Acts of Healing: The Man Born Blind

Acts Of Healing

Lent 4

3-19-23

For Beloved Community and Mountain Community Mennonite Churches

©Vernon K. Rempel, 2023

Lectionary reading from the Revised Common Lectionary:

John 9:1-17 NRSV

As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?”

Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”

I imagine being born blind,

and surviving into adulthood

in the ancient middle-east,

would require a good measure of luck,

and also developing some attitude.

And the poor disciples of Jesus,

for their part, once again

get to play the role of

those people who just don’t get it,

ask the question all Americans

are wanting to know these days:

Who is to blame here?

Republicans or Democrats?

Woke people or reactionaries?

Socialists or anarchists?

Or in this case, parents

or the man himself?

I remember when our children

were little, they used to ask

why some of the other kids

behaved the way they did.

Our stock answer tended to be:

either because of how they’re

being raised or because of their

own decisions – or both.

Jesus’ answer is singularly unsatisfactory.

No one is to blame.

He’s blind so that we can

observe God’s power at work now.

You kind of hope Jesus didn’t mean

the man was born blind

as a God-project to demonstrate power.

We hope Jesus meant,

the point here isn’t blame,

the point is what we’re

going to do about it.

And of course we will want to say,

it’s not always wrong to explore blame,

so that you can see who is actually

dumping the poison into the river,

that sort of thing – like Erin Brockovich:

how did that hexavalent chromium

get into our groundwater?

Jesus blamed a few people

in his travels as well:

the money changers in the temple,

talking about the “yeast of the Pharisees,”

and Herod, and so on.

But focusing on blame

can be a big trap,

and I think Jesus

recognized that:

the pointing of the finger

can often get you nothing,

plus, what do you have going on?

Are you so innocent and pure?

Remember to ask how God

might work, rather than

just sitting around wondering

whose fault stuff is.

Move forward with God,

might be the motto here.

This Lenten season,

we’re talking about “Truth and Reconciliation.”

I spoke about “Truth.”

Jeff worked last week with “Reconciliation.”

This week, it’s healing,

which can be considered

the good result of truth and reconciliation.

The phrase comes from the South African

efforts at overcoming devastating and cruel

years of apartheid by

telling the truth and seeking reconciliation.

This is different than assigning

blame and punishment.

It is an extraordinary accomplishment

that brought healing,

minimized violence –

removed violence by

removing violence,

rather than the attitude of

we just need to incarcerate

or kill the right people

and then we’ll be okay.

To read more, just start

with the Wikipedia article,

which also has a large

biography and many links included.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_and_Reconciliation_Commission_(South_Africa)

Some books to read:

Reconciliation: The Ubuntu Theology of Desmond Tutu, by Michael Jesse Battle and Desmond Tutu

No Future Without Forgiveness, by Desmond Tutu

Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation, by Miroslav Volf

And the many books on restorative justice, including one on race by Fania Davis.

In a culture dedicated to the patterns

of crime and punishment,

we might consider what Jesus meant

by having God’s works

revealed in us.

Do we want to punish?

Or do we want to

do something different and constructive?

You may have noticed the word forgiveness

in the work of Tutu.

We might say that God’s power is

demonstrated in healing

when forgiveness means

untying our hands from the past

through work like truth and reconciliation

or restorative justice,

and then becoming free

to move in the world

the way we want to move.

Otherwise, we tend to lock ourselves

into grievance politics,

which gets us nowhere

except into more stuck places,

and more violence.

However we talk about,

it is pretty plain to see how

Jesus approach chooses

moving with God,

rather than sitting around

talking about blame.

That’s the great wonder:

How do we get to the healing?

How do we get to the

revelation of God’s good works?

Now the plot thickens

in our little story.

Jesus spits and makes mud

to put on the man’s eyes.

I don’t know why we have to

involve saliva, but here we are.

Do you believe in “eternal salivation?”

