Year A - Fourth Sunday of Lent, March 19, 2023
Now I See
To honor our Illuminating Trinity: God, Savior, Spirit. Amen.
“One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
I enjoy a Korean legal drama series called Extraordinary Attorney Woo. The main character – Attorney Woo Young-Woo – is fresh from law school, studious, has Autism Spectrum Disorder, and was sheltered by her father. Add these up to a brilliant lawyer who is uncomfortably straight forward with clients and an awkwardly innocent woman without guile.
On a recent episode, Attorney Woo struggles with discerning if a client and the client’s employees are lying. Over and over she is presented this conundrum, each time an interesting camera effect is used: our view is obscured and it’s difficult to see her. Though Attorney Woo is blinded, the viewer is the one whose vision is unclear.
They flip the scene on people like me who are neurologically typical. I’m in on the deceit by other characters, but it is the neurologically divergent character with Autism who has clear sight: Attorney Woo always knows what is true.
I wonder how well the director knows today’s gospel? In this rich narrative we meet a man born into this world without eyesight who has the clearest vision of anyone else in this tale. Like the TV show, the gospel’s author flips the script.
We often focus on the miracle which causes a stir in Jerusalem. We would certainly have a media circus in Omaha, if a man born blind was seen begging in the morning and then walking around fully-sighted after washing his face. It’s outrageous. The miracle, though, is not the astonishing part of the story.
It is the man’s wise clarity and everyone else’s foolish denial of revelation. The man born blind didn’t ask to be healed. According to the story, Jesus’ act was as much a surprise to him as to any of the by-standers. He is undisturbed, though, he washes his face, as directed, comes away able to see and testifies with simplicity.
There are so many reasons for this man to be shushed, to back down, just go along with the powerful group of Pharisees and his parents. There is no motivation for his uncomfortable forthrightness except his integrity. Despite physical blindness, he possessed spiritual insight.
Like little David, the last son of Jesse, this man was an afterthought. He is the beggar barely recognized as human, the son who brought his parents shame, the citizen who is so unimportant his miracle is dismissed. Their interrogation is meant only to discredit Jesus.
But the man is not swayed. Unlike other characters, he speaks in simple sentences stating facts: He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” When asked about Jesus’ identity, he replies without hesitation, “He is a prophet.” As the questioning becomes more aggressive, the man insists on the facts he has presented, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
Finally, in the perfect moment of flipping the script on us, the man born blind, who was a beggar on the road, who was viewed as genetically sinful becomes the expert witness to spiritual truth: “Here is an astonishing thing!” he shouts to the Pharisees, “ ‘You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.’…And they drove him out.” (John 9:30-33)
What happens next? Jesus hears he has been rejected and seeks him out. We knew this was coming because just before Jesus spread mud across the man’s eyes he explained, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:5) And that light drives away darkness, even spiritual darkness of fearful, rigid belief which rejects revelation beyond an accepted reality.
So, the Light of the World illuminates this man’s spiritual insight, religious experts drive him out of the faith community, what happens next?
Jesus invites him into relationship. Just as he did with Nicodemus seeking the light under cover of night, just as he did with the Samaritan woman whose life was hidden until Jesus revealed it, Christ meets the healed man’s curiosity with an explanation. Jesus doesn’t rebuke any of these seekers because they have questions, rather he welcomes them because they are open to the answers. Even when the answer is a miracle!
“Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him.” (John 9:35-38)
Question everything, look for revelation, and believe Christ will grant you wisdom, even through miracles. Amen.
Dean Vanessa Clark+