This scripture today is a story with many themes and sub-themes. What I see in this story will probably not surprise you. I see a struggle between two worlds: the world in which we live, and the kingdom of God. And just to be clear, when I talk about the kingdom of God, I don’t mean some other-worldly future existence; I mean a whole new way of living that is possible, starting right now. Think of Disney’s Aladdin, when he sings “A whole new world, a new fantastic point of view.” The kingdom of God is like that. As Jesus says repeatedly, the kingdom of God is now at hand. The kingdom is present within you. God’s whole new world is ready for you. You can start living in it right now.
In today’s scripture, I see the story of a man struggling to find his place – and a community struggling to find its place – in this convergence of two worlds. I see people trying to make sense of it all, trying to figure out just where they belong. It is a universal theme: Who among us has never wondered where we belong, and what is our place in this vast universe God has created? What is our greater purpose?
The story centers on a man who is born blind. In ancient societies, a man born blind didn’t have many options. Unable to work because he could not see, his only choice was to beg. There was no question about where he belonged or what his place in the world was. He was a beggar. That was his place.
Then Jesus and his disciples come along. The disciples see the beggar, and wonder why God would assign him this place: surely it must have been because he – or his parents – sinned.
They should have known better than to think that. It hadn’t been that long since Jesus had stopped the stoning of a woman caught in adultery. He had stopped the execution of that woman by saying, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” There was no one who had not sinned, and thus no one to carry out the execution.
So, no one is perfect. Why, then, was this man born blind? According to Jesus, he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.
I wonder if this whole story might not be a metaphor, or even a parable. I have no doubt that Jesus was capable of healing, or that he in fact did heal; but I think there is something even bigger going on here. After all, this blind man isn’t the only person to have ever felt stuck in one place…
To quote another Disney musical, it is Belle who sings, “I want much more than this provincial town.” Or what about Ariel, the little mermaid: she, too, feels trapped in her place in the world. She wants to find the place where she belongs; a place that, as it turns out, is in a whole new world. Same with Hercules, whose anthem actually includes the line, “I’ll find where I belong;” that’s what they all want: to find their place in the world.
I’m sure the blind beggar felt that there was somewhere he belonged, that there was some greater purpose for his life. If only he wasn’t stuck where he was. If only he could break free, somehow.
Are you feeling the connection with the man born blind? Because I think just about everyone, at some point, feels the way this blind man felt. I think we all have wondered where we belong. I think we’ve all wanted to do something big, something heroic, something that would make us worthy of the life God has given us. And I think we have all experienced those times when we felt trapped, unable to break free from the chains that bind us, from the forces that hold us back, from our own limitations. If only we weren’t held back, why, we could do something great.
That is how the blind beggar felt.
Then Jesus comes along, his fairy godmother, his genie, his sea-witch, all wrapped up in one. Jesus takes away the blindness. He removes the limitation that held this man back. He sets him free to do the work that God calls him to do, to fulfill that greater purpose, to find where he belongs, to experience a whole new world. In other words, Jesus makes it possible for him to live in the kingdom of God.
And that’s what Jesus does for you. Jesus makes it possible for you to live in the whole new world that awaits. His love shows you the way, if you will only follow him.
Not too long ago, we here at BKCC read through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, which – I think – works to open our eyes to that whole new world more than any other passage of scripture. We learned that this whole new world is a world of blessing, but because it is a whole new world, those blessings do not come in the ways we are often told they come.
Instead of coming to us through force or violence, blessings come to those who work for peace. Instead of coming to those who seek to overpower their enemies, blessings come to those who work to transform their enemies with love. Instead of coming to those who are spiritually rich – convinced they have all the right answers – blessings come to the poor in spirit, those who recognize that God is much more than we are capable of understanding. Instead of coming to those who long for the best this world has to offer, blessings come to those who hunger and thirst for equality and justice for all of God’s children.
So Jesus blessed the man born blind. He opened his eyes to a whole new world. He allowed him to find a place where he belongs. He showed him his place in God’s kingdom. And then he … disappeared.
