Welcome & The Season of Lent

We are in the 4th Sunday, if you can believe it, of the season of Lent. Uh, you know, time flies when you're having fun. It also flies when you're fasting, hopefully. And we have a few more days to go to finish out the 40 days of fasting for the season of Lent, and I hope that God has revealed himself to you, as you have spent perhaps some extra time in prayer, in repentance, or penance, and in fasting.

Today, we are continuing in our journey with Jesus through John. We're going to skip ahead several chapters, and discover a new story that is connected in many ways to the two stories that we've read the last two Sundays.

Widening Circles — To Know and Be Known

This year, at Journey, our emphasis, our attentions have been focusing on the concept of widening circles, widening circles, expanding, enlarging our knowledge of God, and God's knowledge of us, to know and be known by God, to know and be known by one another, and to know and to be known by our neighbors.

And I read this quote this week from Richard Rohr, who writes, that the realization is, if I could be fully known and loved and seen for what I am, then all I can do is return the compliment to the rest of reality, and know back the way that I have been known.

God knows us. Not the made up, best foot forward version of ourselves that we portray to others, but knows us, and God loves us. God knows us, and he loves us.

In the deepest and sincere relationships that we have with our spouses, with our family members, the sweet spot is knowing that the person or people in your circle know you. Not the made up versions of yourself or your best foot forward versions of yourself, but the you that is you, that is the most true you, and they know you, and they love you.

And in those relationships, in those circles, in our relationship with God, we learn in response to God's knowledge of us and love of us that we can let go of our defenses. We can let go of our need to be right. We can simply learn to rest and be at peace in the love of God and in the love of those who we are intimately connected with. And in that, we learn the truth of the power of love and how that shapes and forms us in unique ways both in our relationships with people and certainly in our relationship with the Lord.

Marker or Cap — The Sweet Spot of an Evolving Game

One of my favorite memories from when my kids were little is the games that we would make up. Um, I don't want to brag, but I am pretty good at making up games, right? This is a picture of a game that we played one afternoon after dinner. This game, profoundly, is called Marker or Cap.

Marker or cap. And so, we had a marker, and it only made sense to turn it into a game, so we would take the cap, put it on the top of the marker, and another person would take the marker, and they would ride on your forehead, or the cap, and they would ride on your forehead, and it was your job to guess, if it was the cap, or the marker that ran across your cheek, or your forehead. I will tell you that it was never the cap. It was always the marker.

My kids, always, when they make up games, seem to make up games that I always lose, no matter how well I play, and they always win, no matter how poorly they play. But the best games that we have made are not the games where we sit down and we have a council and we figure everything out, and then we go and play the game by those details, but the games that evolve, the games that expand, the games that kind of go as you play them. That's where the sweet spot is.

The Problem with Coloring Inside the Lines

I know this might sound controversial to us, and for those of us who are ultra competitive, I understand the difficulty there. But sometimes we in the church operate as if the word Christian is translated into rigid, rule following, stuffy nopes. Don't do this, don't do that. Don't have too much fun. Button it up. Never let him see you sweat.

As if God made the beautiful, awe inspiring, mysterious, understandable in some ways, but completely baffling in other ways, universe, and said to his followers, don't enjoy it. Like, here is the line, do not cross it. We can think sometimes in the church that the world is where all the fun is and what we do here is just serious business.

But if we read these stories of Jesus interacting with people, some inside the lines, some outside the lines, we see an invitation, for us to learn to color outside of the lines, to trust Jesus where he is leading us into a world that is much more beautiful and mysterious and complex, and perplexing at the same time, than we ever thought.

Now, we certainly need to be wise and we need to be disciplined. One of my go-to sayings is just because you can doesn't mean you should. But often, what we discover is that when we step out of the lines, we see God at work in the most conspicuous of places.

Two Stories, Two Kinds of Yearning

Two weeks ago, we encountered the story of a man named Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a man who lived inside the lines who loved the lines. Nicodemus had stature and favor and respect and wealth in his community because he lived perfectly inside the lines. Yet there was something within him, something churning, some kind of yearning within his soul, that could not be filled in the lines. And so he had to come to Jesus, as the scriptures tell us at night, to see if Jesus had something to say about this yearning within him.

Last week, we talked about a Samaritan woman. Uh, Nicodemus was clearly inside the lines. The Samaritan woman is clearly outside the lines. She is the wrong kind of person from the wrong kind of place doing the wrong kinds of things. And there, too, is a yearning within her, something that is unsettled, something that is empty, that nothing else can fill. And she runs into Jesus in the middle of the day.

