Sunday, March 2, 2008
John 9:1-5
Senior Pastor
The disciple group traveling with Jesus sees a blind man in the story recounted today for us by John. They ask Jesus who sinned, this man or his parents? The assumption is that physical malady comes from some kind of sinful behavior. But Jesus, rather than answering the question directly, changes the subject, as he often does in Gospel stories. He changes the subject by moving from a question focusing on the physical realm to a discussion about the spiritual realm.
Rather than focusing on the man, he moves the focus to the works of God. Moreover he moves from the works of God to our required response to the works of God. Jesus in other words, not only says wrong question, but wrong focus entirely. He implies wrong theology, i.e., rather than seeing the problems in the world as God’s will, see how God is working to solve problems in the world as the divine will.
Now, I still do not like the theology presented here because, if we take the story literally, it implies the blind man was purposely afflicted by God. I do not believe that God ever afflicts us purposely. But we would do well to also realize that this is a story, like all Bible stories, that is written in a pre-scientific world. They knew nothing of germs or disease, genetics or birth defects. Natural disasters, human frailties, and other unexplainable experiences were often tied to the whims or the purposes of God.
Yet, there is something important for us to see in this story today. I think there is a very important lesson for us to grapple with in our time. It comes when Jesus focuses the disciples on the works of God and extends that into us doing the works of God rather than focusing on the theology.
What might this suggest to us in terms of the focus of the church and of our individual Christian lives? It speaks clearly to me in that the lesson Jesus offers to us is that theology or doctrines are not as important as the work of ministry. That means talking about ministry and having clarity about the things of God is important but actually living out the Christian life is more important. Living the Christian life bridges the gap between differing theologies.
There are groups within the United Methodist Church today that want us to become a doctrinal church in which we all agree to their particular version of Christian theology. We have never been a doctrinal church and I hope we do not become one, but in April the meeting of United Methodist delegates that we have every four years will surely see a debate about that very thing. We are never going to all agree, but that need not be of prime concern if we are engaged in doing the works of God. We can all be involved in doing the work of God.
In verse 4 Jesus makes this strong statement: We must work the works of him who sent me (some translations say who sent us). Then in verse 5 he concludes: As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Then he heals the blind man. The symbolism is clear – the works of God bring light. The works of God bring light and sight and healing and hope and wholeness to other people. And Jesus says to his followers, we must work the works of God.
One of the ways our church multiplies our efforts to do the works of God is through our United Methodist Committee on Relief. Usually when I speak of UMCOR I am telling you about a recent natural disaster, but I want to show you a three minute video about this work dealing with hunger and see if you do not agree that it is in keeping with the teaching of Jesus we are reading about today in John.
(video)
When we serve, when we give, when we demonstrate our caring in some tangible way, we become a part of the work of God, part of the work of spreading the light of Christ to the world. As has been said: There are people in the world so hungry, that God dare not appear to them except in the form of bread. Give us this day our daily bread. We can make that come true for a hungry person today.
Today when we come to the altar rail to receive Holy Communion, we have the opportunity to give to what you heard referred to in the video as One Great Hour of Sharing, which funds the administrative costs of UMCOR. Everything given at the altar rail will be sent in to fund these extraordinary ministries done in the name of Christ. I hope you will give something.
But finally there is more than that. We all have a sphere of influence in our network of relationships, and I think we can do the works of God as we live our lives day to day as well. It may be something as simple as holding the door open for someone struggling to get in or it might be lending a listening ear to one in crisis. It might be taking food to someone experiencing an illness or disability or writing a card to someone that used to sit by you in church but now doesn’t come anymore.
When we do so we are doing the works of light, we are indeed participating in the work of God in the world.
…he moves the focus to the __________ of God.
…to ______ required response to the works of God.
focuses the disciples on the works of God and extends
that
into ____ __________ the works of God.
…doctrines are not as important as the ________ of ministry.
verse 4: We
________ work the works of him who sent me…
verse 5: As long as I am in the world,
I am the __________ of the
world.
…we can do the works of God as we live our lives
day to ______ , as well.
When we do so we are doing the works of light, we are
indeed participating in the work of God in the __________.
Kid’s Question: What did Jesus say we must do in this
passage?