"As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
"Lo, I am with you to the end of the age."
John 9:1-41 is the lectionary text for next Sunday, March 22.
Blindness must be horrible in many ways. It robs one of seeing light, looking upon the beauty of people and the world, avoiding danger and navigating the world easily. I am in awe of folk who do not only survive blindness effectively, but thrive in productive and fulfilling lives for themselves and others in their lives. They are truly inspiring folk!
That said, it is an unloving tendency to blame a person for their own plight. It is equally unloving to search for some reason why those in their lives, particularly their parents, must have "sinned" to invite this as some horrible consequence. It is equally unloving of God to believe that God pushes buttons or pulls strings to "punish" someone directly with such an affliction, particularly unloving of any who claim to follow Jesus in the New Covenant of Agape Love and Grace.
They didn't know better in the 1st Century. People of the New Covenant know better, or at least should know better, unless they have resisted Jesus' New Covenant of Agape and Grace to hold on to some religious practice around purity and holiness, merit or self-righteousness, a practice that I believe is not faithful to God in Jesus. But they are still out there.
"Do not judge." Do not judge because it is not our job. God is judge. Jesus is judge. We are not, and cannot be faithful and assign blame or spiritual consequence without overstepping our limitations, for we are contributors to and subject to the same, imperfect world in which we all must suffer consequences of the imperfection. Looking for blame is to assume that we should look for blame, rather than be compassionate neighbors. Blaming the victims of illness, unfortunate conditions or the devastating conditions we have created in the world such as poverty, marginalization, injustice, inequitable systems, bigotry and intolerance is not faithful to God or Neighbor. Shunning, shaming or ostracizing folk and disenfranchising or marginalizing them because they are different, ill or victims of systemic injustice says more about us than it does about them or the God we claim to follow. It is our sin. It is our blindness to faithfulness in Jesus.
Jesus shed LIGHT on this. Jesus restores to wholeness, completeness and well-being in love. Jesus reconciles peoples and restores community. Jesus shuts down the darkness of judging, marginalization, disenfranchisement, discrimination, intolerance and any notion of self-righteousness or superiority with the LIGHT of the Good News. Jesus' Good News calls us to live Agape Love and Grace, instead of merit based judgment, any false sense of self-righteousness and false notions of superiority that are expressions of darkness. Jesus' Good News calls us to reconcile and restore community, rather than divide and exclude, marginalize and disenfranchise folk.
My prayer, for this part of God's Kingdom, here and now, is that I/we will in the end say,
"One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."
Pastor Jamie
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