But Now I See

But Now I See

3/13/2022 Bay Exodus 20:1-12 John 1:1-17

Do you remember the emotions you went through with the coming birth of your child or grandchild or niece or nephew. I can still remember how the moment after our daughter Samantha was born, I wanted to send out her picture out all over the world.

That was long before cell phones and texting. I found some little photo booth that took pictures instantly and got them copied and to the post office l as quickly as I could. I was just so excited.

I want you to take a journey back in time with me to the first century, near Jerusalem at the time of Jesus Christ. Jesus himself could have been in Mary’s womb at the time this was all taking place.

It all starts out great. The parents are so excited. The nine months are nearly over. The mother finally goes into labor. What are they going to name this child? Will it be a boy or a girl?

The news comes from the midwife, you have a son. The word spreads through the community. There is great rejoicing. The father has the son he has been waiting for. This is a time for celebration.

And then the sucker punch in the stomach hits them both and knocks the wind out of them. They notice that their son does not respond to movement. Even with their limited medical knowledge, they realize their son has been born blind.

This is a major blow in first century Palestine. When bad things happened to good people, many people believed that it was punishment for something somebody close to the situation had done.

This beautiful little baby boy has become a reason to cast doubt on whether or not his parents had done something awful before his birth or during the pregnancy. Some people thought it to themselves and others thought it out loud “what secret sin are the parents hiding?”

Now let’s fast forward about 30 years later and we can pick up the story as John reveals it to us in John chapter nine. Here we are 30 years later. This man’s entire life has been lived in darkness. We don’t know if he ever saw shades of light and darkness with the rising and the setting of the sun.

We do know this his line of employment was to sit and beg each day and hope for the generosity of strangers that he would never see. Part of the job description included enduring all kinds of comments from insensitive people. At times he may have been a victim of others taking money from his cup or pan or whatever it was that he was using.

That morning, the man probably got up thinking this day will be just like the day before and the day before that. Perhaps on the feast days, he did gather more in his cup because there were more people in the city.

He could tell there wasn’t quite as much noise in the streets this particular day so He knew it must be the Sabbath.

All his life he’s been wrestling with the same issues many of us still have today. Will Someone Love Me? Will Someone Accept Me? Will I ever have a purpose?

Unknown to this man, he was on a collision course with Jesus. Jesus had left the temple grounds because at the end of chapter 8 the people had picked up some stones in order to stone him.

Jesus had made the statement, before Abraham was born “I Am.” You may recall when Moses asked God what was his name because they people would want to know who was sending Moses to them, God had told Moses, “Tell them that I Am sent you.” The people knew Jesus was making a claim to be God, so that’s why they tried to stone him.

Well Jesus is on the run, and he makes good his escape. He finally reaches a spot that looks safe. Jesus spots this man sitting their begging. He gets pretty close near the man, and he stops.

One of Jesus’ disciples notices that Jesus is staring at the man a little longer than usual. Glancing at this poor blind man, the disciple thinks he can read what Jesus is thinking.

So this disciple asks out loud, “Rabbi, who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind.”

The disciple says this right in the presence of the man. How insensitive can you be? He’s thinking since the man could not see him, why worry about it. Yet the damage has already been done.

The man couldn’t see, but the man could hear. How often do we say things out loud that we should have just kept to ourselves? Do we apologize when unintentionally hurt others or do we assume, well everybody else has probably done it too, so what’s the big deal.