We Know in Part
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We Know in Part
April 3, 2011
by Rev. Carl Grosse
Thank you for the applause. I probably would not get it at the end of my sermon. The text this morning comes from the Gospel of John, Chapter 9. It is a story of a blind man who was healed by Jesus, and we read: (John 9:1-12)
As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. “Teacher,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it a result of his own sins or those of his parents?”
“It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “He was born blind so the power of God could be seen in him. All of us must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent me, because there is little time left before the night falls and all work comes to an end. But while I am still here in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and smoothed the mud over the blind man’s eyes. He told him, “Go wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing!
His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, “Is this the same man, that beggar?” Some said he was, and others said, “No, but he sure looks like him!”
And the beggar kept saying, “I am the same man!”
They asked, “Who healed you? What happened?”
He told them, “The man they call Jesus made mud and smoothed it over my eyes and told me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash the mud.’ I went, I washed, and now I can see!”
“Where is he now?” they asked.
“I don’t know,” he replied.
Here ends the reading. Thanks be to God!
So that you know a little bit more about the person up here speaking to you; that bit about being a minister member of the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area is a nice way of saying I am an unemployed pastor. I don’t currently serve a congregation full time, although I did for about twenty years. Right now my full time job is an account manager with a data services company in Eagan. That pays the bills and keeps me off the streets and, more or less, out of trouble. I still count it a great privilege to come and share God’s word with every opportunity that God allows me and I am grateful for Pastor Buck and for you folks here to let me have that opportunity today.
Paul writes, in 1 Corinthians, 13, that wonderful love chapter, that this part of our journey, all of us here on this earth, when it comes to knowing ultimate truth and knowing everything we would like to know,
it is as though we see through a glass dimly; but there will come a time when we shall face-to-face. Now we know only in part; but there will come a time when we will know, even we are known.
I find it frustrating to only know in part. I don’t like not knowing. I don’t like gaps. I don’t like being out of the loop. It has caused me trouble many times. I get into stuff I probably shouldn’t. I know bits and pieces of this and that that take up a lot of space in the attic upstairs that I could easily do without. It can be difficult when we don’t know what we wish we did. There is a temptation to fill in the blanks, to make things up, to stretch past where we should probably go, to embellish the truth that we do know. It is especially a temptation in the pastor business and the religion business. We really are uncomfortable saying, “I don’t know.” We are supposed to know. We are regarded as people who should know things about God and life and all the stuff that really matters to people. I have gotten myself in trouble there many times. And I love this unnamed blind man who reminds me to just stick with what you do know, don’t worry about what you don’t know. There is enough in what you do know.
Mark Twain is said to have remarked one time, “It is not the parts of the Bible I don’t understand that bother me; it is the parts that I do understand.” In our story this morning we have a blind man who is healed by Jesus. Now, blindness, particularly in the gospel of John, is literal. This man was physically blind and was miraculously healed by Jesus. But we do know that throughout the Scriptures, and particularly in John, blindness serves as a metaphor. It is a symbol of not knowing God. It is a powerful symbol. Anybody who is either blind or has been temporarily blind, did you ever get the dilated pupils when you visit the eye doctor or things like that, or some of you have been in caves or environments where it was pitch black and it is tough. You really have a hard time functioning in that environment. It is a powerful symbol of not knowing God and the struggles that that ignorance presents. In particular for John, it means an inability to recognize Jesus for who he really is. Blindness throughout the gospel of John indicates an inability to recognize Jesus for who he is.
It is something that can only be cured by an act of God. In Jesus’ day healing from blindness was miraculous. In our day we have wonderful progress in the technology of medicine but there is still a great deal that medicine cannot fix. In Jesus’ day in particular, healing from that was really regarded as an act of God. The same is true in spiritual blindness. The same is true. That blindness and inability to know God or recognize Jesus for who he is can only be cured by God.
For example, you may recall Jesus asking his disciples in Matthew 16, “Who do people say that I am?” And they responded, “Well, some say Elijah, some say Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” And Jesus said, “O.K. I know that, but let me ask you particularly, who do you think I am?” And Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” And how does Jesus respond? “You are blessed Peter, and know that that is not something that any human being could come up with. That is something my Father has revealed to you.” Peter’s vision was a gift that God gave him.
Contrast that with a story in the book of Acts. There is a famous magician called Simon, who watches Peter and the other disciples do these awesome tricks, you know it is great stuff. He realizes in Vegas he could be a huge hit if he could do that stuff. So he goes to Peter and says, “Hey, I got an idea. I will pay you whatever you want if you give me that same power.” He didn’t offer him a cut, you know, and maybe that is what set Peter off. I don’t know. But Peter said, “You are totally off here. This is not anything that can be bought or sold or manipulated that way. This is the power of God; and because you are so selfish about it, you will be blind, as a demonstration of how ignorant you really are about this power and the source of this power. It will be a statement to others lest they try to manipulate this power of God, as well.”