And Jesus speaks to her, knowing her, inviting her to know him. Both Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman had been confined to a particular idea about who God is, one firmly entrenching himself inside of who God is, one finding her on the outside of who God is, but nonetheless, being confined to a particular idea. And Jesus invites both of them outside the lines.

Today, we're going to read another story where Jesus invites us beyond our confinements, and to the good story of God and his work in the world.

John 9 — The Man Born Blind

Now, this is a very long story, much longer than what we would normally read on a Sunday morning. So I'm going to sit down today, and I'm going to invite you to embrace your inner child to find that time when you could gather around on your teacher's carpet and sit and just listen to them, read. My voice is probably not as soothing as your 2nd grade teacher's was. But I want to invite you, as I read, to enter into the story, to maybe hear the sounds going on around you, to enter into the ancient world, and the things about it that make it unique from our world, and invite God through the Holy Spirit to speak to us from these words. And as I read it, I probably don't need to tell you this. You've been through this before, but I'm gonna pause and offer a bit of commentary as we work through it.

But John chapter 9 is where we are beginning in verse one. As Jesus went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind.

Now, we didn't get very far before we have our 1st pause. Two things I wanna draw your attention to. Number one, Jesus' disciples are not yet convinced of who he is. How do we know that? We know that because they call him Rabbi. Now, rabbi is a term of respect and endearment. It's a term of submission to authority, similar to what we might say as pastor. It's an office that is respected in his community. But certainly, it is not a proclamation that you are God, right? So they address him as rabbi. And then there's this conversation about, why is this person blind? Was it him who sinned or his parents, that he was born blind? Remember both of those 2 things as we read through this story.

This Happened So the Works of God Might Be Displayed

Neither this man nor his parents sinned, said Jesus, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. God is active in our world. I do not believe that God causes bad things to happen, but I do believe that God is advantageous in the bad, bringing out his good and true promises in the midst of the difficulties. Jesus says, this situation has come so that the good works of God might be displayed.

Verse 4 says, as long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work, while I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Sorry about this next part for our germaphobes amongst us. After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and he put it on the man's eyes. Go, he told them, wash in the pool of Siloam, this word means sent. So the man went, and he washed, and he came home seeing.

His neighbors, and those who had formerly seen him begging, asked, isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg? So they recognize him. This man is a part of their community. They know who he is. They're just trying to figure out what it is that is different about him. Some claimed that he was, others said, no, he only looks like him, but he himself insisted, I am the man. How then were your eyes opened? They asked.

At this point in the story, the man who was born blind, had never seen Jesus. He interacted with Jesus, but he interacted with Jesus while he was still blind. So he went, remember, from where Jesus was to the pool to wash the spit mud off of his face, and has never, at this point, with his eyes, though he can now see, he has never seen Jesus, right? So he replied, the man they called Jesus, made some mud, and he put it on my eyes. He went and told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and I washed, and then I could see.

Could you imagine witnessing this story. Netflix has nothing on what's going on here. Where is this man? They asked him. I don't know. Right? He couldn't have pointed him out in a lineup. If Jesus was standing right in front of him, he would have no clue who Jesus was by his sight.

Faith on Trial — The Pharisees Interrogate

So after this, they brought him to the Pharisees, the man who had been born blind. Now, the day on which Jesus made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore, the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He put mud on my eyes, the man replied, and I washed, and I now see.

Some of the Pharisees said, this man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath. I wonder if Nicodemus is in this group of Pharisees. But others asked, how can a sinner perform such signs? There's dissension in the ranks. They were divided. Then they turned again to the blind man. What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened. The man replied, first Jesus was rabbi, now the man replies, he is a prophet. They still did not believe that he had been born blind, and had received his sight, until they sent for the man's parents.

Now, I want to pause here because this is a word for us at this moment. Remember back to the Old Testament. God explicitly tells the Israelites, what is true faith? And what does he say is true faith. Caring for the orphans, the widows, and the immigrants, right? This man was not an orphan. He was not a widow, he was not an immigrant, but he definitely was a person in need. He was a person who was blind and had no help. He was a beggar. He was on the street begging day after day after day.

And you know, this isn't the city of Dallas with millions of people. This is a small ancient community. You know that these religious leaders had walked by him time and time and time and time and time again. Yet they do not know who he is. Now, that says a lot about them, that they are willing to overlook what God has invited them to, but at the cost of hanging onto their standards, and what they believe is important.

