Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year A

Saturday morning we had two dozen folks here edging and weeding, collecting trash, emptying cupboards and cabinets and pulling out ruined carpet. Others were putting an extra measure of spit and polish on the sanctuary or washing cars in the parking lot. It was messy and grubby work, and while no one would mistake what we were doing for art, it was holy.

We were creating, re-making and re-forming the spaces where our community gathers,
and at the end of the day, we could look around and say,
“It is good.”

Like yesterday, the events in today’s Gospel recall “the creative and restoring power of God.”[i]

Jesus is back in Jerusalem where he encounters a man who was born blind. When the Evangelist tells us how Jesus put some mud and spittle on the man’s eyes, we hear echoes of the creation story where God scooped up the dirt and formed the first living person, °¹d¹m , and breathed life into him.[ii]

The gospel goes on to say that, after their meeting, the man obediently goes and washes in the water at the pool of Siloam which means “the one who has been sent.” The translation of the pool’s name is included in case we don’t remember that, “in John’s Gospel, Jesus is the one who was sent by [God.]”[iii]

With his play on words, the Evangelist makes it clear that the man who was born blind now is healed by washing in the living water that flows from Jesus himself.[iv]

There is something else familiar in this scene, too. Sacraments are where an ordinary element is joined with God’s command and promise, or benefit. In the sacrament of Holy Baptism, the ordinary element of water is joined with God’s command[v] and the promise that “You are a child of God, sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.” [vi]

Meeting Jesus for the first time, this man experiences baptism in Christ, and “with [his] eyes remade, now his way of seeing [and] of understanding… is … born anew.”[vii]

When the story begins, he simply describes Jesus by his name (v.11); later, he says he is a prophet (v. 17), and then he recognizes that he is “from God” (v. 33) and finally we hear his confession, “Lord, I believe.” (v. 38) God is revealed to the man in the person of Jesus in the restoration, healing and transformation he experiences.

This man lived in a different kind of darkness from
the cover of night that Nicodemus used when he went to see Jesus,
or the hidden-ness of the Samaritan woman who chose to visit a well when no one else would be there, but each of them were living in darkness and did not know God until they encountered Jesus.

Throughout John’s gospel, seeing and hearing are about believing in, or knowing Jesus, about being in a relationship with God.

Baptized in Christ, the scales from our eyes are washed away,
that we may see God and know God’s promises for us.

Martin Luther emphasizes how baptism is a precious and inexpressible treasure that God has given us, a treasure that depends on the Word and commandment of God.[viii] In his Small Catechism, Luther asks how ordinary water can deliver all the benefits of baptism – the forgiveness of sins, redemption from death and the devil, and salvation.

Calling baptism “a grace-filled water of life” and a “bath of the new birth in the Holy Spirit” Luther reminds us that, water – the most ordinary of elements - is made holy when it is placed in the setting of God’s Word and command. It is God’s gift and action for us that is transformational.

Finally, the gospel story reminds us that we are received into Christian community through baptism. The man’s community – the Pharisees and even his parents struggle with welcoming him; they are more concerned about why he had been born blind and who was responsible, who had sinned or failed. They were more interested in defining sin and assigning blame than dispensing grace, but over and against their example, we are encouraged to see others as Jesus sees them, whole and healed, restored and reconciled.

Let us pray….[ix]
Merciful God who created us in the diversity of your holy image, we pray that we may experience the world through your vision. We pray to see your holy image in every living being we encounter. We pray that if there is something impeding how we encounter your grace and mercy in the world, that it may fall away. Help us to understand that there are multiple ways to encounter the fullness of your love in the world, and it is in that fullness we continue to profess your grace and love.
Amen.

[i] Interpreter’s Bible.
[ii] Genesis 2:7 NRSV
[iii] Raymond Brown. The Gospel According to John. 381.
[iv] ibid
[v] Matthew 28:19 NRSV
[vi] Small Catechism, 79.
[vii] “John.” Feasting on the Gospels.
[viii] Large Catechism, Book of Concord, 463.
[ix] Faith Lens, http://blogs.elca.org/faithlens/