And the formerly blind man: did he then live happily ever after? Well, no. Because this is not a fairy tale. And Jesus isn’t actually a genie or a fairy godmother who is there to serve our will. Just because you find where you belong, just because your eyes have been opened to a whole new way of living… this does not mean that you will now have a life of ease. Indeed, in the kingdom of God, we are filled with the love of God, the same love that Jesus lived by; and look where that got him.
A part of me wishes I could tell you that entering this new life, living in this new world, this new kingdom, would bring an end to pain, suffering, poverty, restless nights, and turbulent days. But that is not the case.
When the formerly blind man went to take his place in the world, to begin living his new life, there was, right away, a controversy. When he started living in the kingdom, there was conflict.
First, there is a debate among his neighbors about whether or not he was the same person who used to sit and beg. I suppose one could argue that, now that he had a whole new life, that he was not the same person, and yet he assured them that he is, in fact, the man who used to be blind and who used to sit and beg.
Then they brought him to the temple authorities. It appears that they were not entirely comfortable with his leaving the place the world assigned to him, breaking free from that place and finding a new life to live. The temple authorities likewise were unsettled, especially since his healing had taken place on the Sabbath. They began arguing among themselves about whether this healer was from God, since he could heal, or if he was a sinner, since he had worked on the Sabbath.
They interrogated the formerly blind man some more. At this point he may have been thinking it would have been easier if he had just stayed in his old place, sitting and begging.
Then they brought his parents into it, and began questioning them. But the parents recognized that their son’s whole new life was causing quite a few problems for him, and they didn’t want anything to do with it. They didn’t want to sacrifice the place they had in the world for something new, and so they didn’t want to get involved. “Don’t ask us,” they said. “He’s an adult, he can speak for himself.”
So the interrogation of the formerly blind man continued. The authorities tried to get him to say that Jesus was a sinner, but he replied: “I don’t know whether he’s a sinner or not. All I know is that I once was blind, but now, I see.”
Well, eventually the authorities drove him out. No longer could he be among them.
Thus we have the struggle between two worlds that I mentioned at the beginning of the sermon. Those who hold tightly to the things of this world find it very hard to step into the new world proclaimed by Jesus. Those whose lives are built upon worldly wealth and possessions, those whose lives are intertwined with the systems of authority and influence in this world find it very hard to move to the place that has been prepared for them in the kingdom of God.
Likewise, those who do accept their place in the kingdom of God, those who find where they belong, those who discover the greater purpose God has for them: they discover that the systems of this world are often hostile toward them. History provides plenty of examples: Gandhi. Martin Luther King. Nelson Mandela. Oscar Romero. Greg Mortenson. Father Greg Boyle. All of them discovered their place in the world. All of them had their eyes opened to the new world, the new kingdom, of God. All of them felt that their life was complete, whole, only when they were working on behalf of that kingdom.
And all of them experienced the world’s hostility.
And yet, none of them wished to return to a life of blindness. None of them wished to return to their former places, because even though those former places were free from the hostility and persecution of the world, there they were not complete. There, they were not whole. There, they were not fully alive.
Each of them was forced to carry their own cross, and yet they felt the blessings of God, because they knew that, God, through Jesus, shared in their struggle. Through Jesus, God experienced persecution. Through Jesus, God experienced the cross.
It was only after they found where they belonged, after they began doing the work to which God called them, that they felt whole and complete. It was only when they struggled and faced hostility and made their lives into a living sacrifice that they truly felt the blessings of God.
God’s desire is that you live a life of wholeness. God’s desire is that your life be complete. There is no better way to live, no greater abundance than that, no matter how hostile some may be; because when your eyes are opened, you see the place where you belong.
And if finding your place in God’s whole new world means carrying your cross, entering into controversy as the man born blind did, just remember what follows the cross: new life. Resurrection.
What the world rejects, God affirms. Having our eyes opened so that we can find our place, the place we belong, in God’s kingdom may threaten the established ways and institutions of this world, but it is pleasing in God’s sight. Those whose eyes are opened find their place in the world. They receive new life.
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