On the science side,

there are and were many

home remedies that involve

saliva, and if you look, for example,

in the book Gulp by Mary Roach,

you will learn that

saliva actually is a powerful

antiseptic, mucousy though it may be –

this is the gross-out portion

of the sermon –

(I have a joke related to this

that I’ll tell you off-line,

if you ask me to.)

So, having said all that,

it’s not clear people would

have considered it gross

for Jesus to use saliva,

maybe more like your

mother swabbing your

check with a damp finger.

Jesus accompanied this

with a sweet note about

being the light of the world –

do you want to blame someone

or be the light of the world?

The man goes and rinses

per instructions

and now he can see!

People are amazed.

An argument arises over

whether or not it’s the same guy.

And here’s where we start

to get attitude from the man himself.

He stands listening to all this,

and then simply says:

“I am the man” – does he add a “duh”

to the statement?

Does he roll his now-seeing eyes.

I’d be tempted to do so.

Then he has to repeat his story,

and then everyone wants

to know where Jesus is.

Now he just says

“I do not know.”

Like, I’m not in charge

of Jesus. I’m just the guy

that he healed.

Next the religious leaders

get involved – the Pharisees.

They want him to repeat

the story again, which he does.

And then the religious leaders

make their famous judgment:

this can’t be from God,

because he healed on the sabbath.

He restored sight to the blind,

but your worried about

your sabbath rules?!

It’s kind of like that old joke

about the first female pastor

of a church.

The elders have a tradition of

taking the new pastor out fishing

to get better acquainted.

So they duly take her

out on the lake.

But suddenly she says,

doggone it, I forgot my fishing tackle.

And she gets out of the boat,

walks on the water back to the shore

to retrieve her tackle.

One elder turns to the other:

Isn’t it just like a woman

to forget her tackle?

She walked on water!

He healed the man born blind!

Get the narrative here people.

So first of all,

would you rather blame someone

or get on with healing?

And second, would you rather

follow your rules and patterns

or get on with healing?

I think that it is the result

of trying to think creatively

about how to get on with healing,

that we have the powerful processes

of truth and reconciliation

and restorative justice.

This has little in common

with anointing Jesus king

over a heavily and lethally-armed

America.

This has little on common

with putting so many people

in prison that we are one of

the world leaders in imprisonment.

Not to mention that we’re

even willing to make money off of it.

This text eternally and powerfully asks us,

do you want to do what you’re doing,

or do you actually want

to get on with healing?

And we must note that

actually doing healing

may result in lots of awkward,

or angry, or insulting questions.

But it can also allow us to develop

a bit of attitude, a bit of

“light of the world”

joyful exuberance and assertiveness.

“This little light of mine,

I’m going to let it shine”:

for the healing works of God.

It’s kind of like what the poet Billy Collins recently said in noting that he’s glad he is no longer in the politicized classroom: “Right now, people are ready to be offended,” he said. “But I’m always ready to be delighted.”

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/03/20/a-new-york-poet-laureate-in-deepest-darkest-florida

Would we be offended or delighted

by the healing acts of Jesus?

Jesus says it all:

This is about God’s

works being revealed.

And as long as I’m in the world,

I am the light of the world.

Everything else pales

in comparison.

Thanks be to God.

Questions for discussion:

—What do you love most about this story?

—What do you find most puzzling or troubling in the story?

—Do you have any stories of healing: physically, emotionally, spiritually? What do we do when healing doesn’t come?

—Do you have any reflections about “truth and reconciliation” or “restorative justice” processes?

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True Enough: Acts of Truth

True Enough: Acts of Truth

Lent 2

March 5, 2023

For Beloved Community and Mountain Community Mennonite Churches

©Vernon K. Rempel, 2023

Lectionary reading from the Revised Common Lectionary:

John 3:1-10 NRSV

There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”

Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”

Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

A Night Meeting

Our story begins with

two men meeting in the night.

Let us forget that there

Biblical names are

Nicodemus and Jesus.

A dark night,

perhaps the location is a

small room just off of a

Jerusalem street.

