Lent 4A (John 9:1-41)

It’s a lengthy passage we heard this morning! Let’s break it down using logic to simplify all the words! Below is the Pharisees’ logic of how God (or their dogma) works: 

Premise 1: One who does not follow the law is a sinner. 
Premise 2: God does not listen to a sinner.
Conclusion: Therefore, a sinner cannot and does not do the work of God.

We can see that for the Pharisees keeping the law determines God’s action. God somehow depends on whether one follows the law or not. If we apply these arguments to the case of Jesus and the blind person, based on Premise 1, Jesus who does not follow the law (e.g. breaking the Sabbath law) is a sinner. Based on Premise 2, God does not and cannot listen to Jesus. So, the conclusion is that Jesus could not and did not cure the blind. 

On the contrary, here’s the blind person’s logic of how God works. 

Premise 1: Jesus cured the blind. 
Premise 2: God listens to one who worships God and obeys God’s will.
Conclusion 1: Therefore, God listens to Jesus.
Conclusion 2: Therefore, Jesus worships God and obeys God’s will. 

His logic is strictly empirical since it starts with his first-hand experience of gaining his sight from Jesus (Premise 1). God comes later and is understood only after the experience of healing (Premise 2). This is more of a process of learning about God’s act and discovering God’s grace in one’s lived experiences. Signposts are set up always after one first gets to designation points, not the other way around. Dogmas, which function as signposts, are formulated after God or one’s first-hand experiences with God. 

It’s quite clear how differently the Pharisees and the blind person see Jesus as well as what the Pharisees don’t see and the blind person sees. The Pharisees are blinded by their own rules, creating God in their image. This limits an opportunity for them to experience God in a new way, which becomes harmful in that it also prevents others from experiencing God’s grace in their lives. Not all dogmas are toxic but they can be when they misdirect or distance people from God’s compassion.

We might have some of these misleading signposts about God, the church, others, and ourselves. What are they? During this Lenten season, I would like us to focus on ourselves first as a practice of self-examination. What self-talk or self-image do you have in your mind? These are often so hidden that they only come out when poked. It’s like unhealed scars that burn when touched by hot water or tabasco sauce! You might argue that these scars are not signposts about ourselves. Well, at least these scars tell us something about how we think of ourselves and what we are supposed to be like. This “supposed to be like” can be considered a dogma if we so strongly hold onto that. 

To think outside the box about ourselves and God, we first have to realize we are in a box and see what that box looks like. Jesus shakes up the box that the Pharisees created. In doing so, he shuffles their self-image which is built upon the rules they uphold. The blind person’s box indoctrinated by the Pharisees is shattered and reshaped as he experiences Jesus’ healing. “...though I was blind, now I see.” What does he see? He sees himself in a radically new way that Jesus paves. 

What box do you see and how does Jesus take you out of that box? The first step, I would suggest, to embark on this seeing the box and getting out of it, is to experience deep freedom in the presence of God dwelling within you. As we’re in God’s presence, there’s no box to be stuck in but we instead gain skills to work with the box. Jesus already taught us how to see the box, get out of it, and skillfully work with it. It’s done in spirit and truth. It’s through your breath with unforgetting ardency.