This is the first work of God, healing the blindness that prevents us from knowing him and knowing Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God and our Savior and Lord.
As you will note in the little story we shared, that word work shows up quite a bit; particularly depending on the translation you have. Work is repeated many, many times, even in the little snippet we read this morning. Jesus said “This man is blind, not because he sinned or his parents sinned, but that the work of God might be revealed in him.” And he says, “We must also work the work of God while it is still light because night is coming. So let’s work…” That word work just shows up a lot. I apologize, it is Sunday, we shouldn’t be thinking about work, which also plays into this story later on. But that is the first and foremost work of God, to heal the blindness that keeps us from knowing him and knowing Jesus. But what is the work that we are to do? What is that work that Jesus told his disciples they should be doing while he was still with them? There has to be some common ground there. We have to have a comparable job description to be able to carry out what Jesus assumes we need to carry out. I really don’t like not having a clear job description. I deal with it regularly in my weekday work. It is a growing company, things are changing, and not a lot is well documented or processes are not spelled out very well and defined. There is a lot of the seat of the pants kind of work. There is a little bit of adrenaline and excitement in that but mostly it is frustrating. I don’t like it. …Sort of like being an elder.
There are a couple of clues the scriptures give us. I want to draw your attention to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. In our passage this morning in John, Chapter 9, Jesus calls himself “the light of the world.” In Matthew 5, Jesus turns that around and says, “You are the light of the world.” People don’t light a lamp and put a basket over it; but they put it out on a stand so that it gives light and people can see. “Therefore, let your works be seen so that God may be glorified.” We get a hint of what this work is in that passage. Do your works so that others can see it and glorify your Father in heaven.
Well, the rest of the Sermon on the Mount describes the nature of that work. Jesus comments on classic pieces of the Torah, the Old Testament law, the Ten Commandments. It indicates that there is more than just the letter of that law, there is more than just compliance involved in working the work of God. It is not enough just to not kill people. That is not really doing the work of God. It’s good—don’t get me wrong there—I don’t want to encourage anything other than compliance with the letter of the law there; but there is more to it. Hating people is contrary to working the work of God. You need to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. That is part of what it means to do the work of God. It is not enough just to not commit adultery. Again mere compliance with the letter of the law falls short of working the work of God. Something inside of you needs to want to comply and go beyond that and honor relationships, understand where the boundaries are that God has set in place. And, not only willing and joyfully maintain those boundaries and honor those relationships, but serve as a model for others and encourage that in others. And on and on and on Jesus gives examples of going beyond just complying with the letter of the law and joyfully following God’s heart for how we live in our day-to-day life and in our religious activities.
The work of God is to live in a way that demonstrates we are not groping around, fumbling around, blind by our own sense of right and wrong, figuring it out as we go. Rather, we are to live in a way that demonstrates we are following “the light of the world.” We can see. We know where we are going. We may not know everything, but we know enough. We know enough to not be stumbling around and making it up as we go.
This is emphasized by the blind man:
You know, I am not going to speculate about Sabbath rules and how this happened or anything like that; I really don’t know a lot of these questions you are asking me later on in the story. I really don’t know. Here is what I know. This guy Jesus made some spit and mud; put it on my eyes; told me to wash in the pool of Siloam. I did. I can see. You know all this other stuff you are grilling me about, you guys figure it out. What I know is enough for me.
And later on Jesus finds him again and says, “Hey, how’s it going?” The guy says, “You are trouble, Jesus.” In the end the man recognizes him, recognizes Jesus, as the Messiah, the Christ that Steve read for us from Colossians, and worshiped him. And that’s enough, that’s fine. I can work with that. I can do what I need to do with that. That will keep me busy for a good long time.
One of my favorite, favorite role models is kind of an obscure saint, Richard of Chichester. He lived in the early thirteenth century; that is, the early 1200’s. He was really well known for encouraging clergy, especially, and church leaders to really clean up their act. Back in those days, you know, clergy, even if you were not married, it was still O.K. to have a mistress or a concubine, you know, after all I am a guy… That is how you had children of popes and bishops and stuff like that. There was drinking and abuse of wealth. There were all kinds of stuff that was going on among the clergy. Richard really knew that that was contrary to following “the light of the world.” He developed policies and procedures and job descriptions for clergy that really encouraged them to be examples for others, about living in a way that glorified God. He got into trouble now and then, particularly with King Henry III and some others and a couple of popes and archbishops; but he really was regarded as a man of integrity who honored God and very selflessly devoted his life to serving the Lord and serving others. It is said that on his death bed he prayed this prayer:
Thanks be to thee, my lord, Jesus Christ,
For all the benefits that thou hast given me;
For all the pains and insults thou hast borne for me.
O, most merciful redeemer, friend and brother,
May I know thee more clearly;
Love thee more dearly;
And follow thee more nearly.
May God heal our blindness so that we may know where we are going and follow the light of the world. Amen.