The town is full of people

there for the celebration

of the Passover,

the Mardi Gras influx

of population,

more sober, perhaps,

but no less momentous.

Emotions are running high.

It is an existential moment.

Jerusalem!

Held now within the manipulations

of the Herodian dynasty, Herod Antipas,

son of Herod 1 the Great,

a man dedicated to

power and survival,

the ever-toxic mix.

Jerusalem!

All around the land, the Roman laws

were enforced at the

wielded point of a sword.

The venal, average bureaucrat

Pontius Pilate held sway

in Jerusalem lands.

Was he somewhat decent

at times? Yes.

Was he starkly violent often?

Yes.

Jerusalem!

The place of prayer,

of the offerings of the people

to honor their place

as a true people

of one God who brought

them out of enslavement

and into freedom.

Now two men meet in the night.

One is a religious leader,

a Pharisee who seeks

renewal through better

following the Jewish laws.

The other is strange.

On this night, he is perhaps

still sweating from his exertions

in the temple, the place of prayer.

There he burst out in anger,

throwing over the tables

of money-changers.

Doesn’t he love Passover?

Doesn’t he love prayer?

And yet there they sit

on their toadstools,

pulling in money with

greedy hands,

a covetous barrier

to the free prayers of the people.

Now the men meet in the night,

and I think the gospel of John

would have us understand

that truth is at stake.

Truth! In the heart

of the great city of Jerusalem!

The religious leader

calls the strange man “rabbi.”

I imagine them eyeing

each other in the dark,

considering who they

are talking to,

and where this might go.

The religious leader had

seen the signs of power

that everyone had seen

from this strange man,

this teacher who

spoke like no one

had ever spoken (John 7:46)

The strange teacher

was not trusting

the popular response.

Yes, he had turned

water into wine.

He had done other things,

and more was to come.

But he had deep

intuition about people,

an understanding born

of the passion

of his heart for the

great love of God.

He was cautious about

people who were just

impressed with signs of power.

He wanted to see

a change of heart.

He had begun to call it

“being born from above.”

But here sat this religious leader,

taking a risk to meet

the temple table-wrecker,

a hidden meeting in the dark,

but perhaps not with

hidden agenda.

The religious leader says

“rabbi,” possibly a sign of respect,

depending on what is to follow.

He doesn’t ask a question,

but makes the statement

that no one can do what

the strange teacher does

unless they are of God.

And now comes the reply

on which everything depends.

For John would have us

understand that truth itself

is at stake.

And so the strange, sweating

teacher replies:

“Very truly I tell you.”

And will the religious leader

accept that this is truth?

Truth! In the night,

in a city where are met,

as the song goes:

“The hopes and fears

of all the years.”

Truth can sound very strange,

when spoken into the midst

of so much fear and falsehood.

“You must be born from above.”

A puzzled and probing

conversation ensues,

and soon the men are

speaking of eternal life,

and how vast is the love of God.

ChatGPT, etc.

It is widely understood

that we live in an age

of a crisis about truth.

Truth seems to have become

as much of a commodity

as the money-changers

had done with the

prayers of the people.

What does it mean

for the ringing phrase

of Jesus

“Very truly I tell you”

to come into our context?

Interestingly, the Greek word

translated as “very truly”

is “Amēn” or “Amen.”

So we are making the same

gesture when we end our prayers:

“This is true. Amen.”

When we pray,

we are committing

ourselves to truth-telling

“In the presence of God

and these witnesses”

as the saying goes.

But truth-telling is difficult now,

in our age of computers,

and especially artificial intelligence or AI.

AI can trip us up in a hurry

for questions of trust and truth-telling.

We already have all probably

fallen victim to “Autocorrect,”

an early vision of AI.

In fact, when I typed

“Very truly I tell you”

into the my manuscript,

I must have hit something wrong.

I looked up and had:

“Very truly Intell you.”

All of a sudden,

a computer corporate name

intruded into the words of Jesus,

about truth!

