Fourth Sunday in Lent
John 9:1-41
Baptism
"As he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man’s eyes with the clay, saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, "Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?" Some said, "It is he"; others said, "No, but he is like him." He said, "I am the man." They said to him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" He answered, "The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ’Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went and washed and received my sight." They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know." They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. The Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see." Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" There was a division among them. So they again said to the blind man, "What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet." The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight, and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself." His parents said this because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if any one should confess him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, "He is of age, ask him." So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, "Give God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner." He answered, "Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see." They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" He answered them, "I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you too want to become his disciples?" And they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from." The man answered, "Why, this is a marvel! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if any one is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that any one opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." They answered him, "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And they cast him out. Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son of man?" He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?" Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you." He said, "Lord, I believe"; and he worshiped him. Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind." Some of the Pharisees near him heard this, and they said to him, "Are we also blind?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ’We see,’ your guilt remains." John 9:1-41, RSV.
Grace and Peace to your from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus the Christ.
Out on the cattle ranches of the West the unbranded calves that roam at large are known as "mavericks." They are claimed by the man who is the first to get his brand on them at the annual "round-up." A little Western girl had been baptized one Sunday by the Methodist minister of the town. Her school-mates questioned her the next day as to the meaning of the ceremony. "Well," she said, "I will just tell you. I was a little maverick out on the prairie, and that man put the Jesus mark on my forehead so that when He sees me he will know that I am one of His children."
The Jesus mark on my forehead is an original way of talking about Baptism. We are marked with the sign of the cross and through the water and the word, we are made children of God.
Our gospel text this morning is an early example of what the act of baptism is all about.
Jesus and the disciples are walking down the road and they see a blind man begging. The disciples ask Jesus the age old question who sinned that this man was blind his parents or him. For in Jesus day and even in our day and age disease is seen as a sin of sinfulness. The man was blind because someone did something wrong. either the parents or the man himself. Even people today look at a person with a disease or handicap and wonder what did they do to deserve that. Who sinned?
But Jesus says clearly that no one sinned, the blindness just happened and happened so that God through Christ might be glorified.
The text says: Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.
The man was born blind because of the sinfulness of the world, not the specific sinfulness of this man’s parents or himself.
Now that we are psst who sinned, the main point of this text is about baptism. Jesus told the man to come to him, Jesus spat on the ground, made some mud and put the mud on the man’s eyes and told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam.
The early church saw this as an act of baptism. The man was born blind an now when he washed was set free from his blindness.
And that is exactly what happens to us in our baptism. We are born into sin, then the water and word of Baptism cleanses us so that we become children of God. It shows how Jesus took something from the past, the water at the pool of Siloam, and used that with his present spirit to bring into being the washing that occurs for each of us in Baptism today. The man was born blind, born into a sinful world, then Jesus enters, brings healing through water to this man, and then as we see at the end of this text, this man believes that Jesus is the Son of God and as the Amplified version says,"The man answers (Jesus) ’Who is He sir? Tell me, that I may believe in and adhere to him"’
The man asks Jesus who the Son of God is and when Jesus answers that he is the Son of God, the man believes, as the text says: Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you." He said, "Lord, I believe"; and he worshiped him.
It is just like that for us in our Baptism. We are baptized and then we have the rest of our lives to acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God.
I would like to call your attention to the events of this text and the order in which they happened.
For it is important for us to understand that God acts and we respond. Notice in the very beginning of this text that Jesus was walking by this man, and the disciples noticed him and asked Jesus a question about the man’s blindness.
After Jesus made his point about sin, that sin was not caused by the man or his family, Jesus acted. He spat on the ground, made some mud, put it in the man’s eyes, and then told him to go and wash.
Who acted first? Jesus. The man did not have to prove his worthiness, or his righteousness before Jesus acted. Jesus acted period, then the man responded. He responded with his action of going to the temple to get washed, and then he responded with his declaration of who Jesus was.
In this text and in our baptism it is God who acts first then we respond. God comes to the baby in Baptism and acts our his plan of salvation then that baby has the rest of his/her life to respond to what has happened.
That response can be positive or negative. We are grow up believing in the saving power of Jesus Christ in our live, or we an ignore it, fall away from that promise. God acts, we respond.
We baptize babies in the Lutheran tradition because we believe, unlike our Baptist brethren, that it is God who acts in Baptism first. I do not need to make myself right before God before I am baptized. It is God who makes us right first, and we have our whole lives to respond to that action.
We believe that no matter how hard we try, we cannot ever by ourselves make ourselves right before God. How can I ever become clean enough for God? I can’t. So God through Christ makes us clean in our baptism.
Luther says:
The anabaptists pretend that children, not as yet having reason, ought not to receive baptism. I answer: That reason in no way contributes to faith. Nay, in that children are destitute of reason, they are all the more fit and proper recipients of baptism. For reason is the greatest enemy that faith has: it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, bu - ;more frequently than not - struggles against the Divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God. If God can communicate the Holy Ghost to grown persons, he can, a fortiori, communicate it to young children. Faith comes of the Word of God, when this is heard; little children hear that Word when they receive baptism, and therewith they receive also faith.
Of the baptism of children we hold that children ought to be baptized. For they belong to the promised redemption made through Christ, and the Church should administer it [Baptism and the announcement of that promise] to them. (1)
We believe that through the water and the word the child is brought into the kingdom of God and then has the rest of his.her live to respond to God’s great act.
Those who are baptized in Jesus do not need to strive after a new life. They have already attained new life through dying with Christ. But they do need to nurture that new life so it can grow and mature. That’s what church is for. That’s what Bible study is for. That’s what prayer is for.
We need to be nurtured in our new faith. That is why at Baptism the parents and sponsors make some promises about teaching the child what this day is all about by putting the Bible and the commandments into the hands of the child as he/she grows. Baptism begins a process that is carried on the rest of a person’s life.
Luther teaches tat each day we must return to the waters of our Baptism to be cleansed. Each day, we must act out in our mind’s eye the drowning of our old self and the bring of a new person out of the water of our baptism. In some churchs the Baptismal font is in the back of the church so that as one comes to worship he/she has to pass by the font and in our mind’s eye drown the old self so that the new self might be raised up.
You’ll go forth a little stronger
With a fresh supply of grace,
If each day you meet the Savior
In a secret, quiet place. —Adamsb(2)
And that secret quiet place is the water of our baptism.
Martin Luther lived in his baptism. When confronted by the devil, he did not try to turn him away with words or reject him by his own power. When we are faced by temptation, we usually claim our own strength, “I can avoid this” or “I can make it go away.” No, Luther knew he had no power over sin by his own will. He answered the temptation with “I am baptized.” He knew that it was only by the power of the Holy Spirit, by the mercy of God, that the devil could be turned away. The devil has no power over us when we are covered by the grace of God.
Luther lived in his baptism by remembering it daily. Luther taught that all Christians should wake to the remembrance of that moment when they became children of God and that we should go to sleep with that same thought. In his small catechism, Luther writes that as soon as we get out of bed in the morning we should make the sign of the cross and say, “Under the care of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.” We should do the same in the evening before we go to bed. Living under such a remembrance helps us to realize that God is with us daily, walking with us.(3)
Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you." He said, "Lord, I believe"; and he worshiped him.
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale February 25, 2008
(1) Luther the Smalcald Articles
(2)from Our Daily Bread
(3)from Midweek Oasis Peggy Hoppes
