  I have been stuck in a number of difficult situations.  What they all had in common was the people outside of difficulties.  The world went on around us.

Well the only one outside of this situation we currently face is God.  This is a truly unique time on this planet.  Everyone is going through the same thing.  We see how we are really together and actually in a small place.

Thing about sieges you have to construct a new model of living.  You have to be content with things that you can not know.  How will this all end.  How will I go on tomorrow.  I will go on tomorrow this I know.  Now as a person of faith you recognize the similarities of a faith journey in general.

One thing about being in a siege is you will recognize the next time you find yourself in one.  I don't know how people lived years without electricity, but I know they never lost their love for electricity.  Now in this time of Lent we are being shown what little control we truly have.

On the positive side we are doing something new.  In the entire history of mankind there has been only one response to pandemic and that is death and kaos.  In 1918, they didn't even really understand what it was that was killing them.  It did not matter that they did not know why death had come they had learned faith in death.

Here today we are doing something or trying to do nothing to reduce death.  We have choose kaos instead of death.  We didn't really know we could make that decision.  We can.  We can believe what we do not see.

Our scripture today comes from the ninth chapter of John, well is the ninth chapter of John:


Healing the Man Born Blind

9 While He was passing by, He noticed a man [who had been] blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi (Teacher), who [a]sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but it was so that the works of God might be displayed and illustrated in him. 4 We must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world [giving guidance through My word and works].” 6 When He had said this, He spat on the ground and made mud with His saliva, and He spread the mud [like an ointment] on the man’s eyes. 7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of [b]Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. 8 So the neighbors, and those who used to know him as a beggar, said, “Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is he.” Still others said, “No, but he looks like him.” But he kept saying, “I am the man.” 10 So they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?” 11 He replied, “The Man called Jesus made mud and smeared it on my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received my sight!” 12 They asked him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.”
Controversy over the Man

13 Then they brought the man who was formerly blind to the Pharisees. 14 Now it was on a Sabbath day that Jesus made the mud and opened the man’s eyes. 15 So the Pharisees asked him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He smeared mud on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.” 16 Then some of the Pharisees said, “This Man [Jesus] is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner (a non-observant Jew) do such signs and miracles?” So there was a difference of opinion among them. 17 Accordingly they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” And he said, “[It must be that] He is a [c]prophet!”

18 However, the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the man’s parents. 19 They asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but as to how he now sees, we do not know; or who has opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him [and stop asking us]; [d]he is of age, he will speak for himself and give his own account of it.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of [the leaders of] the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged Jesus to be the Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue (excommunicated). 23 Because of this his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

24 So a second time they called the man who had been [born] blind, and said to him, “Give God glory and praise [for your sight]! We know this Man [Jesus] is a sinner [separated from God].” 25 Then he answered, “I do not know whether He is a sinner [separated from God]; but one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 So they said to him, “What did He [actually] do to you? How did He open your eyes?” 27 He answered, “I already told you and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again and again? Do you want to become His disciples, too?” 28 And [at that remark] they stormed at him and jeered, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! 29 We know [for certain] that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this Man, we do not know where He is from.” 30 The man replied, “Well, this is astonishing! You do not know where He comes from, and yet He opened my eyes! 31 We know [according to your tradition] that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone fears God and does His will, He hears him. 32 Since the [e]beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 If this Man were not from God, He would not be able to do anything [like this because God would not hear His prayer].” 34 They answered him, “You were [f]born entirely in sins [from head to foot], and you [presume to] teach us?” Then they threw him out [of the synagogue].
Jesus Affirms His Deity

35 Jesus heard that they had [g]put him out [of the synagogue], and finding him, He asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “Who is He, Sir? Tell me so that I may believe in Him.” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and [in fact] He is the one who is talking with you.” 38 And he said, “Lord, I believe [in You and Your word]!” And he worshiped Him [with reverence and awe]. 39 Then Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment [to separate those who believe in Me from those who reject Me—to declare judgment on those who choose to be separated from God], so that the sightless would see, and those who see would become blind.” 40 Some Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind [to spiritual things], you would have no sin [and would not be blamed for your unbelief]; but since you claim to have [spiritual] sight, [you have no excuse so] your sin and guilt remain.

So this to me as Jesus often does, puts things on their head.  I was blind but now I see becomes more than a celebration.  It is a coming of age story.  Now how does this comfort us today.  Well we are not necessarily together to be comforted, but I take wonder why it was that Jesus healed on that sabbath.  The man had been blind since birth.  Jesus was in no hurry up till this point to heal, but he was doing what was his nature teaching and healing.  He was being himself and had found a teachable moment.  For his disciples that day, for the pharisees, and for us.

Great teachers never miss those moments.  It is how you know that they are great.  Jesus shows great love for those closest to us but he shows great love to be sure to those far from him.

"Are we Blind?"  In so many ways the answer is yes.  Blind to what the world has been doing for so long.  Well the world has our attentions.  Perhaps it is finally time to stop:

[How often we write false thinking into custom, what a tyrant habit can become. When people do the same thing long enough it becomes tradition, and we pass it on from father to son as an accepted rule of life. Behind us are generations in which men held certain notions and followed certain behavior patterns, and walked so long in the same crooked paths that they inspired us to walk in those crooked paths, too, until now we have not only our own sin to conquer, but the sins of our ancestors as well. Call it heredity, call it original sin, call it anything you like it is there. Some one has said that every man is an omnibus in which all his ancestors are riding. This is why so many of our notions are false out dated and wrong.
But Jesus challenged custom! He never regarded any custom as sacred simply because it had been handed down from father to son, or because it had been accepted because of long use. He walked up to many a custom made sacred by tradition and challenged it. Recall to mind how many times Jesus began his talks with people by saying, "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time---but I say---" It was as though he was saying, "What if men of old walked a crooked path? It need not be so with you. Suppose man has always answered violence with violence, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth it need not be so for you. Suppose man always has measured his importance by counting his servants, and sought greatness for himself by lording it over lesser men. This is false thinking handed down, and it need not be so among you."

You say the risk is great? Of course it is! That is what the cross was--a great risk, with the odds terribly against it.]

excerpt from http://wfmsermons.blogspot.com/2009/12/

Nottingham March 22, 2020 Conference Call