But now we have powerful

new AI software:

DALL-E 2 and ChatGPT

DALL-E 2 can make incredible

images that look like paintings,

drawings, or photos.

Or are they? What is the definition?

Here’s a picture of a dog that

New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik

produced using DALL-E 2.

He asked the software to

make a Richard Avedon-style

photo of a Havanese dog.

(Show people a print-out of the result)



Art work by DALL-E 2 / Courtesy OpenAI

(Inspired by the way his aging dog watches him while he works, Gopnik asks the A.I. for “an Avedon portrait of a Havanese,” and the machine produces an uncanny result: “The stark expression, the white background, the implicit anxiety, the intellectual air, the implacable confrontational exchange with the viewer—one could quibble over details, but it is close enough to count.”

—https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/what-can-ai-art-teach-us-about-the-real-thing?)

ChatGPT is another form

of AI that produces written

or spoken text.

After the yet-again-horrific

shootings at Michigan State,

an administrator sent out

a message and at the bottom,

like “sent from my iPhone”

it said “sent using ChatGPT.”

People were upset –

an AI message in answer

to a shooting!

But as Joshua Rothman notes,

if it hadn’t had that tag on it,

no one would have noticed.

There was nothing obviously

wrong with the text of the email.

(https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/political-scene/how-chatgpt-will-strain-a-political-system-in-peril. The Michigan State bit is at 29:04. If you want to hear an example of realistic ChatGPT production, listen to the beginning of the podcast.)

To compound our perplexity

about truth even more,

we live in an age of

rage and polarization.

And understandably,

truth is a casualty

when those forces run wild.

This is a commonplace

of apocalypse movies.

Here come the zombies!

Will decency, or love survive?

Will truth survive?

(Apocalypse movies set in Colorado – The Denver Post:

https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?guid=a986a37b-9ba2-4170-8a90-5301b3c035cc&appcode=DEN371&eguid=098e3031-4af2-4a1c-9a36-7ed3ffea46c5&pnum=92#)

Part of the appeal of a zombie movie,

or a disaster story is

what if all our comforts went away,

how might we survive?

Would there still be love, decency?

Will truth?

In Ghostbusters 2,

when the slime begins to grow

and boil under the streets

of New York City,

we quickly see people

getting more and more grumpy,

rude, and angry.

Soon untrustworthy city leaders

are attempting to manipulate

the truth to protect their positions.

Worse than that,

we have all witnessed in our day

unscrupulous leaders amazingly

just manipulate rage

to get attention and power.

We begin to believe that everything’s

an opinion, that everyone is doing it,

just putting stuff out there,

and truth is itself a fiction.

“What is truth?” –

as Pontius Pilate famously asked,

in response to the prisoner Jesus

saying “I am in this world to testify to the truth.” (John 18:37)

This Is a Place of Truth

For Jesus, as given witness

in the gospel of John,

truth is everything.

We Mennonites come from

a historic tradition of truthfulness.

Becoming truthful in trade,

measures and business dealings

was enough to have you arrested

on suspicion of being an Anabaptist,

in the early days of the moment

that came to be called “Mennonite.”

How may we enact that today?

We must pray together,

speaking the great “Amen,”

the “Very truly” of Jesus.

I think we do well with each other

and with our culture at large

to become like the old rural

railroad crossing signs.

Remember how they looked,

with the two boards making an “X?”

And on the boards were printed

“Stop. Look. Listen”

We may encourage each other

and our culture to

stop, look, and listen.

What are the signs of God’s presence?

Most of all,

how are we living and moving

as those who have been

transformed by God’s vast love,

those who are “born from above.”

Very truly I tell you.

Truth is at stake, as it ever has been.

Amen.

Questions for discussion:

—What do you notice about how Jesus tells the truth?

—What are markers of truth that you look for?

—How confident do you feel about the truthfulness of the world in which you live?

—Where and when do you feel most confident about truth?

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