4 LENT, YEAR A

SERMON PREACHED AT CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, NORWAY, MAINE

THE REV. ANNE G. STANLEY

2 MARCH 2008

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1 Samuel 16:1-13; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41

Two Sundays ago we heard the story of Nicodemas, the Jewish religious leader. Last week it was the woman, the Samaritan, the foreigner with no name. Today it’s a blind beggar that we see (no pun). Jesus reveals himself to each of these characters.  Nicodemas went to Jesus at night, the Samaritan woman spoke to Jesus at high Noon, the man born blind just happened to be there along the road as Jesus passed by.  Nicodemas was known as a good Pharisee, the Samaritan woman was known as a low-life woman and a half-breed, the blind man was recognized by all as having been punished by blindness for his sin (or was it the sins of his parents?). Three different characters, three different settings. But one outcome: Jesus was revealed to each of them.

The most interesting and important part of today’s story of the blind beggar comes after his healing, during all the bickering among the witnesses over what it was that healed the man. Was it the water, the mud, the spit, the touch? It couldn’t have been a man from God who did this thing, since he did it on the Sabbath, and no man from God would work on the Sabbath!  And how could a sinner have performed this miraculous sign? It must have been God alone who did it. Some commentators say, tongue in cheek perhaps, that this is the moment when denominationalism started, each person interpreting the event differently, as in “My spin is right, it was the water that healed”…or “No, no, it was the spit”….or “This man couldn’t have healed the blind man, since God works only through those who obey the rules.”  They were divided, the story says.

But the Pharisees were united in one thing--their confidence in what they believed.  They knew those basics, each was sure of the rules and facts of their faith. Did you notice how many times in this story they said “I know, we know?”  “We know that this man is a sinner…..We know that God has spoken to Moses, not through this man…We know you were born entirely in sins; how come you’re trying to teach us?” The Pharisees had religious certainty.

Nicodemas was a different sort of Pharisee; he went to Jesus with questions, remember? The Samaritan woman was full of questions, too. The man born blind also had questions, even after he had received his sight, even after he had been healed, even after he boldly proclaimed to the Pharisees that the healer was a man from God, even after he had come to know that his blindness had not been a sign of sin. Even after all of that, still the healed beggar had some left-over questions. For when Jesus asked him privately, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” the beggar asked, “Who is he, Sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” The beggar in this story was clear about NOT knowing everything for certain. His eyes had been opened, HE was open, yet he still had questions.

And that’s the point, isn’t it? He was open and had questions. His openness allowed him to ask and to receive answers. One of the insights (again, no pun) of this story is this: that know-it-alls who are certain of the rules and dogma of faith are often more blind than the blind folk who ask questions. That those who think they are blind and don’t know anything are the ones who see and that those who are sure they see are blind. The sin of smugness and certainty blinds us. As somebody once said, “Stop being so good and start being a Christian!”

Some at Christ Church have been following the taped series on the New Testament, lectures given by Bart Ehrman, biblical scholar and professor and chair of the religious studies department at UNC at Chapel Hill. They are wonderful, brilliant lessons, and we have been amazed at his scholarship. Professor Ehrman has been to seminary, two of them. He was raised an evangelical, became an Episcopalian. He has asked many, many questions, honest, deep faith questions. Of late the question of theodicy has pestered him. Theodicy: How can a God who is good and all-powerful allow suffering? Why do bad things happen to good people? Professor Ehrman’s questions led him first to wonder if there really is a God, at all and recently to think that there most likely is no God. That’s where he is now in his journey. Who knows where his questions will lead him next. Bart Ehrman  is an agnostic, meaning that he doesn’t know for sure, and admits it.  How different from the all-knowing Pharisees, who knew exactly what they knew! But who were blind to any sort of newness of faith, to any disruption of their own safe beliefs.

Lent is a season which invites us to examine ourselves, who we are, our relationship to God and to each other, to pay attention to Jesus and his journey to the Cross ….and to be unafraid to ask questions---of God, of each other. Lent is a time to open ourselves to the possibility of growing in our faith, to listen to scripture and to our experiences in new ways, even when that might mean casting off some old understanding, some belief that is no longer adequate for us.  Lent is a time of invitation, calling us to join with Nicodemas, the Samaritan woman and the sighted beggar and all those who dared to open up and receive Jesus into their lives. Even Bart Ehrman is in this parade. Who knows, but God, where his questions will lead him next?