Fourth Sunday in Lent
John 9:1-41
Baptism as sign and power for living
"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.
Listen to the following story about an animal that lives in Northern Europe and think about which event in your Christian life that animal reminds you of.
There is an animal which lives in Northern Europe that it called an ermine, which is noted for its snow-white fur. The animal will go to great lengths to keep his coat white. Hunters will use this trait of cleanness to capture the animal. Instead of using mechanical traps, the hunters will find the home of the ermine, which is usually a cleft in a rock, a hallow tree, or some other place with a hole, and the hunters will daub the entrance and interior of the house with tar. Men the dogs start the chase, and the frightened ermine runs towards its home. But finding it covered with dirt, tar , he refuses to go in least he get his coat dirty. He fights off the dogs instead of getting himself dirty with the tar. To the ermine, purity is dearer than life!!
That story about the ermine, reminds us of our calling by God to be set apart from all the dirt, the sin of this world. In the Old Testament, God had the people of Israel wear a blue trim on all of their garments. Blue spoke of heaven and signified, the character and destiny of His chosen people. The blue band would constantly remind them of their holy calling. It was a visible, token of their being set apart for God, calling to mind the Lord’s priority over their lives and their responsibility to obey His commandment .
Today, that which sets us apart, which is our visible sign or token that we are God’s chosen people is the water of our Baptism. In Baptism, the water and the word are a visible sign that God has chosen us, has called us as His people.
Did you guess the ermine was bringing us to discuss Baptism.
In the baptismal waters, we are called by God as his children and that will then set us apart, remind us of God’s action in our lives as long as we live.
A poem by an unknown author says this about our relationship to God:
"The light of God surrounds me;
The love of God enfolds me;
The power of God protects me;
The presence of God watches over me.
Wherever I am God is!!"
Our gospel lesson this morning brings us a clear picture of our calling which God has given us through our Baptism. This section of John’s gospel has been seen from its earliest time as a way of speaking about Baptism and it was used in the early church as a text when people were baptized.
Jesus heals a blind man from his blindness which was from his birth. But the way he goes about this healing is very important. He puts mud on the man’s eyes, then tells him to go and wash in the pool called Siloam. The word Siloam means sent one being sent. The man washes and then he sees.
The pool of Siloam was used for sacred water in the temple and Jesus in John 8:37,38 speaks about himself being the living water as he contrast, himself with the well of Jacob and now the water in the pool of Siloam which was used for cleansing in the temple.
Raymond Brown in his commentary on John says this about this passage: "Since the man’s physical-blindness is so obviously contrasted with the sin of spiritual blindness( 39) . We may well suspect that the evangelist is playing on the idea that the man was born in sin (2,34)--sin that can be removed only by washing in the waters of the spring or pool that flows from Jesus himself."’
This text is a clear picture of a very early Baptismal tradition. 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"’
Believe in Jesus, and adhere to, or stick or cling, or cleave or clasp him. The man wants a relationship with Jesus where in he believes in Jesus and wants to be with him always.
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.
It says :
35* ¶ Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son of man?"
36* He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?"
37* Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you."
38* He said, "Lord, I believe"; and he worshiped him.
Jesus acted and the man responded with a act of faith, Lord I believe.
Baptism is like that for us. A little baby is brought to the waters of Baptism, through the washing of the water and the word of God present, the baby is cleansed and brought into the kingdom of God. And then, then the baby has the rest of his/her life to respond to that God, to believe, to worship Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
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 in his Table Talks this:
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, but—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.
Luther the Smalcald Articles
Do you see Luther’s point? We Baptist children because in Baptism it is God who acts not us. God through the water and the word brings His grace to the child. God acts first in the salvation act and we do respond with a life lived in that grace.
But we do have an action. We do have a part. We can reject that baptism and leave that relationship God made with us as a baby, or we can live our lives in it, by living for Christ, being active in Church, praying, worshiping, coming to communion, etc. Baptism is not a magical way into heaven, it is the start of a journey that ends with our resurrection. It is not a get our of jail free card, but a passport, a beginning of a journey from one land, the land of sin to the land of heaven.
The action we take comes after God’s action. god acts, we respond. In the case of Baptism, we respond daily. For Luther says that daily in my mind’s eye, I should come to the font and picture God drowning my old sinful self and raising up a new person. And this is a daily occurrence. For each day I live in sin and each day I need to be cleansed. Luther says we are "saint and sinner" at the same time. Our Baptism begins our journey of being a saint, but the sinfulness of this world reminds me each day that I am not what God intended for me to me, so I am also a sinner.
Remember in The Small Catechism of Martin Luther he says this about the water of Baptism
Q. What is the meaning of such a water Baptism?
A. It means that the old Adam in us should be drowned by daily
sorrow and repentance, and die with all sins and evil lusts,
and, in turn, a new person daily come forth and rise from
death again. He will live forever before God in righteousness
and purity.
Baptism is not a ticket to heaven, but a way of life. A life lived in Christ and through the daily washing of my sinful self in the waters of Baptism.
6* As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man’s eyes with the clay,
7* saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
We are washed and we see!! We are washed and we live!!
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale February 27, 2005
You may freely use this as is or in parts. Please somehow give credit if possible, thanks! Not for commercial use.
