The Fourth Sunday in Lent       March 2, 2008

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Psalm 23

Ephesians 5:8-14

John 9:1-13, 28-38

I want to start with a little historical perspective this morning. The people of Israel had reclaimed the Promised Land after their time of slavery in Egypt and wandering in the wilderness. God placed judges over them to rule them. But eventually the Israelites wanted a king like their neighboring countries. Reluctantly God acquiesced, and gave them Saul as their sovereign, but Saul displeased God and that sets the stage for this morning’s lesson from 1 Samuel.

God has sent Samuel out to select a new king. As we note from the passage, that king was to be David, the youngest and most callow of the sons of Jesse. The older boys seemed to Samuel to have more to offer, but David was the one that God wanted and David was the one that Samuel anointed. Eventually David grew into the most powerful monarch in the history of the rich tradition of Judaism.

This is an opportunity to relearn an old lesson: Don’t judge a book by its cover.

In the Gospel lesson this morning we see the disciples doing just that: judging someone by appearance.

Turn to this lesson from John, please.  We learn that Jesus and the disciples saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  Note the assumption: someone had to have sinned for this man to be born blind.

Now there was strong precedent for this assumption. The Rabbis taught that misfortune was a direct result of sin. Someone did something wrong or they refrained from doing something they were supposed to do and poor health or other calamity was the consequence.

There was even speculation that a baby could sin in the womb—hence someone born blind could have sinned even before birth. More likely, they probably thought that the parents had sinned. Either way, the onus was on the kid.

Never mind that he was just a baby. Never mind that he’d spent a lifetime of discrimination. Never mind that he is in earshot. Let’s talk about his sin!

One can ask, “How could they have been so harsh, so insensitive, so blind…”

Here’s part of the answer. It is easier to talk about someone than it is to help them.  It’s easier to oppose abortion than it is to support an orphanage. It is easier to complain about folks on welfare than it is to help the poor. It’s easier to gossip about someone than it is to pray for them.

It’s easier to label than to love. 

In the Gospel lesson we learn of Jesus healing the man: All of a sudden he could see. His neighbors were astonished. “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” They argued and the man proclaimed that he was the man and indeed Jesus was the one who healed him.

Now the Pharisees come on the scene: (We’re right after the bracket on the back page.)

It was the Sabbath on which Jesus healed the man. Now before we get too harsh with the Pharisees, let’s examine this from their perspective. Remember they, like Jesus’ own disciples, believed that this man was blind because someone sinned—either the man or his parents.

The healing took the Pharisees off guard. It confused them because it didn’t fit in with their preconceived notion of what God does and does not do. So they pressed the man. Over and over again they interrogate him and over and over again he says that Jesus healed him.  They finally concede that he was indeed blind and he now can see and Jesus is the somehow involved—but they don’t like it.

Here’s the problem: The Pharisees cannot connect God’s work with Jesus. Perhaps a better way of saying it is that they don’t want to connect God’s Grace with Jesus.

In a sense, this story is more about the blindness of the Pharisees than it is about the man born blind. These Pharisees know that there is something about Jesus they don’t like, so they took it out on the poor fellow who was healed of his blindness.

The irony is that both the disciples and the Pharisees are right: sin makes you blind, only the Pharisees miss it. The disciples are learning to see: It is Christ who takes away true blindness.

Here’s where it applies to us. We may be enlightened by Christ, but we often fall back into the old blind ways by not taking the time to go beyond the labels we put on folks. Labels are so convenient. We may have been empowered to see, but it is easier to slap on the label.

Max Lucado in his book “A Gentle Thunder,” offers this about labeling people. He writes:

“Do you like it when people label you before they know you?...

’So, you’re unemployed?’ (Translation: Must be a bum.)

‘Hmm, you’re an accountant?’ (Translation: Must be dull.)

[This is one I really like]‘She’s an Episcopalian.’ (Translation: Must be liberal)

‘She’s an Episcopalian who voted for the democrats.’ (Translation: Must be liberal beyond hope.)

End of Quote.

What if God labeled us according to the preconceived notions of the world? What if God judged us by outward appearances, like Samuel in the OT lesson judged the sons of Jesse?

Jesus had quite a bit to say about this: “Don’t judge other people, or you will be judged. You will be judged in the same way you judge others, and the amount you give to others will be given to you.” (Mt. 7:1-2)

This means don’t consign people to perdition. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t discern, just don’t hand down the verdict. Another way of saying this is “the amount of Grace you give is the amount you get.”

Jesus had another view of the man born blind. Rather than seeing him as an opportunity for discussion and labeling, he saw him as an opportunity to demonstrate the wonderful Grace of God.

Why is this man blind? In the Gospel lesson, the 4th line down on the second page, ‘he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.’

The man was not the victim of sin; rather he was a miracle waiting to happen. Jesus didn’t label him—he healed him. Jesus was a lot more interested in the present than he was in the past.

So let me ask you this question. Who do you relate to in this passage? To the man born blind? Have you been the topic of conversation? Have you been the victim of vicious gossip?  Have you been left outside looking in? You’ve been labeled.

If so, learn what this man learned. When everyone labels you, Christ loves you. When everyone leaves you, abandons you, Christ finds you. When no one else wants you, Christ claims you as his very own.

Others will relate to those who observe the man. You’ve been judgmental, critical, resentful. You’ve labeled. You’ve slammed the gavel and proclaimed the guilt before you’ve gathered all the facts.

If you’ve done that, you’re not alone. It really is the easier thing to do. If so, go back to the text please and reexamine the words of Jesus. He says “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.”

Note the plural pronoun. It is a collaborative effort. Christ is calling us to work with him. He is also saying that time is short. We must get to it.

What is the work of God? At the bottom line is that we are to love people more than we are to judge them.  As someone once said, “It is impossible to sit on the judgment seat and the mercy seat at the same time.”

God’s work is caring before condemning. Look before you label. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Don’t judge someone until you have walked a mile in his shoes. If I could think of more clichés, I’d use them.

Amen.