Fear Does Not Lead Anyone Into the Kingdom

So they send for the man's parents. Is this your son? they asked. Is this the one you say who was born blind? How is it that he can now see? Mom and dad say, he is our son. And we know that he was born blind, but how he can see now or who opened his eyes, we do not know, ask him, he is of age, and he will speak for himself.

Now this is a big indictment. His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged Jesus was the Messiah, would be put out of the synagogue. We still have not learned our lessons. Fear, does not motivate us into the kingdom of heaven. That is why his parents said he is of age, ask him.

A 2nd time, they summoned the man who had been born blind. Give glory to God by telling the truth, they said, we know this man is a sinner.

I love this man born blind. I wish we knew his name. He replied, whether he is a sinner or not, I do not know, but the one thing I do know is that I was blind, but now I see.

They asked him, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answered, I have told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?

Then they hurled insults at him and said, you are this fellow's disciple, we are disciples of Moses. We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from.

The Formerly Blind Man Schools the Pharisees

The man answered — and this is the man born blind — now, that is remarkable. You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. Let me educate you on where you draw your lines. You draw your lines, that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. No one has ever heard of a man opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.

This man calls the attention to the religious leaders of his day saying, you know that by your standards, this person who did this thing could not do it if he was not who he says that he was. And their response is, you were steeped in sin at birth, how dare you lecture us? And they threw him out.

Jesus Goes Outside the Lines to Find Him

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out. And when he found him, he said, do you believe in the Son of Man? Remember? The man born blind does not know what Jesus looks like. Who is he, sir? The man asked, tell me so that I might believe in him. Jesus said, you have now seen him, in fact, he is the one speaking with you.

Then the man said — let's say together what he said. Can we go to the next verse there? What did he say? Let's say it together.

Lord, I believe. Remember what the disciples called Jesus — Rabbi. And now here is this man who was born blind, proclaiming Jesus is Lord. He worshiped him.

Jesus said, for judgment, I have come into this world. In the Message translation, it says, I came to bring everything into the clear light of day. So that the blind will see and those who see will become blind. So the Pharisees who were with him, heard him say this and asked, what are we blind to? Jesus said, if you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin. But now that you claim you see your guilt remains.

The rigidness of the Pharisees prevented them from seeing God at work. God did the work within their boundaries, except for, it happened to be on the Sabbath, which, by the way, the Sabbath was a day of rest, but also a day of healing. And so Jesus brings healing on this Sabbath day, and that is the thing that they cannot abide — that this man received his sight on the Sabbath, had to be work, and therefore they could not tolerate it. They were so preoccupied with their rigidness and their rules that there was a miracle that happened in front of them, and it was stifled because their expectations were unmet.

The Pharisees excluded this man, because of their interpretation of sin, Jesus went outside of their lines and found the man, validated him as the one who sees clearly, and renders that the Pharisees are the ones who stand filled with guilt.

Our Legacy as the Church

I think if a lot of people were reading this story who weren't as familiar of it as us — and I'm speaking of the church in general, not specifically here necessarily — but in our legacy as the church, we are often characterized as the Pharisees in this story. We like things in nice and neat categories. We think that the goal is to cross the T's and dot the I's. We love certainty.

But the trouble is that we are not descendants of the Pharisees. The church is descended from the ones who were forgiven and set free, not the ones who deemed themselves righteous enough to judge. In our circles this morning, it was brought up that we should not judge because we do not know. And that's an important truth for us today.

The right man, Nicodemus, visited Jesus at night. Jesus invited him into the light. The wrong woman encountered Jesus in the heat of the day. And she was invited by Jesus into the light. The man born blind was unable to see. He was given sight, and invited into the light.

The one thing that all of these people had in common is that they all met Jesus where they were, and the one thing — from the religious, pious man, to the outside the lines woman, to the man who had no ability to see — the one thing that they all had in common is that they could not after meeting Jesus remain the same.

The Right Question — Do You Trust Jesus as Lord?

Now, we might say, but Jonathan, that's all great, but where is the line? What are the rules? How do we know? And what I would say is, as Jesus said, that is the wrong question. The question is, do we trust Jesus as Lord? And if Jesus is indeed Lord, then we are to follow him into the places that he leads us, and if we will follow him, he will lead us to where he is working oftentimes outside the lines.

Closing Prayer