Bible Text: John 9:1-12 | Preacher: Rev. Jenn Geddes | < >
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Devotional:
I received a criticism about last week’s devotional and that was, that they were disappointed that I didn’t do a children’s story. So, I thought I would combine the two in today’s devotional.
When I was a kid we used to spend a lot of time outside- literally playing in the dirt. And one of my favourite things to do was to make mud pies! All you needed was some dirt (today I am using brownie mix), water and pie plate. Oh, how simple things were back when I was young. We would mix the dirt and water into a pie pan and then “serve” it to the neighbourhood kids. Of course- in general eating dirt is a bad idea. I know that the BC health officer has told us to spend time outside but I’m not recommending that you go out and make mud pies and try to serve them to your neighbours. But you know, in today’s Scripture passage Jesus is playing in the dirt. He sees a blind man, gathers some dirt and spits on it to make mud. He makes mud pies and places them on the man’s eyes. Again, I can not stress enough that we must NOT spit on dirt and put it on someone’s eyes- DO NOT SPIT on people period, now or ever. However, Jesus was able to do this because this is Jesus we’re talking about and he was able to do something miraculous with his mud pies. Once the blind man washed the mud from his eyes- he could see!
But, that’s what makes Jesus so incredibly special. Jesus can do all kinds of miracles like this. He can turn something dirty like a mud pie and turn it into something amazing like helping a man to see. Often in the children stories I encourage us to be more like Jesus, be kind, be thoughtful, be faithful but in this story we are more like the mud pies. We aren’t perfect, we sin, we make mistakes, like the Samaritan woman from last week, we are “morally messy”. But Jesus’ touch can turn mud pies like us into miracles.
It is by being touched by Jesus that we can do pretty amazing things. In this passage, Jesus states that he is the “light of the world” and then demonstrates how he is able to provide literal light to a man who has been living in physical darkness. This passage is a little complicated because it begins with the disciples asking if the man was born blind due to sin. But you know, by asking the question about who sinned to make this man blind the disciples are also sinning in that, instead of treating this man as a human being they are treating him like a riddle. It is Jesus, who treats this man as a person. In fact, when the neighbours see that this man now has sight, their true colours are revealed because most of them did not acknowledge this man’s humanity-only seeing him as a blind beggar, they don’t even recognize him. Darkness has many forms in this story. Practical theologian Dale P. Andrews points out that while this man is physically blind, figurative darkness “rears its head in this discussion in the form of sin. The power of sin is that it enslaves a person for life.” If we were to read further into this story, as I hope we do in the near future, we would discover that by giving this man sight the religious leaders go spiritually blind.
Jesus saw this man’s need and knew how he could respond. Right now the idea of reaching out and touching- let alone spitting- on someone is not the appropriate response. Yet, we often have selective sight when it comes to the needs around us. What are we blind to, particularly in this strange time of self-isolation and social distancing? Just because we can not be together physically does not mean we should ignore one another. Think of the ways you can reach out-perhaps figuratively- to your neighbours, friends, and church family.
In this story Jesus is walking with his disciples slow enough that he notices what is going on. He is not only ready to respond to a question from the disciples about this man but to respond to the person in need. Covid-19 has caused our busy schedules to come to a halt and yet are we going at a slow enough pace to listen to people and to respond to their needs?
On line there are various prayers being shared to help us pray for the appropriate response in this pandemic. For example, Cameron Wiggins Bellm writes, “May we who are merely inconvenienced remember those whose lives are at stake. May we who have no risk factors remember those most vulnerable… May we who have to cancel our trips remember those who have no safe place to go… As fear grips our community let us choose love during this time.”
Jesus has touched all of our lives and given us the ability to find peace, joy and love and to be resourceful. Our job as a community of faith right now is to bring peace to a world that is panicking. We need to pray for the light of Christ to heal our blindness so that we can see where and how we can help. Amen