4th Sunday Lent, A, Seeing the lessons, the teachers, the students

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John 9:1-41 (4th Sunday of Lent, A, Seeing: the Lessons, the Teachers, the Students)

Focus: Seeing: the Lessons, the Teachers, and the Students.

Function: To remind hearers to see the lessons, the teachers, and the students.

  1. Introduction

    1. Have you ever seen a bad pun? Maybe heard one? How about this one? “I see,” says the blind man who picked up the hammer and saw.
    2. Although this is a bad pun, it shows us one possible meaning of today’s Gospel—the Gospel about the blind man and Jesus. Among other themes, today’s Gospel is about seeing—seeing in new ways: seeing the lessons; seeing the teachers; seeing the students.
  2. Seeing the Lessons

    1. First, seeing in new ways as Christians means looking for the lessons. This week’s Gospel about the blind beggar and last week’s about the woman at the well have a lesson for us: seeing Jesus’ identity is a process. The woman at the well came to see Jesus’ identity progressively. Remember, she first saw Jesus as a man, then as a Jew, next as a prophet, and finally as the Messiah. Lessons in Christian living are like the lesson she learned; they are revealed over time.
    2. In today’s Gospel, the blind man too comes to see Jesus gradually. First, he sees Jesus as a man, then as a prophet, next as the Christ, and lastly, as the Son of Man (which emphasizes Jesus’ humanity and His heavenly status as the Son of God). After the blind beggar and the woman at the well encounter Jesus, they see Him in a new way; they see His true identity, as more than a hammer and saw using carpenter’s son from Galilee. Lessons in Christian living are about seeing Jesus ever more clearly, in a new way.
    3. Are we looking for the lessons that Jesus shows us?
  3. Seeing the Teachers

    1. Second, seeing in new ways as Christians means looking for the teachers. The woman at the well and the blind man see Jesus as their Teacher—the one who would show them the way to New Life. Like the experience of these two individuals from the Gospels, we also see Jesus as our teacher. Yet, we also see others as our teachers—those teachers all around us. Those who might teach us something new about Christian living.
    2. Perhaps, we might visualize these teachers as those who offer the lessons, the classes, or the pithy statements; but, sometimes, these individuals are not the real teachers. In fact, frequently “these” teachers don’t even live out their own lesson plans, course curricula, or “wise” aphorisms; they are often like the Pharisees in today’s Gospel—all air and no balloon; all livestock and no rodeo; all pages and no book; all clouds and no rain; all… So, you get the point! Yet, who might be our authentic teachers? They are all around us.
    3. We have two recent scriptural examples. Last week’s woman at the well and this week’s blind beggar; they represent the other type of teachers—teachers who are the marginalized. The woman at the well is a foreigner; the blind man is a beggar. Perhaps these Gospel readings are inviting us also to look for these types of teachers of Christian living.
    4. Who might these marginalized be for us in Eugene, Oregon? Could they be the foreigners? Could they be the women? Could they be the blind? Could they be those that “beg,” and not just for material “things”? Often, the marginalized are wonderful teachers. In fact, frequently, those on the margin are really the ones in the thick of the action—the action of living the Christian life. Because they face the challenges of life, they are the ones to whom Jesus reached out.
    5. Are we looking for the teachers that Jesus seeks to show us?
  4. Seeing the Students

    1. Third, seeing in new ways as Christians means looking for the students; it means being a student. The word “student” means one who is eager or one who strives—one who is eager or strives to learn the lessons from the teachers, especially those teachers on the margins.
    2. The woman at the well and the blind man saw Jesus as their Teacher. They became His students. They were eager to learn the lessons.
    3. We too are students of Jesus—of Jesus who went to the marginalized, of Jesus who is in the marginalized. As students of the Teacher and the other teachers, do we see the lessons? Do we listen to the Divine Teacher, Jesus Christ, and the human teachers of the marginalized?
    4. Are we looking for the lessons? Are we looking for the teachers? Are we seeking to be the students—the eager ones?
  5. Conclusion

As a Christian, each one of us should be able to say:

“I see” says the blind Christian, …

and then picked up the hammer and “saw” …to build a better world!