But every now and then in John I find passages whose clear prose and deft characterisation speak authentically and vividly of real people, real situations, real emotion. At such moments John truly transcends the scratchings of the late first century; he transcends the centuries of scribal copying; he transcends the best, least-fumbling translations of biblical renditionists.
Today, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we have one such moment, in the story Tradition has labelled “The Man Born Blind”.
It’s a highly-instructive piece packed with themes and theology, all worthy of investigation, but the centre-piece is the characteristic and powerful Johannine image of light, used here to break open the theological notion of spiritual blindness.
In other words, today through John, backed up by the first book of the prophet Samuel and the letter to the Christian community based in Ephesus, we are invited to consider how clearly we “see” and understand the workings of the Living God and our own role and purpose within God’s world and work.
The story of the anointing of the shepherd-boy, David, as king of Judah in 1 Samuel reminds us of God’s inscrutable ways:
But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.
This is the very stuff of authentic spiritual experience, the ability to see beyond the mundane and commonplace to discover God’s involvement in every aspect of Creation. More than that, God is not only involved but engaged in Creation and for us human beings God does not ignore or abandon any part of the world, least of the human part. Put aside the former notions of the separation of sacred and profane!
But in order to understand this divine involvement and engagement we need to see with God’s eyes, we need to be healed of a certain spiritual blindness we learn from the moment we begin to sense our world in our mothers’ wombs, where the miraculously-empirical is apparently our first introduction to the world we are destined to inhabit.
Seeing with God’s eyes may seem impossible or even arrogant – and the reality is most likely that we only ever see partially or momentarily, in blinding glimpses we call epiphanies – but we can train minds and hearts to unfold the natural order of our soul.
It is no different from any prolonged period of training or exercise. No one becomes a mechanic without spending years beneath a car bonnet. Brain surgeons study for years. Our athletes train, often beyond ordinary limits, for hours per day and years per lifetime.
The common factor in every skill is our own desire and willingness to apply ourselves to the task. I have mentioned many times the primary tools in our journey towards divine sight, spiritual maturity, call it what we will: Prayer; Worship; Bible reading and study; Fellowship; and Ministry.
All five go together. All five legitimately call us to engagement because all five offer different ways of understanding God and our individual and corporate journey with and towards God. We cannot advance very far on that journey without making a conscious decision to attend to all these aspects of our spiritual lives.
In the world of popular music the best guitarists invoke the cliché of playing and practising “till they’re fingers bled”. In other words, they work at their art.
In matters of the spirit our invitation is equally simple: to pray, worship, study, “fellowship” and minister till our very souls are bleeding!
This is how we move from spiritual blindness to divine sight.
Note well, however, that I am not suggesting in any way, shape or form that we EVER undertake this journey on our own, in our own power or strength. We ALWAYS journey with God, in Jesus, inspired by the Holy Spirit. Should we find ourselves alone, perhaps wandering the streets disconsolate and traumatised after the statute-driven authorities browbeat, bully and brutalise us, we have this assurance: that, like the man in John’s story today, Jesus himself will hear of it, seek us out and strengthen our faith and resolve.
But with the promise of Jesus’ care also comes a warning. Just as we must attend to our spiritual health, we can also become willfully blind. Divine sight is not simply about seeing the presence of God in ordinary or even ugly things. It’s very much about CHOOSING a particular path, a particular direction. We can just as easily choose to ignore God – and remain blind.
Equally, divine sight is not just about experiencing a fantabulous spiritual rush. God does nothing gratuitously and Jesus calls us to do all things with the Living God in our hearts. Our seeking spiritual maturity is not the stuff of a feelgood movie but an essential part of God’s work here in Westfield and elsewhere.
As the Ephesian correspondence reminds us,
For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light - for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.
Notice what the writer sez: NOT that we were IN darkness and are now IN light. One we WERE darkness, but now in Jesus we ARE light.
The Living God places an enormous responsibility on our shoulders, within our hearts. We ARE light. We are light for our suburb. We are light for every single person we shall ever meet, in every single place we shall go. We have a responsibility to ensure that our light remains sharp, clear, focussed. And we play our part in that by connection with the Living God through … prayer, worship, study, fellowship, ministry.
In a sense we are all and always born blind. With an appropriate sense of unworthiness and awe we realise that God gains not only from noticing us but also from hunkering down to trudge alongside us, watching the mud sluice away from our eyes, particle by particle, until we – like Jesus himself – radiate light for all who remain in darkness.
May our journey long continue!
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