Sermon Lent 4, 2020 Part 2

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I have heard and seen news about over-buying and hoarding – where few take much and leave very little for others in need.  Hmmm.  As I read the way I just put it, I realize that statement encompasses way more than the current crisis.  It reflects the way our economic society has operated.  There is a bit of reflection needed on that – but we will save it for another time.

I have also heard and seen many instances of aid and compassion.  It was a simple statement of aid and caring from a parishioner this week that led to seeing where help might be needed on a larger scale and a plan implemented to meet that possible need. 

For each of us the world is as as we choose to see it.  It appears differently to each person.  And we feed how we choose to see it with our choices.  In recent times we have been better equipped to feed ourselves with the news and visions we want and ignore anything that might challenge our perceptions.

We see a bit of this going on in the gospel today.  Jesus heals a man who was blind from birth.  Wow!  If this were someone at St. Mary’s or St. Thomas’ I would call for a major celebration.  At the very least, I would ask to hold a moment of thanksgiving during our worship time.

That isn’t exactly the reaction of the religious leaders of the day.  Their own blindness is on display for all to see.  The real sightedness of the man goes beyond the restoration of his eyes.  The leaders are not able to see God at work in the world.  The man’s encounter with Jesus leaves him with the ability to see God’s presence in and work through Jesus.

Maybe his time as a beggar also helped with that ability - that time of darkness when he had to rely on the work of God in the world – God working through the compassion of others.  The time of darkness that gave him the ability to see differently, to be more aware of what was happening around him, to perceive the world differently.

Ironic when you consider that it should have been the sighted leaders who could see for themselves the signs and works of God in the person of Jesus.  Instead, these learned men are given a lesson from one for whom they appear to have little respect.  Eventually, they even kick him out because they can’t accept that which challenges their narrow thinking.

Oh my, and isn’t that what we have been doing with each other.  Casting people out for various reasons because they challenge what we want to believe is true.  For a number of years now we have been closing ourselves off from more and more people – especially those who are not like us, those who challenge how we want to perceive the world.  We have closed ourselves off from how God is working through way more people than we can imagine – people different from us, people who don’t think like us, people who don’t look like us, people who don’t live like us, people who have ideas that challenge our comfort.  We have done our best to avoid or even block them physically and mentally.  We have closed ourselves off from seeing how God might be working through them, how God may be reaching out to teach us through their presence and their words.

I guess maybe we had that luxury back then.  We could afford to distance ourselves from others.  But having a luxury is not always what is best for us.

Now, I want to be clear.  I in no way believe that God created this virus to punish us or whatever.  The God I worship just does not do things like that.  I know there are people out there who worship a god like that.  I do not believe that god is the one true and living God. 

However, I do believe that God works through crisis like this, darkness like this for the good of all.  After all, God worked through the worst humans could throw out – death by crucifixion – to bring life and lasting transformation.

God is present and working through this.  God is bringing healing, God is active in the lives of people.  The Spirit is moving in and amongst us prompting us to reach out and to care.

There is so much irony in this.  Through social distancing we are closer than ever.  Having to be physically separate from each other has taught us the value of being present with all people – not just the ones who think and look like us.  It is teaching us to look at people and not focus on negative or perceived negative but to see God in them prompting us to live our lives as Christians should – caring for all.  It is helping us open ourselves to the gifts of self from unexpected people.

It is like this crisis is leaning down and spitting in the dirt, creating a mud that, when applied, is helping the scales to fall from our eyes.

Oh yes, I wish it were a total miracle.  Unfortunately, I am not that idealistic.  I still see the blind posts on social media from those who refuse to see beyond their narrow perspective.  But more and more I am seeing from all people posts and actions that reflect caring and reflection as to who we are as a society.  More and more, I see posts that expand relationship rather than narrow it.  There are still some things at which I cringe.  But from those same people I see things that show how caring they are as well.

I had a conversation with someone.  In that conversation two visions of how we come out of this crisis as a society were presented.  One was that we would have learned even more how to close ourselves off from physical relationships and communicate and interact only at a distance through social media and the internet.  The other was that we would come out of this knowing even more strongly the importance of face to face relationships and that this would change the way we use social media. 

The direction in which society was heading prior to the Covid-19 crisis was one of isolation and alienation.  I believe God is working through this crisis to bring about a re-check of this trend.  Through actual isolation, God is helping us learn about the importance of relationships with all people.  God is guiding us to understand more fully that each of us is here for the other, regardless of our differences.

Through this, political, economic, religious and social boundaries, etc. are being challenged.  The virus makes no distinction between all these.  The virus is not just going after a certain group of people.  Through this we are also learning not to make those distinctions.  We weep equally for the people of Italy, as we do for the people of China, as we do for the people of Iran as we do for ourselves.

I am struck by this interchange between Jesus and his disciples.

“His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"  Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him.”

Once again, I do not believe that God caused the man to be born blind.  However, I do believe that the blindness was an opportunity for all to see God at work.  I don’t believe our current situation is caused by God.  I do believe it is an opportunity for us all to see more clearly, more fully, the work of God in the world around us – often in ways that challenge our previous understandings of who people are and how we should be in relationship with them.

We have a choice when we come out the other side of this pandemic.  We can try to go back to living our lives as we use to.  But it won’t succeed.  I am reminded by what I read from a very beautiful and wise woman as she journeyed through cancer.  When her year of treatment was up she wrote something like this – I thought, at the beginning of this, that when all was over I would pick up the threads of my life and everything would go back to what I knew was normal.  I was wrong.  This year has changed and marked me.  I can never go back.

This time will change and mark us.  As much as we may want to go back, we won’t be able to.  I want to leave us with a vision from scripture.  It is Jacob wrestling with the angel (this has come up frequently in my life and reading lately).  Jacob wrestles all night long.  In the end, he demands and receives a blessing.  But he is marked permanently for all time in the process.  I feel that this is the other choice for us.  As we struggle through this we can demand and receive blessing through opening our eyes to God’s work and God’s will for the world.  But we will be marked in the blessing.  Our lives will change.  We know not what waits for us on the other side of this.  However, the blessing God gives us as we struggle, the very sign of that blessing is what will help us as we chart a new life for ourselves – a life where we are more aware of God’s presence, a life where we are more aware of God’s plan for the Kingdom, a life where we are more aware of our role in that plan.